 Using newsreel footage, this Sportscope entry chronicles the race toward running s four-minute mile, highlighting several important contests. It starts in the 1920 s, when Finland s  Paavo Nurmi  (qv) set the record for the distance at 4 minutes 10.4 seconds. It continues through  Roger Bannister  (qv) s first run under 4 minutes in 1954, and ends in spring 1956, when Australia s  Joe Bailey (III)  (qv) became the first to break 4 minutes on US soil.