Summary

PRELUDE TO WAR

Source Archive Films by Getty Images
Title: PRELUDE TO WAR
File Number: AFP-25BL 16mm AFP-25BK 16mm VTM-25BK Beta SP (LARGE CASSETTE)
Color: B W
Type: Documentary
Year: 1942
Description: B W 1942 The first in the "Why We Fight" series, directed by Frank Capra. This film was also released commercially (without much success). Some of its racist imagery was condemned by the OWI. Uses footage sequences from the official German, Japanese & Italian propaganda films show attacks of Axis countries upon their neighbors at start of WWII. EXCELLENT high tension wires Nazi book burning dramatization. AUDIO 00:19:57:00 B W 1942 (Narration by Walter Huston) 00:21:30:00 B W 1940s ws ms Montage film footage...Military marching parade circa 1940. Pearl Harbor attack on the Arizona. London blitz. France in flames. Swastika flag. Germans march past Arc de Triomph. Air attack in China. Nazi conquests in Europe et al. 00:24:00:00 B W 1942 ms ws Montage brief shots...US war production, troops marching, animated world globes of black and white (free and slave). Continued animation and offscreen narration to contrast US vis a vis the evil immorality of the agressors. 00:25:20:00 B W 1942 ms cu America's historic and national leaders, documents, and images. (soundtrack voice of Walter Huston). 00:26:49:00 B W 1920s ms cu VS historic news footage in Italy, Germany, and Japan. showing defects and evils of their systems contrasted with ours the Italian footage shows Mussolini in the 1920s after becoming Italian dictator the German footage shows the severe 1920s inflation in monetary values in Germany (with 1 Million Mark notes superimposed over a spinning roulette wheel) then, Japan's Emperor Hirohito rides horse while reviewing troops (Hirohito salutes in CU while his Japanese troops bow to him in respect). 00:31:28:00 B W 1942 cu Voices of Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and crowd reactions (yells of "Bonsai!", "Sieg Heil!", & "Duce!"). Italian "Black Shirts" stand in review. Montage of aggressor dictatorship ruling systems. Challenge to religious freedom and belief. 00:37:46:00 B W 1942 ms School teacher and students saluting and pledging allegiance to the swastika. Students saluting in classrooms in Italy and Japan. Childrens "Hitler Youth" military marching bands ("Tin Drum" imagery) and parades under dictatorship. 00:39:56:00 B W 1942 ws ms ***Good views of massive military parades in Germany, Italy, and Japan under dictatorship. Flags, banners, armbands. cu CUs of military youth on parade. Regimentation. Goose step. Civilian onlookers. 00:42:26:00 B W 1942 cu Contrasted black and white world globes. 00:42:46:00 B W 1942 ws ms Montage of democracy and pre WWII peace efforts, by America. . Washington DC, International peace conferences. Peace marches and interviews with citizens expressing isolationism. 00:45:13:00 B W 1942 ws Montage of places and events in pre WWII America. Industrial, social, and political. Scenes contrasting way of life in America and Germany. 00:55:11:00 B W 1933 vs 1933 book burning in Nazi Germany SUP shots of "verboten" book titles by such authors as Erich Maria Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Mann and composers such as Mendelssohn and Offenbach ("banned by the Nazis"). 00:55:43:00 B W 1942 ws cu Choir boys singing. Young children at play, contrasted with children's activities regimented by dictatorship 00:49:51:00 B W 1942 ms cu Nazi and fascist leaders among cheering and worshipful mass crowds. Political messages and slogans. 00:52:05:00 B W 1942 cu Animated world wall map and explanation of agressor conquests and ultimate objectives 00:54:43:00 B W 1942 ms Yamamoto speaks (translated by Huston). Propaganda messages (with animated word "LIES" being broadcast from radio tower). Nurses taking care of a large group of newborn babies. 00:57:16:00 B W 1942 cu Propaganda speeches and messages by the dictator leaders. Animation, including newsreel footage,of agressor military spending, build up and attack. 00:58:31:00 B W 1942 ms ws Japan agression in Manchuria and China, and Italy agression in cu Ethiopia--are narrated with montages of newsreel footage (and some animation). 01:09:24:00 B W 1942 ms FDR speaks on the Ethiopian conflict. Animation showing changing world travel distances and time and challenging isolationism. 01:10:25:00 B W 1942 ms German dictatorial leaders and montage disasters of war. 01:11:31:00 B W 1942 cu World globes of black and white. "V" on the white globe. Ringing Liberty Bell. Sy revised by DL 11 98.
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