wartime propaganda

14 movies and shows

Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical

Wed, 01 Mar 2006

From an ominous Lecturer, a small 1930s middle American community learns of the Harper Affair, in which young Jimmy Harper finds his life of promise turn into a life of debauchery and murder thanks to the new drug menace marijuana. Along the way, he receives help from his girlfriend Mary and Jesus Himself, but always finds himself in the arms of the Reefer Man and the rest of the denizens of the Reefer Den.

Idiot's Delight

Fri, 27 Jan 1939

A group of disparate travelers are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.

Chicken Little

Fri, 17 Dec 1943

It's a peaceful day at the local poultry farm until Foxy Loxy happens along intent on a chicken dinner. He takes the advice of a book on psychology by striking "the least intelligent" first and convinces dim witted Chicken Little the sky is falling. Chicken Little spreads the word but when head man Cocky Locky proves the story to be false, Foxy Loxy spreads rumors that Cocky Locky isn't the smart chicken he appears to be, which leads to the ultimate undoing of the chickens at the hands of Foxy Loxy.

The Memphis Belle

Thu, 13 Apr 1944

This WW2 documentary centers on the crew of the American B-17 Flying Fortress Memphis Belle as it prepares to execute a strategic bombing raid on Nazi submarine pens in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

I Escaped from the Gestapo

Fri, 14 May 1943

A forger is forced to work for a Nazi spy ring. His conscience gets the better of him, though, and he secretly conspires with the FBI to turn over the gang.

The Tanks Are Coming

Sat, 04 Oct 1941

Educational short about the status of battle tanks and tank training in the U.S. Army in pre-War 1941, featuring a comical Army trainee from the Bronx.

A Tale of Two Kitties

Sat, 21 Nov 1942

Two alley cats, Babbitt and Catsello, decide to make a meal out of Orson as he sleeps in his nest atop a telephone pole. The gullible (and loud) Catsello is repeatedly gulled into trying to "get the bird," earning a variety of thrashings from the casually murderous little canary. Catsello finally resorts to an air strike (with a pair of wooden boards for wings), but it's wartime, and Orson has the cat blasted out of the sky by anti-aircraft guns.

Resisting Enemy Interrogation

Tue, 01 Aug 1944

A downed American bomber crew quickly falls prey to the clever interrogation techniques of the Germans in this dramatic WW2 training film.

Report from the Aleutians

Fri, 30 Jul 1943

A documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Men of the Sky

Sat, 25 Jul 1942

A propaganda film, made in the early months of World War II, dramatizing a new group of U.S. Army Air Force pilots receiving their wings from Lt. General H.H. Arnold. An off-screen narrator introduces four of them to us; we see them before the war, during flight training, and in their first assignments as pilots.