WWII pro-war movies.

July 28, 2009 4:28 PM

I want to see some WWII-era propaganda (or at least pro-war, pro-service) films on DVD, especially those with musical interludes in the style of the Andrews Sisters. Any recommendations beyond Buck Privates, which I unfortunately cannot easily find in Canada?

There's a lot of them, but I only want to see those that have aged well and can easily be found.

posted by flibbertigibbet to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

They aren't feature films per se and don't have the musical interludes you're looking for (I don't think) but Why We Fight was an interesting series of short US propaganda films. (especially the ones on China) I don't think it would be too hard to find on DVD or the Internet.

And of course if you haven't already, you can see Triumph of the Will.
posted by carnival of animals at 4:53 PM on July 28, 2009

Response by poster: I think I saw Why We Fight in 8mm, on my film room's projector, as I dug through their stash of film strips.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 4:59 PM on July 28, 2009

Response by poster: Oh, and thanks!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 4:59 PM on July 28, 2009

My internet connection is too slow to do a search now but check out here.

The site contains many from that series as well as newsreels.

Another one is "Know Your Enemy: Japan." Most of the wartime propaganda, even the censored Donald Duck cartoons making fun of Hitler and the Japanese, are on youtube. Youtube is a mine for WWII propaganda films. And also some sexual health films from the 1950s.
posted by vincele at 5:45 PM on July 28, 2009

Doing a bit of filtering on Internet Movie Database for WWII musicals gets you this list. It's not perfect, because it includes films made after the war, but all the release dates are listed so you can go through and pick and choose. Going through it reminded me of things like Stage Door Canteen, which might work for you.
posted by gudrun at 6:19 PM on July 28, 2009

The Big Lift.
posted by brujita at 10:38 PM on July 28, 2009

vincele suggests the Prelinger Archives, part of archive.org. They also host a collection called cinemocracy, which is full of glorious propaganda.

As well as Why We Fight and many others, they have the entire original production of Memphis Belle, and a Max Fleischer animated saboteur film with some guy in blue tights.
posted by Sallyfur at 12:00 AM on July 29, 2009

Disney films. I have and love it.
posted by teishu at 3:02 PM on July 29, 2009