At war’s beginning, few men who wrote the news, and fewer still who broadcast it, could resist the purple technique of dire warnings, manic-depressive cycles, sweeping prognostications. Many a news commentator offered his audience little more than a 15-minute nervous breakdown. Not so Elmer Davis. His voice was calm, incisive, with a Hoosier twang as reassuring as Thanksgiving, as shrewd as a small-town banker.
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But last week to Elmer Davis, as it must to all wartime officials, came pots of trouble. His ears had scarcely finished burning from attacks on the expense and political tone of Victory, the de luxe glamor magazine designed to sell the U.S. to the world as a kind of Hollywood 3,000 miles square, when his sprawling OWI issued a cartoon booklet on the life of President Roosevelt, also designed for distribution abroad. A U.S. soldier sent a copy to New York’s Republican Congressman John Taber. Mr. Taber, who has a low irritation point, was moved to cry: “Purely political propaganda, designed entirely to promote a fourth term and a dictatorship. . . . How much longer are the American people going to have that kind of stuff pulled on them?”
Monthly Archives: December 2009
40′s movies marathon – part 50
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944, USA) – Betty Hutton gets drunk, married and pregnant with a soldier – and wakes up not remembering who with. This being a Preston Sturges movie, it’s all quite cheerful and noisy. Favorite line: “This is the greatest thing to happen to our state since we stole it from the Indians!” Watched it all. Contains an early version of the Hitler YouTube meme.
Summer Storm (1944, USA) – The old tsarist aristocracy was silly and decadent and out of touch with the people. Watched: 27 minutes.
Till We Meet Again (1944, USA) – Nazi schweinhunds bother French nuns. Watched: 9 minutes.
Know Your Ally: Britain (1944, USA) – Why Americans should trust the British. “There’s nothing wrong with Britain that couldn’t be cured with a correspondence course in showmanship.” What I found most interesting were a couple of map details: Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain, Vichy France is not ruled by the Nazis, and the British Empire is quite small and insignificant, hardly any evil empire at all. Watched it all. First in a series – I wonder how they presented the Soviet Union.
Follow the Boys (1944, USA) – Vaudeville stars pat themselves on their backs over how bloody patriotic they are. Watched: 8 minutes.
The Fighting Lady (1944, USA) – Life on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, with battle footage from the Pacific. It’s odd to see World War II actually being fought. Watched it all.
40′s movies marathon – part 49
Dark Waters (1944, USA) – A traumatized shipwreck survivor moves in with her relatives, whose insensitive behavior, bordering on the sadistic, drives her towards a nervous breakdown. Probably the scariest movie in the marathon so far, (admittedly with little competition). Everyday events are made to seem evil, without apparent reason. Watched it all.
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944, USA) – Gregory Peck has had a suspiciously tragic life: His father was beaten to death for being a Catholic, and his mother drowned, both on the same day. Watched: 11 minutes.
The Princess and the Pirate (1944, USA) – Bob Hope is a humorous humor person on the Seven Seas. Watched: 9 minutes.
Hets (1944, Sweden) – A latin teacher makes life hell for his students, but at least they have their adult life to look forward to. He must continue to live in the dark world he’s created for himself, alone, forever. Watched it all. Written, but not directed, by Ingmar Bergman, his first.
Mr. Skeffington (1944, USA) – Bette Davis trying to look dumb and pretty is just creepy. Watched: 18 minutes.
A Canterbury Tale (1944, UK) – Cheeky city youngsters get in touch with their cultural roots in the countryside. I love the attitude here, cheerful and solemn. Favorite line: “We get a much better view of the cathedral now”, said by a woman in a bombed out area of Canterbury. Watched it all.
Christmas Holiday (1944, USA) – Heartbroken lieutenant ends up in brothel, finds love! Watched: 19 minutes.