Film Snail

War

6 Little Jungle Boys

6 Little Jungle Boys

November 15, 1945

A short animated War Office commissioned health education film, showing the fate of each of the 6 jungle soldiers.

The Saga of the Franklin

November 6, 1945

This short is about the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, nicknamed "Big Ben" and how it was hit by a Japanese dive bomber on March 19, 1945. The USS Franklin was the most heavily damaged carrier in World War II to survive an attack.

This Could Be America

November 6, 1945

Appeal for War Bonds, showing scenes of enemy activity and suggesting these could occur over various locations in the United States.

The Naval Gun at Iwo Jima

November 6, 1945

Produced in 1945 by Jam Handy, "The Naval Gun At Iwo Jima" is a sister film to "The Naval Gun at Okinawa". This film details the important role Navy guns played in assaulting Japanese forces that were dug into caves on the island. It also shows the close support of Marines during the long assault. Naval gunfire at Iwo Jima was critical, the film explains, due to the fact that low visibility limited air operations. The film details the role played by battleships, cruisers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, and auxiliary gunboats. Shows tactics employed in exposing Japanese defenses, for example how gunboats were used to draw fire from Japanese gun batteries, exposing them so that the 16-inch guns on the battleships could used to destroy the shore positions.

Grini - Frigjøringsdagene den 8. og 9. mai 1945

November 6, 1945

Grini, later known as Ila Detention and Security Prison after the war, was an infamous Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, and was operated by German Nazis between 1941 and May 1945. Opponents, hostages and frantic patriots were imprisoned there, and many were often tortured. Only the name Grini itself spread fear and horror among good Norwegians during the period. In the Liberation Day, a documentary film was made to show you the life at Grini after peace finally came to Norway, and to reveal the German's assault on the prisoners.

Away Boarders

November 5, 1945

Story Of The USS Guadalcanal And Capture Of The First German Submarine In World War II By The Commanding Officer Of That Ship.

Two Anonymous Letters

Two Anonymous Letters

November 3, 1945

When her sweetheart Bruno joins the Italian army, Gina, bored by her lack of social life, weds Tullio. She comes to regret her decision when Tullio proves to be a Nazi collaborationist. Casting her lot with the Resistance movement, Gina is forced into a difficult decision when the safety of ex-lover Bruno is endangered by the treachery of Tullio.

Johnny Frenchman

Johnny Frenchman

October 29, 1945

The fisherman from a Cornish village have a friendly rivalry with the fishermen (and one formidable woman) from a French port. Then war comes and they must all rethink their petty differences.

Story of a Dog

Story of a Dog

October 27, 1945

A dog trains for the battlefield and becomes a crucial part of the United States military. This 1945 short documentary film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short, One-Reel.

Strange Holiday

Strange Holiday

October 19, 1945

An American businessman returns from a hunting trip to find fascists have overrun the country in this propaganda film.

That Justice Be Done

That Justice Be Done

October 18, 1945

Newsreel footage from both sides of World War II make a case for convicting Nazi war criminals.

Paris Underground

Paris Underground

October 18, 1945

Constance Bennett both produced and starred in the espionager Paris Underground. Bennett and Gracie Fields play, respectively, an American and an English citizen trapped in Paris when the Nazis invade. The women team up to help Allied aviators escape from the occupied city into Free French territory. The screenplay was based on the true wartime activities of Etta Shiber, who engineered the escape of nearly 300 Allied pilots. British fans of comedienne Gracie Fields were put off by the scenes in which she is tortured by the Gestapo, while Constance Bennett's following had been rapidly dwindling since the 1930s; as a result, the heartfelt but tiresome Paris Underground failed to make a dent at the box-office. It would be Constance Bennett's last starring film--and Gracie Fields' last film, period.

The Taras Family

The Taras Family

October 15, 1945

Russian filmmaker Mark Donskoi, of "The Gorky Trilogy" fame, was responsible for the postwar Soviet drama The Taras Family (originally Nepokorenniye, and also released as Unvanquished and Unconquered). A semi-sequel to Donskoi's Raduga (1944), the story is set in Nazi-occupied Kiev. The drama focusses on the travails of a typical Soviet family and on the efforts by the Germans to force the reopening of a local munitions factory. The film is at its most grimly effective in a long sequence wherein the Nazis conduct a search for Jewish escapees, culminating in a horribly graphic re-creation of the slaughter of the Jews at Babi Yar. While Donskoi was critically lambasted for his cinematic "sloppyiness" during this sequence (hand-held camera, rapid cuts etc.), it can now be seen that he was attempting a realistic, documentarylike interpretation of this infamous Nazi atrocity.

The Invisible Army

The Invisible Army

October 4, 1945

Sabotage of a Nazi factory is carried out by the husband of the lover of a resistance leader.

Journey Together

Journey Together

October 1, 1945

Two Englishmen (Richard Attenborough, Jack Watling) train with the Royal Air Force, ending with a bombing raid on Berlin.

Rome, Open City

Rome, Open City

October 8, 1945

In WWII-era Rome, underground resistance leader Manfredi attempts to evade the Gestapo by enlisting the help of Pina, the fiancée of a fellow member of the resistance, and Don Pietro, the priest due to oversee her marriage. But it’s not long before the Nazis and the local police find him.

My Japan

My Japan

September 23, 1945

An odd bit of WWII propaganda in which an obviously Caucasian actor, using a fake Japanese accent, talks about the beauty of his homeland and how "his" people are different (and superior) to naive American soldiers. According to the narrator of the film, a US invasion of Japan would not succeed due to the superior fighting power of the Japanese people who, if forced, would retreat from the island and take up refuge in caves on mainland China.

First Yank into Tokyo

First Yank into Tokyo

September 5, 1945

A U.S. pilot undergoes plastic surgery and drops into Japan to get a captive scientist's (Marc Cramer) atomic secrets.

The G.I. Bill of Rights

The G.I. Bill of Rights

September 1, 1945

This cartoon was featured as part of the U.S. military's "Army-Navy Screen Magazine, No. 60", issued in September 1945. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veteran.

Days and Nights

Days and Nights

August 28, 1945

This literary adaptation was the first Soviet feature length dramatization, as opposed to documentary film, on the momentous Battle of Stalingrad.