Film Snail

War

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.

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.

Days of Glory

Days of Glory

October 17, 1945

An Italian WWII documentary by a group of neorealists.

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.

The True Glory

The True Glory

August 27, 1945

A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the assembled allied forces plan and train for the D-Day invasion at bases in Great Britain and covers all the major events of the war in Europe from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin.

Samurai

Samurai

August 24, 1945

A young Japanese-American orphan in California is taken in by a priest who is actually a Japanese secret agent and a samurai warrior. Due to the samurai's training, the boy murders his English teacher, kills the American parents who have adopted him, smuggles Japanese secret plans into the country, and eventually becomes the governor of California with plans to infiltrate Japanese spies into the state so they can take over.

The AAF Comes of Age

August 18, 1945

This United States government documentary short film recapitulates the efforts made by the United States Army Air Forces in coming to terms with the necessities and exigencies of war in the lead-up to and during the Second World War. Archival footage, charts, and animated illustrations depict the unprepared state of America's air power in face of the threat from Germany, Italy, and Japan, and the massive efforts made to catch up to the enemy in terms of manpower, training, and materiel.

Barak 1

Barak 1

August 17, 1945

Life in Gestapo jails in occupied Belgium.

Belgrade

August 14, 1945

Documentary, black and white.

Know Your Enemy: Japan

Know Your Enemy: Japan

August 9, 1945

Frank Capra-directed propaganda film produced during World War II depicting the United States' new enemy: Japan.