The Army-Navy Screen Magazine—Highlights (1943-1945) (review)

FILM REVIEWS The Army-Navy Screen Magazine—Highlights (1943-1945) (National Audiovisual Center, 1982) black & white. 52 min. Those who have purchased bargain-basement quality classic documentaries from the National Audiovisual Center, as I have, will be amazed to learn that someone has finally awakened to the requirement that viewers be able to see the image on the screen. Bill Blakefield has selected highlights from one of the most successful products of World War II military film production, and located amazingly good copies to print from. The result is an outstanding addition to NAC offerings, both in terms of content and print quality, something sure to interest those teaching World War II, and sure to interest nostalgia buffs. Running time is 52 minutes. The contents vary considerably in terms of value. For wartime hatred of the Japanese, The Story of Cp. Jolley is especially persuasive. Jolley took part in the Bataan death march, and describes his experience as a prisoner-of-war as we see captured Japanese newsreel footage celebrating the fall of Corregidor. Jolley sails into San Francisco harbor in 1945, seemingly unwilling to forget what has happened. Hatred of the Germans is depicted in the story of V-I attacks on London. Though the printed description of Screen Highlights fails to say so, this story began as a British Ministry of Information short, then was released to theaters throughout the United States by the War Activities Committee, and finally, with a new voiceover, hit the GI circuit as part of Screen Magazine. The footage of V-Is flying across southern England, or of V-Is being shot down by regular aircraft and ground artillery units reminds us that the V-I represents a transitional stage in rocket development . The voiceover (from February 1945) explains how future wars could be fought through rocket attacks on American cities. The conclusion makes an effective statement about how technological innovation must make war obsolete. The two most brilliant parts of Screen Highlights involve Hollywood entertainers. In Jubilee Lena Home and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson re66 create their hit song "Consequences" from Cabin in the Sky. Both are in rare form; Lena hardly less so as she goes on to sing the Gershwin favorite , "The Man I Love." The quality of the orchestra and professionalism of the singers will show today's viewers how brilliant stage performance could be in an earlier day. Jubilee, in recorded form for the Armed Forces Radio Network, was intended to appeal to black soldiers. In this excerpt some of the accompanying humor, aside from not being very funny, will make today's viewers squirm. But this was what was being broadcast and shown on the screen in wartime. No wonder blacks spoke of the need for a twin-V over fascism abroad and a racism at home. The best section of Screen Highlights is the last, Command Performance U.S.A. Bob Hope's lines are unbelievably threadbare, but he gets all the mileage out of them he can. Changing standards in cooking are made memorable as a soldier asks to hear the sound of a steak frying (wartime rationing). A beautiful piece of meat is dumped into a frying pan filled with bubbling grease and done to death. Betty Hutton gives her all, which is not enough, in a song filled with wartime jargon. Teachers will have their work cut out for them as they try to explain the lyrics to today's students. Veterans will glow with pleasure as they recall the meaning of every reference. Judy Garland concludes Command Performance by singing "Over The Rainbow." She looks terrified as she sings a song she has performed in public countless times. But the evident relief on her face as she gets to the final note is magical. I have never seen a piece of footage which conveys more successfully what made Garland such a brilliant performer, and which points to personal costs which became public knowledge only in later years. This imaginative release can be purchased from the National Audiovisual Center, Order Section DL, Washington, D. C. 20409 (Tel.: 301-763-1891). 16mm Film No. A06851/JL, rental $50; purchase $275. 3/4inch videocassette No. A06852/JL...