Tweet Janesville, WI: DOVER (1942), AMERICA SINGS WITH KATE SMITH

[silentfilm]

On Friday, November 4, in honor of all veterans, (Veteran's Day is the following Friday), we're presenting a program of short films from WWII. The program will begin at 7:00pm at Cedar Crest, 1700 South River Road in Janesville.

All of these films were produced during the war and present the perspective of Americans and Brits who were fighting and enduring on the front lines and at home. These will be projected from 16mm prints, most of which were struck during or shortly after the war.

The public is very welcome to come to this program. In particular I encourage older children to attend with their parents. Younger children won't be turned away, but parents might consider some of the footage to be too intense and graphic for their elementary school age children.

The program is subject to change, but these are the films I expect to run --

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER (Castle Films, WWII era) Sing-along with our National Anthem. (Dupont 719B stock, density sound track)

DOVER - Britain’s Front Line Revisited by Edward Murrow (United States Government/British Ministry of Information, Released by the [US] Office of War Information, 1942) Legendary broadcast journalism pioneer Edward R. Murrow reports on the activities, determination and high spirits of the British people during the Blitz. (1943 Kodak stock, variable area sound track)

AMERICA SINGS WITH KATE SMITH (Columbia, 1942) Kate invites the audience to sing along with her on 4 patriotic songs: “We’re All Americans,” “The Caissons Go Rolling Along,” “The Marines Hymn,” and “America, I Love You,” (1976 Eastman stock, variable area sound track)

WHEN WORK IS DONE (U.S. Government, Produced by the Office of War Information Bureau of Motion Pictures in cooperation with the Division of Recreation Office of Community War Serves Federal Security Agency, April 15, 1943) Newsreel urging Americans to accept war workers into their homes, and to include them in their community's social activities. (1943 Kodak stock, variable area sound track)

CASTLE FILMS NEWS PARADE - BATTLE FOR OKINAWA/BOMBING OF U.S.S FRANKLIN (c. 1945) This film is a genuine jaw-dropper. Its loaded with gripping Signal Corps footage showing U.S. soldiers and sailors under fire. In particular the section about the bombing of the U.S.S. Franklin has some of the most amazing footage you’ll see. On March 19, 1945, the Franklin was nearly sunk by two 500 pound Japanese bombs some 50 miles off the Japanese coastline. Massive explosions ripped into the ship killing and wounding one third of the crew. The surviving crew, even some of the wounded, battled the blaze for hours while continuing to fight off Japanese planes. With the help of nearby ships, they saved the Franklin. The silent version of this film is available for viewing on the Internet. But we will watch a very rare and excellent condition sound print of this great war-time documentary. Narrated by Len Sterling. (1945 Kodak stock, variable area sound track)

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, 1940-1945 (Crown Film Unit, c. 1945) Excellent British documentary about the Nazi occupation of The Channel Islands. “Incidents dealing with the German occupation are re-enacted by the Channel islanders themselves.” (1945 UK Kodak film stock, density sound track)

ARMY-NAVY SCREEN MAGAZINE #46, “a pictorial report from all fronts for the armed forces only, produced by Army Information Branch, Army Pictorial Service, Air Forces, Navy Department, in cooperation with all united nations.” (1944) The Army-Navy Screen Magazine usually had several features, but this edition is devoted entirely to the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, one of the decisive battles in the war against Japan. This film, which was shown only in military theaters and not screened for civilians during the war, features some incredible footage from signal corps cameramen, cameras mounted on bombers and fighters, and some footage captured from the Japanese. The film closes with a service for a flier who died in the cockpit of his plane when it landed on the deck of the carrier. He is buried at sea in his plane. (1944 Kodak stock, variable area track)

THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (RKO, November 9, 1945) - Frank Sinatra lectures some street kids about tolerance and sings “The House I Live In,” a song about the different religions and ethnic groups that make up America. This film won an honorary Academy Award “for promoting tolerance,” and a Golden Globe “for promoting international good will.” Sinatra also sings “If You Are But a Dream." (1948 Kodak stock, variable area sound track.


Please use the entrance under the car port and follow the signs to the screening room on the lower level.

If you have any questions please feel free to call me on my cell phone at 608-289-2431.

-- Ken Regez

My thanks to Bruce for posting my program to this great site.

It was an exceptional evening. Running WWII films for people of that generation is one of the most satisfying kinds of programs that I do. Those audiences are so very appreciative. And it always seems backwards to me when veterans come to me after the program to personally thank me. ME? A veteran is thanking ME?! It is very humbling. This time it was a Navy man who served in 1944-45.

I switched out one film listed in the original announcement above. Instead of WHEN WORK IS DONE, I ran RIGHT OF WAY, (1943), a nifty U.S. government newsreel about war-time transportation and the inconveniences it placed on civilians. There is some great train footage in this ten minute reel, and you even get a quick look inside the national command center from which all train traffic was directed.

At the start of the program I jokingly told the audience that they had better sing with Kate Smith when she told them to or I'd run the film again. That got a laugh, but this audience heartily ignored Kate's instructions to sing with her on the second verse of each song. They couldn't wait and robustly jumped in right away on the first verse!

The Bombing of the U.S.S. Franklin segment of the Castle Films newsreel also got a strong response and gasps of amazement after the film when I offered more information about why Father O'Callahan, who is seen giving last rites in the film, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS was a favorite of several during the discussion after the show. Comments were made about how it showed that those of us in the U.S. had it relatively easy during the war compared to those under Nazi occupation. I was contacted two days later by someone who was so moved by this film that she wanted to contribute to my costs for obtaining it.

The ARMY-NAVY SCREEN MAGAZINE about the Second Battle of the Philippines had a powerful effect on the audience. One section features a relentless stream of gun camera footage and the film ends with a brief but very emotional burial at sea for a U.S. Navy flier. One woman left the room in tears after that and sat outside waiting for the program to end before she came back in for the discussion. She's British and lived through the Blitz as a teen.

I followed the fierceness of the Army-Navy Screen Magazine with THE HOUSE I LIVE IN with Frank Sinatra. It had the effect of being a noble sigh of relief as well as a poignant reminder of one of the basic issues of WWII, that of racial and religious hatred.

The Sinatra film ended the program. But Instead of getting up and filing out, the entire audience sat in their seats wanting to talk about all that they had just seen. The evening was a great example of how powerful film can be. Its one of the reasons I find film collecting to be so rewarding.