1938: Spain in Revolt!

 

 

Spain in Revolt is a strange film. Its essentially an anti-franco film made during the Spanish Civil War. It has an English voice over, its incomplete, I've managed to find two of its (presumably) 3 reels intact and have combined them. Making what as far as I know is the most substantial collection of footage within it. The film's first reel is still missing, which is frustrating as in those days most films frontloaded their credits and production information, many of the question surrounding the film could be answered if just a part of that first reel were found.

I assume it was filmed in 1938 as the voice over has a present tense tone and speaks as if the events were happening as he was talking, and the footage I can identify comes from that year at the latest. The footage is a mix of scenes from the war, the Francoists are referred to as the rebels which probably confused some modern viewers, but the nationalist and fascist coalition was born out of an army mutiny in 1936, so loyalist Spain were the forces of the Republic which depending on who is doing the telling may or may not include the more radical elements like the Anarchist CNT/FAI militias, and the rebels were the Carlists, Falange party and Aristocratic officer corps.

Parts of the film are battle footage set to music, mostly classical and at times weirdly cheery. It includes some rare footage of fighting in Burgos which must've come from the first days of the war as it quickly fell to Franco who made that city his base of operations, and the aftermath of bombardments. It ends very confusingly on footage of the Pope and an appeal for peace. So I can speculate that whoever made this film was either an American liberal catholic whose sympathies were with the Spanish Republic, or were secular and didn't know anything about Catholicism but thought the Pope was a good stand in for peace and good will. I'm leaning in this direction because Catholicism in Spain and in the Vatican openly supported Franco, they supported him morally, economically and through the Carlist militia and over bands militarily. So, either this is a liberal Catholic trying to overcome the tension within themselves or it was made by someone who knew nothing about the politics of the Holy See. 

1918: The Sinking of the Lusitania

 

 

 

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 The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) is a silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. It is a work of propaganda re-creating the never-photographed 1915 sinking of the British liner RMS Lusitania. At twelve minutes it has been called the longest work of animation at the time of its release. The film is the earliest surviving animated documentary and serious, dramatic work of animation. In 1915 a German submarine torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 dead. The event outraged McCay, but the newspapers of his employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the event, as Hearst was opposed to the US joining World War I. McCay was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorial cartoons for Hearst's papers. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began work on the patriotic Sinking of the Lusitania on his own time with his own money. The film followed McCay's earlier successes in animation: Little Nemo (1911), How a Mosquito Operates (1912), and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). McCay drew these earlier films on rice paper, onto which backgrounds had to be laboriously traced; The Sinking of the Lusitania was the first film McCay made using the new, more efficient cel technology. McCay and his assistants spent twenty-two months making the film. His subsequent animation output suffered setbacks, as the film was not as commercially successful as his earlier efforts, and Hearst put increased pressure on McCay to devote his time to editorial drawings.

1945: The Battle of San Pietro

 

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 Documentary directed by John Huston who was commissioned by the US army to record their efforts to take Italy in the Battle of San Pietro Infine in 1943. The US Army ended up refusing to show the film because it was too honest in its portrayal of the high cost of battle and the difficulties faced. Huston and his crew were attached to the US Army’s 143rd regiment of the 36th division. Though a few scenes seem to be have been reconstructed outside of actual fighting, unlike many other military documentaries Huston’s cameramen did film alongside the infantrymen as they fought their way up the hills to reach San Pietro. These cameramen were in just as much danger as the soldiers on the ground, often within a few feet of mortars and shells exploding and bullets ricocheting nearby. The film is unflinching in its realism and was held up from being shown to the public by the United States Army. Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot. Because it showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers, some officers tried to prevent troopers in training from seeing it, for fear of it upsetting morale. General George Marshall came to the film's defense, stating that because of the film's gritty realism, it would make a good training film. The depiction of death would inspire them to take their training seriously. Subsequently the film was used for that purpose. Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and made an honorary major.