Worst Propaganda movie?

Discussions on WW2 and pre-WW2 related movies, games, military art and other fiction.
Post Reply
Platypus
New member
Posts: 1
Joined: 27 Dec 2008, 07:44
Location: Canberra, Australia

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#61

Post by Platypus » 27 Dec 2008, 23:08

One of the worst propaganda movies I have seen is Mission to Moscow (1943). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_to_Moscow
It is based on a book by the US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph Davies, and is very pro Soviet. Perhaps this is not suprising given the Soviets were an ally, however the film is full of historical inaccuracies, including a terrible whitewash of the Moscow show trials of the 1930s. The film was blacklisted by the House Un American activities committee after the war.

One of the best propaganda movies, imo, is a film made the same year, Watch on the Rhine which was based on a play by Lillian Hellman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_on_the_Rhine

(This is my first post!)

User avatar
Simon K
Member
Posts: 1425
Joined: 19 Jul 2008, 20:25
Location: London U.K

Best UK & worst

#62

Post by Simon K » 28 Dec 2008, 02:06

Best U.K. film "Went The Day Well?" 1942 - tale of invasion spearheaded by Brandenburg type troops. Great film!

Most overrated "In Which we serve" 1943 :)


Polynikes
Member
Posts: 2229
Joined: 03 Jan 2004, 03:59
Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Re: Best UK & worst

#63

Post by Polynikes » 10 Jan 2009, 15:10

Simon K wrote:Best U.K. film "Went The Day Well?" 1942 - tale of invasion spearheaded by Brandenburg type troops. Great film!

Most overrated "In Which we serve" 1943 :)
Parralells between "Went The Day Well?" and "The Eagle Has Landed".
It's a little stiff and hurredly made.

"In Which We Serve" is a great war movie - propaganda perhaps since it was intended to boost morale, but a great movie all the same.

As far a bad propaganda movie (and that might be a tautology were it not for the likes of "In Which We Serve") the Hollywood movie factory went into overdrive in WWII and turned out dozens of cheaply made trashy movies like Sahara.

It went so far as to time travel Tarzan (Tazan Triumphs) and Sherlock Holmes (several) to fight the Nazis.

An embarassing one it made was the North Star (1943) - a pro USSR movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036217/

Not sure it got shown too many times in the 1950's :)

In WWII and the immediate post-war years, it was pretty easy and cheap to make a war movie - they were very popular and profitable.
Audiences liked them as WWII was such a "black and white" war - no doubting who the bad guys were - and the Nazis make excellent bad guys!

Most Hollywood war movies are cheaply and therefore poorly made (The Longest Day being a notable exception).

"Saving Private Ryan" changed most of that - it created a new standard in technical movie making and attention to detail...sadly the script allowed the movie the drift for an hour in the middle.

British Sapper
Member
Posts: 235
Joined: 31 Aug 2005, 00:43
Location: North West, England

Re:

#64

Post by British Sapper » 13 Jan 2009, 15:19

davethelight wrote:Though I have never actually seen the whole movie, I have seen clips from the German movie "The Eternal Jew", which apparently was so blatantly anti-semitic that even alot of the German audiances that saw it found it non-credible.
Apparently, in this movie the jews were portrayed as being so vile and vermin like that a number of female audience members who saw the movie either fainted while they were watching it, or had to leave the cinema.

I think the reason for people fainting watching this film was in fact , the scenes of kosher slaughter. I have seen this film and this section left me shocked as well.

User avatar
phylo_roadking
Member
Posts: 17488
Joined: 01 May 2006, 00:31
Location: Belfast

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#65

Post by phylo_roadking » 15 Jan 2009, 17:39

Having just seen "The North Star" I have to agree - it was cr@p LOL....but suprisingly it did receive SIX Oscar Nominations!!!

I think you have to remember that films like that were made with VERY little knowledge of the war, let alone Stalinist Russia LMAO "Standalone" and in period and context I'm sure it was much more impressive...and it contained some of THE worst overacting I've ever seen!

PF
Member
Posts: 2123
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 14:19
Location: USA

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#66

Post by PF » 24 Apr 2009, 14:46

Just Saw "Sabotage Agent" 1943 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage_Agent
Silly--even for a World War II B-movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PF
Member
Posts: 2123
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 14:19
Location: USA

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#67

Post by PF » 24 Apr 2009, 14:53


Zimmerwald
Banned
Posts: 25
Joined: 18 Mar 2009, 23:02

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#68

Post by Zimmerwald » 24 Apr 2009, 19:52

"The Manchurian Candidate" is offensive propaganda.

User avatar
Grünherz
Member
Posts: 1152
Joined: 07 May 2003, 10:13
Location: California

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#69

Post by Grünherz » 30 Apr 2009, 05:56

I'll just throw this in..."Titanic", the 1943 German version.

PF
Member
Posts: 2123
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 14:19
Location: USA

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#70

Post by PF » 24 May 2009, 18:24

Just Saw: "We dive At dawn" 1943:
What Cliches'!
1) Submarine under attack fools enemy with dead body going to surface. this was repeated in at last one US submarine movie "Run Silent, Run Deep" and also in Star trek episode "Balance of Terror"
2) The sub not only has German uniforms but also a German speaking Crewman as well -who after killing 2 Germans singlehanded carries and sets up a World War I german Maxium Machine gun-without a gunner assistant and no water cooling set-up!
3) The British sub marine crew refeul themselves with oil from friendly danish seaman in no record time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can anyone think of a worse home front movie? :P :lol:
Same kind of Movies for the German Home Front??????????????????????????

PF
Member
Posts: 2123
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 14:19
Location: USA

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#71

Post by PF » 06 Jan 2010, 02:36


User avatar
valkyrie
Member
Posts: 677
Joined: 20 Dec 2003, 04:09
Location: canada

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#72

Post by valkyrie » 06 Jan 2010, 19:52

The Green Berets....by then we should have known better. May not formally qualify due to post WW2 date and period but still gets my vote.

Colin

PF
Member
Posts: 2123
Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 14:19
Location: USA

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#73

Post by PF » 17 Jan 2010, 16:53


User avatar
phylo_roadking
Member
Posts: 17488
Joined: 01 May 2006, 00:31
Location: Belfast

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#74

Post by phylo_roadking » 17 Jan 2010, 20:30

Just Saw: "We dive At dawn" 1943:
What Cliches'!
But so worth it for those precious few minutes and the beginning and at the end of British submarines and depot ships in home waters :wink:

User avatar
Klaus Yurk
Member
Posts: 1373
Joined: 15 May 2004, 04:15
Location: Lincoln, Ne.

Re: Worst Propaganda movie?

#75

Post by Klaus Yurk » 19 Jan 2010, 06:59

For me, the worst POS has to be "The North Star." Just unbelievable crap. Ignorance on a stick.

Someone here also mentioned best propaganda movies. For best German propaganda it has to be "The Triumph of the Will." Visually stunning film. And the best American propaganda has to be the old NBC (I think) series called "Victory at Sea." For all its propagandizing, I still love that series and have it on DVD. Great USN combat footage!

All the best,

Klaus Yurk
Lincoln, NE

Post Reply

Return to “Movies, games & other fiction”