Don't Be a Sucker - 1947 anti-facist film...

[JHB]

...produced by the US military after WW2 when a lot of demilitarized soldiers could have been ripe prey for demagogues (and some were).

Something that needs to be reposted periodically, especially these days.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. There was a completely different attitude fighting in the Pacific....

They didn't see many civilian populations grateful for being liberated and the government used racist propaganda to stir up the populace. In some minds the Pacific Theater became a racial extermination campaign. To this day there are WWII vets who think there are too many Orientals in the world.

[2naSalit]

4. Probably why

the film didn't "go there" in it's message.

[ffr]

2. U.S. papers were forbidden...and shows NYT

How ironic! It's like a script for how things are going now.

But they had trouble with the truth, they found that truth does not die easily, and so they decided to abolish truth. (8:52)

Then they litter the ground at the end. How careless!

[IrishAyes]

10. Did you see John Huston's "Let There Be Light"?

about PTSD in returning vets. Government film but they banned it. Very few copies survived. One of the few times I was actually proud of my ex came about when he was a Signal Corp 1st looie at the Army Pictorial Center in NYC, where Duck Soup had been filmed, incidentally. Anyway the place was about to be closed and the last night before the last day, after hours he and I spent most of the night trundling back and forth from his office to our apartment with quite a few rare films, Let There Be Light among them. Of course the next day he drove to Connecticut to the home of a senior officer in another branch of the service to deliver them for safekeeping. We weren't stealing, we were rescuing. But if we'd been caught in the act by the wrong people...

[freshwest]

16. Thank goodness! Just found it here:

[IrishAyes]

17. Sorry I forgot to mention in that true story, one of my happiest adventures, that

all the rare films were slated for destruction by people I can't help thinking of as philistines. We weren't risking our necks on a whim.

[freshwest]

18. You can see the humanity of the health system they supported. Nixon and Reagan destroyed it.

But I think we will get back there again, if we stand strong.

[IrishAyes]

19. One woman in the group which watched the rescued film with us later

said that the soldier who never recovered was her brother, and she cried all the way through. I can still hear it in my own heart. That's why the government suppressed it so long - they were afraid of a public outcry if too many people saw the deep psychological scars of warfare.

[2naSalit]

3. Excellent Post!

Thanks!

[Warpy]

5. I think the Koch boys must've used this film

as a how to turn the country fascist instructional video.

The Nazis bullied the media into compliance. The cabal of rich fascists just bought ours up.

[dsteve01]

6. very nice

[zebonaut]

7. Those poor ancient pre internet people

Not only was their world entirely in black and white; but people smoked like chimneys; television was in its infancy; and certainly no internet or smartphones. Man was in his infancy. Civilization was just getting started.

[BodieTown]

8. Free Download Copy Here

Don't Be A Sucker

This is a public domain movie, with no copyright attachments, so you can make a copy to DVD if you want.

[IrishAyes]

11. Bless Your Heart!

[freshwest]

15. Thanks for the link!

[Mnemosyne]

9. Absolutely chilling listening to how it occurred. nt

[IrishAyes]

12. Hey, it's a lot better than Reefer Madness!

Oh lordy how I love that film.

[yurbud]

13. I thought the far right was a joke until Bush came into power and members of Congress started...

talking like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.

Suddenly, their violent rhetoric didn't seem funny--it seemed like a real threat.

I think we were lucky that not enough Republicans were stupid or reckless enough to pull the trigger on full fascism, probably not out of patriotism or moral constraints, but because they may have calculated the chances of success weren't great enough.

I think that's part of the point of the Tea Party. Replace the last of the Republicans in Congress who think for themselves from time to time with totally obedient idiots, who will burn the capitol to the ground if they got the nod from their wealthy patrons.

[beerandjesus]

14. AWESOME video.

One which serves to reinforce my notion that the Democratic party is the actual conservative party in this country. (I mean that in a good way.)