Big Three Confer (film #98 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

WWII newsreel documenting the meeting at Yalta of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. This has lots of historical value, telling of many other important personages who attended the meeting, and showing scenes of it. Also included are harrowing stories about massacres in Lubin, Poland and the devastation wrought by a tornado in Alabama and Mississippi. Then it suddenly and rather jarringly gets lighthearted, with stories about the Westminster Dog Show, a Boy Scout Jamboree, and the adoption of a 4-year-old Chinese war orphan by a GI unit. This last story, though meant to be cute and amusing, actually comes off rather disturbing, with scenes of the 4-year-old being showered and accepted into the ranks as a fellow soldier. All in all, this is one of the more interesting WWII-era newsreels.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *** (for the lighthearted stories, not the harrowing ones, which rate a N/A). Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

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