American Day Fete Biggest Patriotic Meeting in History (available for download on Universal Newsreels. Also available for viewing on You Tube).

Late 30s newsreel clip showing a huge patriotic rally spurred by the war in Europe. Also featured is a story about a big parade in Atlantic City, and a tribute to George Washington Carver. The soundtrack is very sporadic in this, making it hard to follow, though we do get to hear a bit of Carver’s speech, giving this historical value. And there’s some great scenes of weird balloons in the parade, including a 2-headed cat that has to be seen to be believed.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Army Recruitment (film #31 on National Archives). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This late-60s British army recruitment promo uses international travel as a selling point, a common military recruitment tactic. This makes the promo very ordinary, though it’s also very British.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Armed Forces Display U.S. Might on Observance Day (film #176 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Another 50s newsreel with Cold-War-related stories, this time about a show of weapons on Observance Day (which includes some puzzling footage of women dressed in pioneer garb) and more about the war in Algeria. Also included are stories of the surviving Dionne quintuplets opening a flower shop, doctors using walkie-talkies which buzz obnoxiously (the precursor to today’s pagers, no doubt), and two stories about horse racing. Again, this gives you a feel for what was considered newsworthy during the 50s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Air Force Gets a New Theme Song (film #110 on Universal Newsreels). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

A chorus sings an air force theme song I’ve never heard of, while lots of different planes fly. A slice of mid-50s patriotism.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.

Coast Guard SPARS (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #340 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

This WWII recruitment film for the Coast Guard SPARS program (the Guard’s women’s auxiliary) is full of sexist stereotypes and thus is quite campy. The film tells us that by becoming a SPAR, you take over a man’s job so he can go to sea and blast Axis submarines. The vast majority of the jobs shown take place in offices and involve typewriters, filing cabinets, and huge rolodexes. If you don’t care to work in an office, though, you could dress minor wounds in the dispensary or work in the storeroom! “No, you won’t become an admiral, but you could be the admiral’s secretary,” is an actual quote from the film. I bet that really packed ‘em in to the recruitment offices. Lots of fun and ripe for msting.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

The Caissons Go Rolling Along (film #7 on Industrial Incentive Films (Vintage Video)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Another World War II sing-along short, this time in honor of the army. The first minute or so is missing and the film quality is only fair.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

An Answer (film #385 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

JFK, along with LBJ, members of Congress (is that Gerald Ford having breakfast with the enlisted men?), NATO representatives, and other bigwigs, inspects the Navy and Marines, who do their best to give him the best show possible. Military buffs will probably enjoy this, as it contains lots of ships, planes, and things blowing up, but others will probably find it rather dull, though there is some eerie footage of JFK riding in an open car. And it does have historical value as a document of state-of-the-art military hardware and techniques from the early 60s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Anchors Aweigh (film #6 on Industrial Incentive Films (Vintage Video)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Sing along with the Navy! During World War II, short films of patriotic songs such as this were run in movie theaters, and people really did sing along, they tell me. This film features a stirring rendition of "Anchors Aweigh" over scenes of the Navy hard at work on battleships splashing through the ocean. It's pretty much what you'd expect, though there are a few mildly creepy scenes of sailors in t-shirts and white shorts (which look like underwear) swabbing the decks and undergoing inspection. The film and audio quality wavers a bit in spots, but that just makes it more fun.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

All Together (film #12 on The Educational Archives, Volume Four: On the Job DVD (Fantoma, 2002)). [Category: Military & Propaganda]

Soul bruthah Lou Rawls narrates this early 70s naval recruitment film, so you know it's cool. Targeted at young black men and women, Rawls makes the Navy sound like free education, a good-paying job with perks aplenty and equal treatment with whites (women are promised equal pay and treatment with men), world travel to beaches full of babes and hunks, and civilian employers lining up to hire you when you're discharged. Not mentioned is the Navy's not-too-distant history of assigning African-Americans to the kitchen, or the three-letter word beginning with "w". I guess those topics aren't cool enough. The afro hairstyles in this film are a sight to behold, and you feel sorry for what the Navy is bound to do with them.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Soul Quotient: *****. Overall Rating: ****.