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On Foreign Newsfronts

Featuring dramatic footage of the Battle of Britain, this film looks at the war in Europe from the point of view of American foreign correspondents and their mission to tell the truth.

1940 19 mins

Overview

This March of Time film’s dramatic opening - the New York Times rolling off the printing presses and being loaded into vans bearing the slogan ‘Complete Reliable News from Europe’ - sets the tone for this bold look at the first year of the war. Featuring prominent journalists such as William Stoneman and Otto Tolischus (seen recreating his expulsion from Germany for the cameras) the film is notable for its pro-British angle at a time when many Americans were taking an isolationist stance.

A companion piece to the ‘Newsfronts of War 1940’ issue, this film from September 1940 also looks at the newsgathering process, but this time focuses more explicitly on the reporters and editors responsible for sorting facts from propaganda. Genuine documentary footage - such as Arthur Menken’s footage of the Battle of Britain, filmed at Dover - forms the meat of the issue but a sprinkling of scenes recreated for the cameras add an element of more intimate human drama to the broad brush narrative. The scene where CBS journalist George Fielding Eliot interviews a clueless French colonel about his army’s preparedness has the authentic March of Time touch, making an emphatic point with a smidgen of humour.

Original title

The March of Time 6th Year No. 7

Country

USA

Language

English

Subjects

Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) Duke of Windsor (1894-1972) George VI (1895-1952) Belgium Ministry of Information France Journalism Home Guard World War II Refugees Netherlands Poland United States of America

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Documentary 1938 16 mins

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Documentary 1948 15 mins

‘Crisp and sincere’,‘carefully trained’ or ’resonant and vibrant’? Which voice would appeal to you if you had to pick the Republican candidate for the 1948 Presidential Election?

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Great Britain Coronation Great Britain Coronation

Anthology 1937 24 mins

Weatherproof bunting, fog, clockwork dolls and a Hollywood exodus to London: this sideways look at preparations for the Coronation of George VI provides a wry American take on a very British ceremony.

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Metropolis Metropolis

Documentary 1939 18 mins

This ode to New York from March of Time shows us how seven and half million people from every race and nationality in the world, live, work and play together in ‘the greatest metropolis of the New World’.