Whether or not you’re old enough to remember seeing them in theaters (I’m not), you may very likely know about the old MovieTone newsreels that used to be shown in theaters before movies. Well, it looks like they’re going to be back, in the form of short films created by soldiers currently overseas.
“We fell on this idea of recreating films that looked like and were the length of the old Movietone forms of the 1940s,” said Marine Lt. Col. Jim Kuhn, military producer for the undertaking called the Movietone Newsreel Project. Kuhn says the objective is to put together a short film that combines the commentary of real-life soldiers with the kind of footage civilian journalists would be unable to get.
The planned films based on the Iraq conflict mark the military’s second attempt to create a modern, government-sponsored version of the wartime Movietone, a short-film format that was popular among studios in the days before television news broadcasts were widely available. The first effort by the Navy and Marines, titled Enduring Freedom, was based on footage collected from troops in Afghanistan.
Enduring Freedom was not without its Hollywood flourishes, including the fast pace of an action movie and a soundtrack reminiscent of a happy-ending scene in a big-budget drama. O’Connor, a former producer of Marines recruitment ads, says the films are crafted as documentaries and “are not propaganda.”
I may not remember Movietone newsreels, but I do remember when I could go to see a movie and actually be able to see a movie. Now, in addition to all the commercials and ads before we even get to the trailers, we get government sponsored and produced propaganda as well?
Pardon me if I’m not jumping up and down for joy.