From Amazon.com
The rare fiction and nonfiction films in this compilation offer a time-capsule glimpse of World War I from a variety of fascinating angles. "The Great War" (1914-18) was the first to be extensively recorded by motion picture cameras, and the societal impact of film is keenly evident throughout this international selection. It's amazing, in hindsight, to see Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa cast as an American spy in 1917's "The Secret Game," and even the most inclusive Chaplin collections don't include the bond-drive film included here, featuring Charlie in "Little Tramp" garb, symbolically pummeling the German Kaiser with a giant war-bonds mallet! The filmed log of the German submarine U-35 (from 1917) demonstrates the sub's chilling efficiency at sinking enemy ships, while the 1975 compilation "The Moving Picture Boys in the Great War" puts everything (propaganda, newsreels, authentic battle footage) into sharp historical perspective. Rescued from obscurity, these images are as haunting as they are informative.
--Jeff Shannon
Video Details
The astonishing films in this collection show and explain essential news and propaganda functions of the movies during the Great War of 1914-1918. In those days before television and even before radio, fiction films in movie theaters were the most widely shared public experience, while news films were the most potent and detailed public images of armament, military life and even front line action. Some news film was faked and much of it was censored, but some was authentic, obtained at great risk by daredevil combat cameramen. Films include: "Fighting the War" (1916) is the work of 26-year-old American adventurer Donald C. Thompson, who managed to get to France on Canadian credentials with English troops. He photographed some of the most amazing front line films of the entire war. "The Log of the U-35" (1917) is a totally authentic filmed account of sinkings on one Mediterranean cruise in April 1917 by a submarine commanded by Lothar von Arnauld de la Perriere, Germany's U-Boat Ace of Aces, during the period of unrestricted submarine warfare. "The Secret Game" (1917) directed by William C. de Mille and starring Sessue Hayawaka, Florence Vidor, Jack Holt and Charles Ogle. Reported when new as a "timely release," it's a detective story in which representatives of Japan (our ally in 1917-18) and the United States work hand-in-hand to frustrate German agents in their effort to get information about American transport sailings on the Pacific. "The Moving Picture Boys in the Great War" (1975) is a compilation documentary narrated by Lowell Thomas, illustrating changing attitudes toward the war and its participants, as well as toward the movies themselves. Winner, Gold Medal, 1975 Chicago Film Festival.
