Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944) is an independently made short film musical, directed by Hanus Burger, starring Lena Horne, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Teddy Wilson and his orchestra. It is a significant film in the history of jazz for its early glimpse of Lena Horne (in her second film) and as the only film of boogie-woogie piano masters Albert Ammons and… Read more →
Three Brothers is part of the Private Snafu series of animated shorts produced by Warner Bros. during World War II. Screened for troops in September 1944, the cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng and features the familiar voice of Mel Blanc. A series of cartoons for the Navy featuring Private Snafu’s brother “Seaman Tarfu” were planned, but the war came… Read more →
Target for Today is a documentary film describing the preparation and mounting of a United States Army Air Forces raid on East Prussia It contains much combat footage of B-17 and B-24 bombers and named for the phrase used at briefings before air raids. The October 1943 footage was filmed during Eighth Air Force attacks on Nazi Germany industrial targets… Read more →
That’s My Baby! is a 1944 American film directed by William Berke and starring Richard Arlen, Ellen Drew, and Leonid Kinskey. Plot: Phineas Moody, the head of Moody Comics is in terrible health. His worried daughter Betty calls in two doctors who discover that Phineas hasn’t laughed in decades. Betty and her future husband Tim Jones fill the Moody mansion… Read more →
Outpost is an animated short film, directed by Chuck Jones and first released in August, 1944. It is part of the Private Snafu series. As in all the Snafu films, the voice of Private Snafu is performed by Mel Blanc. This is considered a transitional film in the series, with Snafu successfully able to complete a mission despite his discomfort… Read more →
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress is a 1944 documentary film which ostensibly provides an account of the final mission of the crew of the Memphis Belle, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. In May 1943 it became the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to complete 25 missions over Europe and return to the United States…. Read more →
Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional adult animated shorts, ironic and humorous in tone, that were produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The films were designed to instruct service personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects, and to improve troop morale. Primarily, they demonstrate the… Read more →
