The Right Spirit
1931 · 9m · Animation
Don’t judge a book by its cover but do judge a political party by its garage.
More Like This
Sea Dreams
1914 · ★ 5
First World War animated propaganda short, extolling Britain's naval history and mocking the German navy.
More info →
Animated Soviet Propaganda
1997 · ★ 3
A landmark four disc Box Set - Unearthed from Moscow's legendary Soyuzmultfilm Studios, the 41 films in ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA span sixty years of Soviet history (1924 - 1984), and have never been available before in the U.S.
More info →
Studdy's War Cartoons
1915
Animated WWI-era comic highlights from the innovative cartoonist George Studdy, creator of Bonzo the dog.
More info →
Victory Through Air Power
1943 · ★ 5.8
Based on the book by Major Alexander de Seversky's about his theories of the practical uses of long range strategic bombing. Using a combination of animation humorously telling about the development of air warfare, the film shows de Seversky illustrating his ideas of how air power could win World War II for the Allies.
More info →
School of Assassins
1967
"This anti-Communism film uses animation to tell the story of two brothers, one of whom receives training for hemispheric subversion in Cuba and returns to his own country to spread violence and terror. He realizes his mistake when, in the course of trying to destroy an experimental farm, his actions bring about the death of his brother Gustavo. Produced by Copri International Films, Inc. (Miami, FL) and directed by Jose D. de Villegas" (US National Archives).
More info →
Bully Boy
1914 · ★ 7
Lightning sketch propaganda stirs outrage about Reims bombing, and features a British bulldog eating the German sausage.
More info →
Charley's Black Magic
1949
This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.
More info →
Duce Narrates...
1945 · ★ 8
The first Greek animated film was shot by the cartoonist Stamatis Polenakis (1908-1997) with the title "The Duce tells...". The seven-minute "Mickey-Mouse-style" film, as its creator mentions in the credits, satirizes the Italian invasion of Greece on October 28, 1940, and especially Mussolini, who recounts his exploits, but reality constantly contradicts him. Stamatis Polenakis, one of the leading Greek cartoonists of the 20th century and a pioneer of animation in our country, began drawing the sketches for the film in 1942 in his hometown, Sifnos, where he had taken refuge during the Occupation. He worked under the boot of the Italian conqueror, risking arrest. The film was lost during the Civil War and it was not until 1980 that a negative was found and restored.
More info →Summer Travelling
1945
World War II propaganda trailer asking travellers to have patience and make concessions when travelling on trains. Film mostly consists of rostrum animation of still cartooned images with some very short pieces of true animation. (BFI)
More info →
Cartoons Go To War
1996 · ★ 10
This remarkable documentary dedicates itself to an extraordinary chapter of the second World War – the psychological warfare of the USA. America’s trusted cartoon darlings from the studios of Warner Bros., Paramount, and the “big animals” of the Disney family were supposed to give courage to the people at the homefront, to educate them, but also to simultaneously entertain them. Out of this mixture grew a genre of its own kind – political cartoons. Insightful Interviews with the animators and producers from back then elucidate in an amusing and astonishing way under which bizarre circumstances these films partially came into existence.
More info →
A Few Quick Facts: Japan
1945
Short cartoon made for US military soldiers during World War Two.
More info →
Momotaro, Sacred Sailors
1945 · ★ 4.7
The first Japanese feature-length animated film. It was directed by Mitsuyo Seo, who was ordered to make a propaganda film for the war by the Japanese Naval Ministry. Shochiku Moving Picture Laboratory shot the 74-minute film in 1944 and screened it on April 12, 1945. It is a sequel to Momotarō no Umiwashi, a 37-minute film released in 1943 by the same director. It is black and white. The whole movie also depicts the Japanese "liberation of Asia", as proclaimed by the Government at the time. Seo tried to give dreams to children, as well as to instill the hope for peace, with hidden movie's hints of dreams and hopes, under the appearance of war propaganda.
More info →