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Page 162 The Educational Screen The War Against War Movies Here is a ringing appeal to thinking Americans to act! It should start an avalanche of letters to Congressmen, even from readers who never wrote before. Write your Congressman now! HAROLD PUTNAM Editor, Victory Forum Boston Globe, Boston, I4ass. t; Scenes from three OWI film releases: "Manpower" (top), "Home on the Range"(center),"Divide and Conquer"(bottom) iHli war against government movies is on. The Lamjmign threatens the prosecution of a democratic peace and the building of a durable peace. Under the leadership of Elmer Davis and Xelson Rockefeller, the Office of War Information and the Office of Inter-.\merican .\fifairs have been utilizing movies to show the American people what's going on in the war and to show them the iniportance of internation- al co-operation—in the war and in the peace! No other government agencies have used the medium of motion pictures so widely and so effectively. Xo other government agencies have surpassed the work of Davis and Rockefeller in getting the truth across by the silver screen. But they've circumnavigated traditional censorships. They've stepped on the toes of a few loud-mouthed Congressmen. They're wide open for below-the-belt attacks of demagogues—who don't want government information programs to be too effective. The threat- ened result is chaos in the government's information plans and the end of government movies. The program comniitee of the Needham, Mass.. Forum foresaw this possibility months ago. It didn't take much foresight to perceive that a Congress, which could get overheated when the Trea.sury Department utilized Walt Disney's genius, would almost certainly start boiling over at a succession of government war movies. We planned our program in January. Con- gress began exploding in February. We showed our movies in March. We showed them to build public support in our community for what we regarded as an essential information service in a war of ideas. W'e hoped that other communities across the nation would see these movies in time—would see them and support them before their Congressman ])articipated in plans to sabotage the whole program. Whenever government movies have been mentioned, a few have shied at "government propaganda" or have called it "New Deal stuff." But they've stayed to see some of the best movies of the war. some of the most thoughtful film treatments of the burning issues of a world in flames—and they've gone out from movie evenings convinced supporters of "Films for \'ictory." But not enough peo])le are seeing the movies. Our Regional Director of the Office of War Information tells me he has several crack pictures "gathering dust" in his office—because organizations haven't heard of these movies. I su.spect it is because they don't know how ine.xpensive an evening of war movies can be. And because they don't appreciate the dangers involved in the campaign to eliminate all government war movies. My hope is that this program will get rolling. That enough people will see these movies to realize how es-