Aerial Gunner!

[Gene]

I picked up a $5 "WWII War Collection" DVD last night featuring 20 films, some of which made by the War Dept. during WWII (which is why I shelled out my HARD EARNED $5!). Among them are "Gung Ho," "Corregidor," "Aerial Gunner" and several others, not to mention some classic 70's Italian cheeseballs starring Klaus Kinski.

The first one I wanted to watch was "Aerial Gunner," because my grandpa wrote a letter home in 1943 that actually has his thoughts on it. I thought it was incredibly B-quality, the special effects for the time were even bad, and although the costumes were all accurate (of course, it was during the war), the acting was pretty bad.

Here's my grandpa's amateur review, from a letter dated 6-30-1943:

"Saw one of the worst movies seen to date, “Aerial Gunner.” Movies of this nature always seem to disgust us—There are always so many mistakes and are always so corny. Movies of such a nature should never be shown to soldiers. It's really a shame the way these pictures are murdered."

'Nuff said Gramps! Although the poster for the film is amazing.

 

[Widebrim]

Like that poster! It's true, Gene, that most war films of the time (at least American) were not as accurate as they could have been. Granted, producers/directors were restrained by the Production Code and the culture of the times, but the resulting product was "Hollywoodized," propaganda. I recall my father, while watching the end of Battle Ground, (which is actually quite a good film) and upon seeing GIs singing cadence as their replacements marched by them, saying something to the effect of, "You'd never do that," and he was of course right. An example of a film which is realistic in its portrayal of war and its results is the neorealist Italian obra, Open City (1945), which takes place in Rome after the Nazis declared it an "open city." The American release was actually censored, resulting in a cut of 15 minutes.

After the WWII, films dealing with war progressively became more realistic (perhaps beginning with 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives). A pretty good film about the Korean War is Fuller's, The Steel Helmet, although it still isn't as gritty as one would hope. Even today, we still see examples of Hollywoodizing (Pearl Harbor), and even revisionist history (which some have claimed for Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna). When I was in Iraq, I saw an ad for some TV program about the war, and it showed a reoccuring female character on foot patrol with some unit. I immediately thought, "That's not right," since even female medics don't normally go "outside the wire,", but stay on base. (They were, however, sometimes part of refueling missions and the like, but not of foot patrols with Grunts or Cavalrymen.) What I also see today in war films is too much emphasis on macho postering and over-formality (e.g., standing at parade rest while speaking to a lower-ranking NCO, etc.), which really doesn't exist much in war zones; you're simply GIs working together to get a job done.

 

[FinalVestige79]

I got the same set!! Gotta love how almost all the films are propaganda lol.

 

[DutchIndo]

Battleground was a great movie saw as a kid and have it on DVD. My friend and I always laughed at the cornball language. There is a lot of "Swell", "Gee Whiz" and my favorite "See" (" I ain't taking the rap See !). My friends Father informed us that is how they did talk. In an interview I read where some 101 Veteran actually cancelled his HBO Series BOB because of the cursing. At least back then Hollywood supported the War effort. I read a while back Matt Groening was PO'd because some Tanks had Bart Simpson painted on them.

 

[Widebrim]

Battleground was a great movie saw as a kid and have it on DVD. My friend and I always laughed at the cornball language. There is a lot of "Swell", "Gee Whiz" and my favorite "See" (" I ain't taking the rap See !). My friends Father informed us that is how they did talk. In an interview I read where some 101 Veteran actually cancelled his HBO Series BOB because of the cursing. At least back then Hollywood supported the War effort. I read a while back Matt Groening was PO'd because some Tanks had Bart Simpson painted on them.

That's interesting, DI. I asked my father years ago if there was much cursing going on during the war (among G.I.s), and he said no. That's not to say that it didn't exist, but it seems true that a lot of the cursing we associate with, say, Vietnam and other "modern" wars, was not as prevelant (especially the "F" word). Keep in mind, though, that some words that we find to be very mild today, like "nuts" (one of my father's favorite expressions), were actually considered quite inflammatory in those days. Yeah, I've got Battleground on VHS, only because years ago I asked my parents to buy it for me as a gift (as well as Sahara, one of my all-time favorites).

 

[Gene]

I actually have postcards with guys saying things like "that's no shit" and "*******." . My grandpa cursed A LOT but I tend to think the "F" word was reserved for incredibly bad situations. That's not to say that obviously the censors were much more strict on language in movies back in the day though. I seem to recall a book called "Curse Like a Soldier" that deals with slang and language from WWII.

My favorite WWII slang is "what's the dope?" Kids these days think that they invented the use of "dope" in common hip-hop language.

 

[cco23i]

I think too that it depended on the soldiers job. I know many of the aircraft mechanics I talked to said they were told "they cursed worse than a sailor".

Scott

 

[Widebrim]

It depends on what you consider "bad language," too. My father was in the Infantry (PTO), so I'm sure that there was some peppering of dialogue going on...