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I start out with what is a fun photo for me. Ten years ago I gave up trying to take care of my 1966 Mustang GT — with no garage for it and inadequate $ to really fix it up, I told my daughter that I might have to get rid of it. The solution was to give it to her … she got the ‘car’ bug more seriously than I ever did; she’s about 500 miles up in the Bay Area and has a garage to keep it safe.

Once or twice in the past I’ve posted pix of the car, which I get to drive for a few minutes every other year or so. She reworked parts of it and keeps it in great condition.

My daughter loves a particular Wim Wenders film almost as much as I do, and used its title for her custom license plate. And a few weeks ago she finally got the opportunity to take a posed picture with the Mustang in downtown San Francisco, matching a camera angle seen in the Wenders movie. So here it is … it can be enlarged so that the license plate is readable. Someday we’ll get some pictures matching the angles in the movie perfectly.

Dependable Michael McQuarrie sends along a pair of timely short subjects from World War 2, one English and one American. I have to say, the speech to America’s generals earlier this week, urging them to get tough, kill without mercy, etc., was pretty bizarre.

Well, I think I need to get tough around the house … and these two training films from our parents’ war are just the thing I need.

The 1940 English piece is all about battlefield etiquette, and a concept of ‘controlled fire’ — selling the idea that only infantry action that will succeed is orderly and directed by an officer. We love the vintage voiceover guy and his repeated admonition: “Shoot to kill!”

The basic message is to not shoot too early, and give away your position. It’s also judged unwise when scouting, to just stand up in the middle of a field where you can be picked off. Since training films were made to serve a purpose, you can bet that someone requested the topic because soldiers were just wandering around presenting themselves as targets. The training film is 35 minutes long — I can see young recruits being either confused or bored. But that title surely got ’em. Here’s the link:

The American picture makes its point with the kind of ruthlessness we associate with smart-aleck Warners cartoons, starting with its sarcastic title. It’s a gem, a well-directed piece with a very recognizable Stephen McNally and Barry Nelson playing tough GIs.

McNally captures two Japanese infantrymen who have just killed ten of his friends. The prisoners tell him that the American soldiers killed themselves, by making their positions known, ‘hiding’ in plain sight, and bunching up where a single machine gun burst could kill them all. It’s corny but effective, as it gets the point across. It’s also only about 8 minutes long, leaving nobody time to get bored.

Lock ‘n’ load!  America’s secretary of defense needs you ready to be tough. Here’s your link!

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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Things did go smoothly on CineSavant’s much-appreciated break … which was essentially two weeks spent in other towns, far away. Good food, good company, pure bliss. Thanks go to Charlie Largent and Alex Kirshenbaum for taking care of essential business. We did manage one new review for every Tuesday and Thursday. Now we’re looking at a flood of good ‘early Fall’ discs to cover, which have our spirits up.

One nice thing is that while I was away, correspondent and friend Bill Shaffer sent in the makings of an excellent CineSavant Column item.

On September 22 Bill wentto the Glenwood Arts Theater in Kansas City, one of the movie theaters owned by the late Wade Williams. The theater was selling old, discontinued Image DVDs of early Williams releases. Bill bought a few, but his interest was taken up by the theater’s lobby display — featuring a wide selection of prime movie posters from Williams’ personal collection. A standout attraction was a couple of full-sized, classic movie robots.

So here is Bill’s selection of killer images of Wade Williams’ poster collection … some real beauties in there. They zoom out to make much larger images. One of the alien robots should need no introduction; the second is the killer metal man from 1954’s Target Earth!

We of course hope that some of the movies that Williams controlled will now be freed up, so they can receive remasters and disc releases.  Rocketship X-M and  Kronos come immediately to mind, but there are others as well. We’re glad that Edgar Ulmer’s  Detour was remastered a few years back, apparently without the benefit of elements in Williams’ possession.

We hope that the great collector’s heirs have his holdings properly inventoried. Williams reportedly held on to some film elements for  Invaders from Mars. Could they perhaps include the original optical elements for the effects shots, that could be used to improve the already fabulous Ignite Films 4K disc for  Invaders?

Thanks to Bill Shaffer …. and thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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Yes, CineSavant usually doesn’t post on Mondays. The  CineSavant Reviews will continue, but the CineSavant Page is going dark for a few days.  The same thing happened last April. It’s nothing sinister, negative, or suchlike, so no need for concern.

New reviews will still be posted at Trailers from Hell on the normal days Tuesday and Saturday. It’s just that they won’t be promoted here or on my Facebook page for a couple of spins of the wheel.

The place to check on Tuesday and Thursday will be my CineSavant Archives Page at Trailers from Hell. Every new review posted shows up there instanfry . . . indstilly . . . right away. In other words, a new review should be up some time tomorrow, Tuesday the 16th.

Sorry for the break. DVD Savant and CineSavant have been up for 25 years and 4 months without a whole lotta interruptions. Not that we can’t be tempted away . . .

Watch this space too. The CineSavant Column will be back very soon.

Our custom for these breaks is to invite our old friend Sierra Charriba  ↗ to step in and say a few friendly, reassuring words. He’s too busy burning and pillaging right now to make a personal appearance, but he did say I could convey a message to all readers that dare set foot on his land, which he reminds us is 3 times the size of Texas.

Charriba was again fairly aggressive, confrontational:

“CineSavant will be back!   Who you send against me now?”

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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A link offered by Joe Dante for another subject led us to this weird little animated cartoon that keys right into the Hollywood blacklist years. It was made in 1945 by the newly formed UPA, just as the war was ending. The director is Robert Cannon, who animated for all the great cartoon directors. He co-founded UPA and would direct many of its classy short subjects.

Brotherhood of Man is an early UPA cartoon that attracted a lot of unnecessary controversy: say something publicly that smacks of good will toward men, and you’ll draw political fire. T’was ever thus: the same year saw Frank Sinatra push through the production of a musical short subject promoting race and ethnic tolerance, Mervyn LeRoy and Albert Maltz’s  The House I Live In. All Frank does is sing a song encouraging some street kids to not discriminate, but it became ‘controversial’ anyway.

Brotherhood carries some credits that would would ring alert bells with the HUAC. One writer was the Hollyood Ten member Ring Lardner Jr.. Animator-designer and fellow blacklistee John Hubley is in the credits too. Art designer Paul Julian should be known to fans of the fantastic; besides working as an animator (as on  The Tell-Tale Heart) and painting on his own, he created a number of dramatic title sequences for Roger Corman.

The good ‘Animation Obsessive’ article  The Left Orientation has more background on the ‘dangerous’ cartoon. Imagine, saying that people of all races deserve a level playing field for employment and professions.

And don’t forget  J. Pierrepont Finch’s take on The Brotherhood of Man, too. The song has a satirical bite … success depends on Who Ya Know, Baby.

Then, from Gary Teetzel comes a strange variety show clip, from 1969.

Johnny Cash and activist folk singer Odetta sit on a TV stage, exchange some limp ‘intro’ talk, and launch into the Ballad of the Hammonds, the eerie song from Val Lewton’s  I Walked with a Zombie.

Written by calypso singer Sir Lancelot, the ballad pre-existed the movie, with different lyrics and a different theme. In the movie, it’s used as a passive-aggressive weapon against the white owners of the Island of San Sebastian, a protest song criticizing the scandal in the Hammond Family.

Other lyrics were used when various artists covered the song, but for reasons unknown Johnny Cash and Odetta stick very close to the text used in the movie, without explanation.

Maybe the show came together really quickly … we just never expected Johnny Cash to sing a song from a Val Lewton movie. Maybe he and Odetta took a liking to the “Ah woe, ah Me!” lyric. Maybe they were stumped for a song and took a break to watch a horror movie on TV!

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson

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Friend and correspondent Craig Reardon points out a link that will be important to fans of writer-director Billy Wilder: it’s a 52-minute behind the scenes documentary on the making of Wilder and Diamond’s  The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

Much of it is in the German language, but smart YouTube users know how to turn on the site’s automatic translating subtitles, which are rough but helpful. The translated title is “Billy Wilder: Report on a Hollywood Director.”

Wilder talks at length in very clear German; on the set he speaks English. The BTS material is fascinating. One scene covered is the deleted ‘Upside Down Room’ mystery — we witness Wilder’s actors as they concentrate to figure out what the heck he wants.  ↖  There’s a lot of genuine, funny work interplay between Wilder, Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Tamara Toumanova, and Clive Revill. Plus some nice music on the set!

I.A.L. Diamond gets a lot of attention as well; it’s really fascinating. They work in Hollywood and in Berlin. Warm-ups and dance rehearsals pre-filming look great, as does the action on Wilder’s giant London street set designed by Alexander Trauner — rows of giant façades in a big field. Why this movie was cut, and why its long version was not preserved, is a major Hollywood crime.

From correspondent Michael McQuarrie and the Internet Archive come six minutes of House Un-American Activites Committee testimony from none other than Walt Disney. This happened on October 30, 1947.

Disney does not look happy to be in Washington, but neither does he put on a performance, or act conspiratorial. The newsreel cameraman skips some talk about the studio but captures Disney’s explanations about pressure from labor organizers, or racketeers, or as Disney says, communists. He complains that he was smeared in various periodicals, for not ‘cooperating’ with the Reds.

Disney was a ‘friendly witness,’ treated with deference and courtesy and not pressured or harassed. This  Encyclopedia.com page carries a full transcript of Disney’s testimony. Disney does name two names of people he believes to be communists. His strongest statement is to contrast communists and fascists with what he calls ‘100 percent Americans.’

Thanks to Michael Draine for important corrections, and a link to a ‘real’ full transcript of Disney’s testimony.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson