During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and immediately after it, in addition to the many private films created to help the war effort, many Allied countries had governmental or semi-governmental agencies commission
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
and training films for home and foreign consumption.
Animated film
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
s are not included here.
British Empire and Commonwealth
United Kingdom
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Australia
In Australia the
Australian News and Information Bureau, under the
Department of Information, produced the following
Canada
In Canada, the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...
either distributed or produced the following as part of its ''
Canada Carries On
''Canada Carries On'' (French: ''En avant Canada'') was a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada which ran from 1940 to 1959. The series was initially created as morale-boosting propaganda films during the Second World War. Wi ...
'' and ''
The World in Action
''The World in Action'' (aka ''World in Action'') was a monthly series of propaganda films from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), created to boost morale and show the Allied war effort during the Second World War.
The series was inspired ...
'' series.
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
India
United States
The United States had the largest film industry of any of the Allied powers, and its use for propaganda purposes is legendary. Because it was so big, there was no single governmental or semi-governmental agency that centrally controlled it. Instead, the
Office of War Information
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and othe ...
co-ordinated efforts among many entities to produce propaganda:
OCIAA:
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
OEM:
Office for Emergency Management
OSS:
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
USAAF:
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
USASC:
U.S. Army Signal Corps
USASSD: U.S. Army Special Service Division
USDA:
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
USDT:
United States Department of Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
USN:
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
USDW:
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, ...
WACMPI:
War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry
The War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry was a group that was formed by the U.S. motion picture industry to assist the government during World War II. It distributed many government-produced propaganda films and organized Serie ...
Several of these films, although they have propaganda value, were used as training films for the United States armed forces.
1941
Pre-December films given IMDb release date where available.
1942
*The 1942 Academy Award for Best Documentary, whose time frame included part of 1943, was split among four films, including the two seen here. Also, that year saw the amalgamation of the feature and short subject documentary categories into a single category.
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
Year uncertain
Netherlands and Belgium
The
low countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
were overrun by Nazi Germany in the May–June 1940 blitzkrieg. The Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands most important colony, was conquered by Japan in early 1942. However each had a government in exile which set up the
Belgian Ministry of Information and
Netherlands Information Bureau, which produced the following films. There were also films made by the resistance while the respective countries were occupied.
Soviet Union
In the Soviet Union, unless otherwise noted, the
Central Newsreel Studio produced these films.
Soviet films made for foreign markets
In addition to the above, the Soviet cinema distributing company,
Artkino, produced the following for foreign markets.
See also
*
List of films based on war books
*
List of films made in the Third Reich
*
List of Holocaust films
*
List of World War II films
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allied Propaganda Films Of World War Ii, List Of
Lists of World War II films
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Works about the United States Marine Corps
Articles containing video clips