''Design for Death'' is a 1947 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

that won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Academy Honorary Award, Special Awards to ''Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. The ...

. It was based on a shorter U.S. Army training film, '' Our Job in Japan'', that had been produced in 1945–1946 for the soldiers occupying

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Both films dealt with Japanese culture and the origins of the war. Following the war, Peter Rathvon at RKO, who had seen ''Our Job in Japan'' during his own military service, decided to produce a commercial version of the film. He hired the original writer and editor to work on the new project. Theodor S. Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, co-authored ''Design for Death'' with his wife

Helen Palmer Geisel Helen Marion Palmer Geisel (September 16, 1898 – October 23, 1967), known professionally as Helen Palmer, was an American children's writer, editor, and philanthropist. She was a co-founder and vice president of Beginner Books, and was mar ...

. Elmo Williams was the editor for both films. Subsequently, Sid Rogell replaced Rathvon, and became the film's producer. The film was given wide release in January 1948; a review in ''

Daily Variety ''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in ...

'' characterized it as "a documentary of fabulous proportions ... one of the most interesting screen presentations of the year".. Secondary reference; primary reference hasn't yet been confirmed.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

, writing in ''The New York Times'', was not complimentary; he wrote that the film "makes the general point that too much control by a few people is a dangerous – a '

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

' – thing and that another world war can be prevented only by the development of responsible, representative governments throughout the world. That is a valid message, but the weakness with which it is put forth in a melange of faked and factual pictures and in a ponderous narration does not render it very forceful". In his memoir, Elmo Williams maintains that he and Geisel created ''Design for Death'' nearly in its entirety, and that the credits for Fleischer and Warth were nominal ones. Rogell, Fleischer, and Warth received the Academy Awards for the film. Copies of ''Design for Death'' are apparently rare. Geisel thought that they had all been destroyed. However, the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

sponsored a screening in October 2005, and parts of the film were included in the documentary '' The Political Dr. Seuss''. Some materials related to ''Design for Death'', including its script, are in an archive of Geisel's papers at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

Cast

Kent Smith Frank Kent SmithGordon, Dr. Roger L. (2018). Supporting Actors in Motion Pictures: Volume II'. Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing. pp. 130, 131. . "Kent Smith: Frank Kent Smith was born on March 19, 1907, in New York City. ..He was marrie ...

as Narrator *

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's '' Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's ...

as Narrator

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Design For Death 1947 films 1947 documentary films American black-and-white films American documentary films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Black-and-white documentary films Films directed by Richard Fleischer Films with screenplays by Dr. Seuss Documentary films about World War II Documentary films about Japan Japan in non-Japanese culture Occupied Japan RKO Pictures films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language documentary films