United Newsreel selections from the year 1944, mainly concentrating on the effort of the United States in WWII, but also covering events on other fields of the War. Unfortunately, the newsreels are grouped alphabetically by subject and not by date, so there is no particular chronological order to them. Nonetheless, very interesting material.
Title: New Plane Breaks Record IN First U.S. Flight [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, a Constellation airplane leaves California and lands in Washington, D.C., in less than 7 hours. Part 2, a missionary in Alaska adopts 20 Indian children. Part 3, eggs are processed in a Canadian dehydrating plant. Part 4, Mount Vesuvius, outside of Naples, erupts and the lava flow reaches San Sebastiano. Villages are evacuated in its path. Black ash rains on Salerno, 17 miles away.
Title: New U.S. Jet Propulsion Plane [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1 shows jet-assisted take offs by Navy planes. Part 2, Canadians pack Christmas packages for prisoners of war. Part 3, Gens. Marshall and Arnold address the American Legion Convention in Chicago. Part 4, Uruguay celebrates its 119th year of independence. Ambassador Dawson attends. Part 5, shows B-29's being made and flying. Gen. Chennault greets the first crew to arrive in China and decorates Gen. Kenneth B. Wolfe. Part 6, UNRRA meets in Montreal. Addresses are made by Mackenzie King and Herbert Lehman.
Title: Pacific Advance Continues [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, the 6th Army lands on Wake Island unopposed. Marine units advance in the Palau Islands. Shows Adm. Nimitz and Gen. MacArthur. Part 2, the 92nd Division of the 5th Army advances in Italy. Gen. Clark visits a hospital. Part 3 shows Wendell Willkie at the 1940 Republican Convention and with Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek. Part 4, Sec. of State Stettinius summarizes the results of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference. Part 5, Chinese troops capture the city of Tengchung in Burma after intense street fighting. Part 6, allied planes bomb the Ploesti oil fields.
Title: Prelude To Victory [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, Gen. Eisenhower lays a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and speaks to the French people. Part 2, Free French and U.S. troops enter Marseilles. U.S. troops join in a parade honoring the French underground. Part 3, allied troops enter Le Havre, Antwerp, and Brussels behind artillery and aerial bombardment. Gen. Montgomery receives accolades in Brussels. The 7th Army enters Lyons and collaborationists are marched through the streets.
Title: President Roosevelt Returns To Washington [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, President Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Henry Wallace ride from Union Station to the White House. F.D.R., Sec. of War Stimson, and Sec. of the Navy Forrestal visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Part 2, mail for U.S. troops is sorted at a New York City post office and at the front. Part 3, U.S. troops advance on Leyte behind artillery bombardment. Shows Gen. MacArthur. U.S. and Japanese ships battle in the Philippine Sea. Adm. Nimitz speaks after the naval victory. Part 4, trucks carry military supplies from Cherbourg to the front lines in operation "Red Ball Express."
Title: Republicans Nominate Dewey [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, shows the Republican Convention in Chicago. Personages: Gov. Bricker, Gov. Dewey, Gov. Landon, Representative Joseph W. Martin, Chairman Harrison E. Spangler, Senator Taft, Gov. Warren, and Wendell Willkie. Part 2, shows members of the new Italian cabinet. U.S. soldiers, including Gen. Mark Clark, attend mass. Part 3, Pres. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill of Rights. Shows rehabilitation activities of servicemen. Part 4, 70,000 Chinese laborers build an airfield in China.
Title: Roosevelt and Churchill End Quebec Talk [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, Gen. Marshall, Gen. Arnold, Gen. John Dill, and Adm. King attend a military ball in Quebec. President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill receive honorary degrees from McGill University. Other personages: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mackenzie King. Part 2, horses and mules draw buses in Rome during a transportation emergency. Part 3, Gen. Willoughby and a Brazilian general review cadets at West Point. Part 4 shows Marine Corps combat cameramen accompanying advancing infantry units on Guam.
Title: Roosevelt Wins [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1 shows Americans voting in various cities. Crowds in Times Square follow the returns. Gov. Dewey concedes defeat and President Roosevelt receives congratulations at Hyde Park. Part 2, delegates from 51 nations meet at an aviation conference in Chicago. Part 3, the Navy bombards Japanese positions on Leyte. Landing craft reach the beaches. Gen. MacArthur and President Osmena wade ashore. U.S. troops advance on the island. Part 4, the 3rd Army advances near Metz behind artillery and tanks. Gens. Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley meet.
Title: Royalty Christens U.S. Bomber [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, the King and Queen of England and Princess Elizabeth christen an airplane at a U.S. airfield in England and are greeted by Gen. Doolittle. Part 2 shows the processing of plasma and penicillin. Troops in Normandy receive medical care. Part 3, naval guns bombard Cherbourg. The 8th and 9th Air Forces bomb communication lines. British troops take Caen. Shows Gen. Montgomery.
Title: Rush Repairs of Supply Ships [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, sailors and Seabees in England repair damaged ships. Part 2, U.S. military police in Paris assist soldiers and civilians. Part 3, soldiers receive, mark, and return absentee ballots. Part 4, the 3rd Army fights in Metz and crosses the flooded Moselle River under a smoke screen. The 7th Army battles near Strasbourg. The 1st and 9th Armies fight at Aachen. Shows equipment advancing as artillery and tanks barrage German lines.
Title: Saipan: Base For The B-29's [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, airstrips are constructed on Saipan, the first B-29 lands there, and Gen. Haywood Hansel greets the crew. Gen. Arnold greets B-29 crews in Washington, D.C. Part 2, President Roosevelt and others gather in the White House as Cordell Hull resigns. Sec. of State Stettinius speaks at a Variety Club dinner. Part 3, C-82 transport planes are tested. Shows a lifeboat being dropped at sea from a B-17. Part 4, mail is transferred from a mail ship to a destroyer by breeches buoy. Part 5, Japanese planes attack a convoy off Leyte. U.S. troops advance across the island. Shows Gen. MacArthur.
Title: The Paris Story, 1944
Notes: Shows celebrations following the liberation of Paris: the 3rd Army crosses the Seine on pontoon bridges, Free French units enter the city, de Gaulle reviews a parade in his honor and places a wreath on the Arc de Triomphe, German snipers interrupt a ceremony at the Hotel de Ville. Includes shots of British and U.S. troops rounding up snipers in Paris and environs. Shots of Germans surrendering.
Title: Third Anniversary of Victory Fleet [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, Merchant seamen parade in New York City. Shows Adm. Emory Land. Part 2, shows Sec. of State Hull, Under Sec. Stettinius, Dr. Wellington Koo, and Lord Halifax at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference. Shows Donald M. Nelson and Gens. Stilwell and Hurley in Chungking. Part 3, shows amphibious landings on New Guinea and in the Palau Islands.
Title: Turkey Breaks With Germany [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, panoramic views of Istanbul. Von Papen leaves Turkey by train. Churchill meets with President Inonu of Turkey. Part 2, prefabricated concrete barges are manufactured. Part 3, Gen. de Gaulle visits the Vatican. Part 4 shows UNRRA operating schools and food dispensaries in French Morocco. Part 5, Vice Pres. Wallace inspects livestock on Siberian farms. Part 6, the 1st Army marches through towns in northern France. Shows German prisoners and allied air raids.
Title: U.S. Air Bases IN Russia [etc.], 1944
Notes: Part 1, U.S. planes bomb Yugoslav and Hungarian cities and land in the Ukraine. Ambassador Harriman and Gen. Ira C. Eaker greet the crews. The Russians stage a show for the U.S. fliers. Shows Gen. Perminov. Part 2, the island of Elba is taken by French troops. Shows Gen. Tassigny. Part 3, the mechanism of the German flying bomb is diagramed. Part 4, U.S. troops enter Cherbourg and take prisoners. Shows rockets being armed, loaded on planes, and fired on rail centers.
DVD-R IS IN ENGLISH WITH NO SUBTITLES. VARIABLE QUALITY, BUT OVERALL VERY GOOD.
APPROXIMATELY 149 MINS.
