1. A demonstration of three principles for effective teaching (48:41)

Date:
1942
Summary:
An extemporaneous classroom demonstration of the cooperative planning of an assignment for the unit, '"The Historical Development of Certain Basic Institutions of Freedom in America." Mr. Roland Crary is the demonstration teacher of pupils selected from an eleventh-grade class in American History of the University High School of Iowa City, Iowa. The film was constructed for the purpose of enriching the usual procedures, not of superseding them, in an effort to conserve the time of teachers in assembling materials.

2. A letter from Bataan (14:21)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
Shane, Maxwell, 1905-1983
Summary:
A Hollywood short aiding the war effort, emphasizing the need for preparedness and conservation of materials, i.e. rubber, metal, shellac. An American soldier writes home from Bataan, and while his family reads the letter, the soldier's ghostly apparition interjects statistics about food and equipment shortages.

3. A new fire bomb (08:46)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of Civilian Defense
Summary:
Describes and provides information about methods of defense regarding a recently developed type of German explosive fire bomb. In dramatic reenactments, wardens and civilians are warned to keep away from bombs that have fallen in the street. Various methods are shown for attacking bombs that have fallen in houses. The film demonstrates ways of applying water while taking advantage of the protection of brick walls.

4. An air raid warden's report (10:50)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of Civilian Defense
Summary:
Shows the importance of accuracy in the information a warden collects at the scene of disaster and the exact manner in which he should transmit information to the control.

5. Basketball Fundamentals (14:07)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
Coronet Productions, Bureau of Audio-Visual Aids, Extension Division, Indiana University
Summary:
Coach Branch McCracken and the Indiana University basketball team demonstrate in regular and slow-motion photography the fundamental skills involved in shooting, passing, dribbling, and defensive and offensive footwork. Coach McCracken appears briefly at the end directly addressing viewers.

6. Blues and boogie (08:48)

Date:
1942
Summary:
Musical performance revue that includes three separate songs in this order: Some of these days, Caldonia, and Is you is, or is you ain't my baby?

8. Fundamentals of end cutting tools (12:03)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of Education
Summary:
Discusses radius, threading, sheer-cut finishing, round-nosed finishing, and side-facing tools. Demonstrates the correct setting of the tools and the type of cut each makes.

9. Hidden Weapons (10:31)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Department of Agriculture, Wilding Picture Productions, Inc.
Summary:

10. High Over The Borders (19:35)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
New York Zoological Society, National Film Board of Canada
Summary:
In their routes of migration, birds "mock the man-made lines by which nations separate themselves," as the narrator states in this film intended to foster goodwill between the nations of the Americas. Two boys, Richie in the North and Ricardo in the South, both feel ownership of the barn swallows that reside in their respective homes at opposite ends of migratory routes. Aerial photography follows Canada geese migrating from northern Quebec to the Chesapeake Bay. Technically advanced high speed photography reveals the beating wings of the ruby-throated hummingbird. The bird banding and migratory data-collecting work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is explained. Animated maps of the hemisphere illustrate some of the long-distance bird migration patterns between North and South America.

11. Hill Town of Guatemala (10:25)

Date:
1942
Summary:
The fascinating life of several small towns perched on the slopes of an extinct volcanic mountain. | The fascinating life of several small towns perched on the slopes of an extinct volcanic mountain.

12. Home on the range (10:54)

Date:
1942
Summary:
Describes the productive power of ranchers and their role in supplying America's war effort during World War II. Portrays ranch life and western range country. Shows waterholes, windmills and watering tanks. Stresses improvements made through government range programs.

13. Japs bomb U.S.A.! (09:43)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
Castle Films, inc.
Summary:
"Newsreel pictures of the attack of Dec. 7, 1941, on Pearl Harbor. Closes with America's ringing answer to the enemy challenge." (War Films Bulletin of the Extension Division Indiana University, February, 1943, 5). This American newsreel portrays the attack on Pearl Harbor and the aftermath of the strike. Includes footage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's December 8th "Infamy" speech in front of a joint session of Congress.

14. Japs bomb U.S.A.! (10:23)

Date:
1942
Summary:
"Newsreel pictures of the attack of Dec. 7, 1941, on Pearl Harbor. Closes with America's ringing answer to the enemy challenge." (War Films Bulletin of the Extension Division Indiana University, February, 1943, 5). This American newsreel portrays the attack on Pearl Harbor and the aftermath of the strike. Includes footage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's December 8th "Infamy" speech in front of a joint session of Congress.

15. Know your enemy--Japan! (14:47)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
Knox, Gordon, 1906-1992
Summary:
"Produced in cooperation with the Institute of Pacific Relations, this film answers such vital questions as: How large in the Japanese Empire? Is Japan self-sufficient in food? What is Japan's naval and military strength? What are the living standards of the Japanese people? What are Japan's vital weaknesses? How can Japan be defeated?"--War Films Bulletin of the Extension Division Indiana University, February, 1943.

16. Middle East (07:10)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
British Ministry of Information
Summary:
Using maps and animated diagrams, the importance of the Middle East in the world strategy of the Allied nations during World War II is shown. Austere images and narration inform the viewer of the strategic issues at stake: control of oil production, the region's role as a wall obstructing supply lines between Japan and Europe, the distance Allied supplies must travel to reach Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Iran. Narration states "The Middle East stands between our enemies. While we hold it our enemies cannot win, and it will become a vital instrument in their defeat."

17. Monuments of Ancient Mexico (35:12)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
Summary:
"The title of this film is self-explanatory. It is especially adapted for students of archaeology and anthropology" (A List of U.S. War Information Films, Office of War Information, Bureau of Motion Pictures, April, 1943, 13)

18. Orchids and Other Flora of Tropical America (10:43)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, The National Geographic Society
Summary:
Described as a film portraying "twenty types of orchids and other flora of South and Central America and the conditions under which they grow" (U.S. Government Films, U.S. Office of Education, 1954, 134), its underlying subject is enchantment with the projected image itself. The color palette of Kodachrome reversal film is on display, capturing the faces of young women posed with exotic tropical flowers. The natural riches of Latin America --cacao, mangoes, and coffee--are presented for the delectation of audiences to the north. One of many similarly-styled productions in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs catalog of short, documentary subjects, this film contributes to the war era campaign to sway popular opinion toward a spirit of allegiance and neighborly-ness between the nations of the Americas.

19. Pan-American Bazaar (08:54)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, R.H. Macy and Company, Inc.
Summary:
A Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs film reporting on a marketplace of goods from Latin American nations held at Macy's Department store in New York City's Herald Square. Promoting more than commerce between nations, both the bazaar and the film are intended to reinforce alliances between all the nations of the Americas during wartime. Showing the flags of the nations represented, narration states "21 symbols of American solidarity, 21 Republics firmly consolidated, to make up our western hemisphere." Color photography accentuates the beauty and exoticism of the displays. As shoppers are shown admiring the displays of art and culture and purchasing from each nation's vendors, the audience is told "they bought the goods that Latin America has to sell, money from merchandise, goodwill build on good trade relations, every sale a guarantee that the Americas mean business. Business that means friendship in the western hemisphere."

20. Patagonian Playground (09:33)

Date:
1942
Main contributors:
United States. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
Summary:
Using color photography, this travelogue transports viewers in the U.S. to the exotic locale of Nahuel Huapi National Park, in the Argentine Andes. Showing the stifling mid-summer heat of Buenos Aires in January, the narrator explains city-dwellers' desire to escape to the cool, clean air of the mountains. The camera follows a group of young Argentines as they hike in the mountains, play with a herd of dairy cows, pick wild strawberries and prepare their yerba mate. Striking landscape photography shows glaciers, waterfalls, and captures an avalanche as it occurs. As with all Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs films, affinity between the nations of the Americas is encouraged by presenting foreign places to domestic audiences in an appealing, humanizing light.