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Main Street on the March!

11 votes

This Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the Nazi occupation of the Benelux countries, and ends immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It chronicles how the people of "Main Street America", the country's military forces, and its industrial base were completely transformed when the decision was made to gear up for war. Original footage is interspersed with contemporary newsreels and stock footage.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1941-12-09

Runtime: 20 mins

Director: Edward L. Cahn

Spoken language: English

Genres: Documentary

Original title: Main Street on the March!

Production Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Narrator (voice)

John Nesbitt

Nurse (uncredited)

Barbara Bedford

Mrs. Schulte (uncredited)

Margaret Bert

Schulte Child (uncredited)

Robert Blake

Window Shopper (uncredited)

Naomi Childers

Engineer (uncredited)

Mark Daniels

Lighthouse Keeper (uncredited)

Robert Homans

News Vendor Rod Meakin (uncredited)

Milton Kibbee

Window Shopper (uncredited)

May McAvoy

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Whilst your average American citizen enjoyed the fruits of their labours and liberties, they begin to read of the war in Europe. As the Nazi war machine makes light work of the defences of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and even France the attention of the US government is drawn to apparent failings in it’s own abilities to defend itself! President Roosevelt attempts to galvanise his military by increasing massively the spend on the navy and the air force whilst improving vastly on the training facilities for and recruitment of an army that might be one tenth the size it needs to be. Then, of course, that fateful day in December arrives and the United States is no longer an observer in a conflict that has now taken a more global element from their perspective. It’s propagandist in nature, this film, but it doesn’t simply bang the drum. Rather more it portends what might need to happen amongst the ordinary people across the country and warns that without sacrifice and endeavour, then all they hold dear could end up gone. There’s plenty of archive, and some of that quite candidly illustrates the ruthlessness of the invaders as well as the unsuitability of a country that was using empty beer cans and old trucks to bring their forces to some semblance of fighting fitness and the message at the end is pretty robust.

2025-07-10

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