Browse 43 movies from U.S. Army Signal Corps
Introducing Private Snafu, the nation's worst soldier and his various versions in different branches of the armed forces. The cartoon, ironic and humorous in tone, was created during World War II and it was designed to instruct service personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects, and also to improve troop morale. The main character's name is a play on the military slang acronym SNAFU, "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up."
Jun 1943
Military training film exposing the means used by Nazi agents to extract military information from talkative soldiers.
Jan 1943
Originally made with a German soundtrack for screening in occupied Germany and Austria, this was the first documentary to show what the Allies found when they liberated the Nazi extermination camps: the survivors, the conditions, and the evidence of mass murder.
Jul 1945
Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
Dec 1945
After the suppression of "Let There Be Light" (a documentary about combat-induced post-traumatic stress disorders which presented many inconvenient and demoralizing truths), the U.S. Army Signal Corp created this dramatized up-beat remake of the film. Only this time, the production excluded the involvement of John Houston, the producer of the original documentary.
May 1948
Live footage from concentration camps after the liberation, and the complex transport and lodging of masses of prisoners of war and other deported people back to their home countries, at the end of World War II. A 45min 35mm print also exists (shown at Cinémathèque française in 2023).
Jan 1946
U.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.
Jul 1947
Know Your Ally: Britain was a 45-minute propaganda film made in 1944. It was narrated by Walter Huston and produced by the United States War Department and Signal Corp to solidify Anglo-American solidarity within the ranks as well as counter Nazi propaganda aimed at weakening the Alliance.
Jan 1944
A documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Jul 1943
Actual footage by the United States Signal Corps of the landing and attack on Arawe Beach, Cape Glouster, New Britain island in 1943 in the South Pacific theatre of World War Two, and the handicaps of the wild jungle in addition to the Japanese snipers and pill-box emplacements.
Jun 1944
Baptism of Fire is a 1943 American documentary, meant to be an Army training film. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Dec 1943
Propaganda short film depicting the rise of Nazism in Germany and how political propaganda is similarly used in the United States. The film was made to make the case for the desegregation of the United States armed forces.
A young American pilot, fighting in 1944, who writes a final letter to his father, a stoic veteran of World War I, bearing his soul to the man who inspired him to enlist.
World War II propaganda short which focuses on the dangers of inadvertent dispersal of military information.
Jan 1942
Documentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps after the North African campaign.
Mar 1944
Documentary about the importance of discipline, team work and rank in the military.
Several servicemen relax by playing pool, but one of them goes off to spend time with a prostitute. Later, he discovers he has contracted a venereal disease. A graphic and frank presentation of the types and treatment of venereal disease follows. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2007.
Feb 1942
Shot in 1941, this black-and-white instructional film (featuring actor Alan Ladd) serves as a veritable time capsule on the history of the sport, with advice on ski design, schussing, lacquer, wax and toe plates.
Jan 1941
Training Film No. A-3: Poor Instruction, Rifle Litter, First Aid Demonstration, Bayonet Drill, Firing Range Instruction, Drill Squad, Charts and Instruction.
Nov 1941
An official training film from the War department. In April 1942, a detail of five enlisted men and two officers, Capt. Paul Lafferty and Lt. John Woodward, left the 87th Regiment at Mt Rainier for Sun Valley to produce winter training films on ski safety, snow camping, ski first aid, ski mountaineering, and ski equipment.
Apr 1942