WWII Newsreel: “The World in Action”
WWII Newsreel: “The World in Action” Produced by United Artists, “The World in Action” is a World War II-era newsreel that reminds viewers “New Soldiers Are Tough.” The newsreel opens with footage from December 1941, “as the wail of a banshee heralds a new chapter of total war.” Scenes of Japanese bombs falling on Manilla, Rangoon, and Mandalay are quickly followed with scenes of the devastation that followed, as lifeless bodies lay strewn amongst the rubble and crying family members cradle the dead and dying. The Japanese “tentacles of conquest” spread out across the specific, the announcer grimly states at mark 01:25, the world is facing an enemy that will stop at nothing to achieve world domination. With that, two Japanese soldier are shown executing two bound prisoners at close range.
