Saturday, May 26, 2007

WW II Movie Newsreels Online at Ancestry.com

Long before we consumed our news from network television and eons before the 24/7 news coverage we have today, you could "see" what was happening in the world every time you went to the movies. Anyone who went to the movies through the 1940s and 50s will remember the movie newsreels, giving us the news of the day. Bigger than life and dramatically presented, an important part of this movie history is now available on Ancestry.com. The site provides online access to the United Newsreel Motion Pictures (1942-1946), the actual movie newsreel of the war years.

As described on the Ancestry site, "During WWII, the U.S. Government produced a number of newsreels depicting Allied military operations in various theatres of war and events taking place in the U.S. home front. Typically 10 minutes long, these counter-propaganda newsreels were shown in U.S. movie theaters, distributed in friendly and neutral countries and dropped behind German lines." As a child of the 50s, having sat through what seemed like hundreds of these at the movie matinees we went to as kids (and not to thrilled at the time), today I am thrilled that we can now share some of that experience with our children.

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