This DVD/VHS covers a part of World War II history which is ordinarily overlooked...the Negro (African-American) soldier. There are scenes which show the physical, academic and practical challenges Black American troops met and completed. Additionally, this film shows the morale and spirit of the "home front" while the troops were away fighting. My favorite portion of this includes the reading of some sections of Mein Kampf and the specific mention of Blacks therein. Some film scenes were used elsewhere. Overall, this is not a comprehensive documentary. Rather, it is a snapshot of a place in time designed to booster wartime morale and to combat the argument-put forth elsewhere-that WWII was not the Black man's war but instead should be left for whites to fight without involvement by Black America. The direction of this is worthy of Frank Capra.
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Sisko2414 December 2005
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planktonrules11 May 2017"The Negro Soldier" is a film you wouldn't show in the 21st century. With our hyper-awareness of racism and its evils, folks today would immediately notice that the documentary paints a ridiculous image of 'we're all one big happy family' in regard to blacks in America during WWII. The truth is, they were second-class soldiers serving in a mostly segregated military. Blacks serving on naval vessels usually were assigned roles as glorified domestics--serving coffee and the like to the white sailors. And, even with the famed Tuskeegee Airmen and their wonderful service record, they were never integrated into white units. So, despite the image the film is trying to create, viewers today will quickly dismiss this as mere wartime propaganda...which it is.
Now I am not saying it's a badly made film. While the framework of a minister giving his sermon on Americanism and the war effort is patently ridiculous, as well as his congregation members joining in on the sermon...the effect is also rather sweet. An odd dichotomy, I know.
My advice is by all means watch the film. It does celebrate the many achievements of black soldiers...and it an interesting curio of the day...a flawed curio, of course. -
This production was made in partnership with the then called Department of War. The goal of this film was to recruit African-Americans to join the war effort in WWII. The film tries to convince blacks that the U.S. has always had an amicable relationship with them. The film offers happy imagery of blacks building log cabins beside the early settlers and working pleasantly beside whites in factories. However, never does the film try to explain or apologize for slavery. The film also suggests that blacks have always had the same opportunities as whites. In this film, slavery, lynchings and inequality are simply erased. For this reason, this film is a true treasure for the propaganda film archive.
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kosmasp10 October 2017As all "good" propaganda this also is telling the truth. Well part of it at least. Omissing crucial other things that may not serve the purpose the movie/documentary had in mind. Because this was about recruiting people of color to the military. So you know, they only tell the people the good stuff, not the things that were still dividing America. It's almost tragic, but some of the things dividing are still very apparent (especially with number 45 in power).
You may say, why go to current politics? The question should not be raised, because while there is no commentary at hand (at least not with Netflix), this is a testament to a part of history some like to forget. And how devious methods were applied to benefit an army, pretending to be more than it was ... -
gavin694221 May 2016Documentary focusing on the contributions to the American war effort of African-American soldiers.
The film was produced by Frank Capra as a follow up to his successful film series "Why We Fight". The army used this film as propaganda to convince Black Americans to enlist in the army and fight in the war. Most people regarded the film very highly, some going as far as to say that "The Negro Soldier" was "one of the finest things that ever happened to America".
In different movies during this time period, African Americans were often portrayed as humorous characters. However, after "The Negro Soldier", African Americans played more respectable and prominent roles in films. I don't know if this film is directly connected to the new way these men were shown in film. I can acknowledge there was definitely a post-war shift. And it might be as simple as saying that white men and black men fought together, making them more unified in the 1940s... but that would disregard the role that minorities had in earlier wars. -
Michael_Elliott10 September 2015The Negro Soldier (1944)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Mildly entertaining documentary from the War Department, which was made to try and get more black people to join the military. Many of these WWII documentaries were directed by people like Frank Capra and John Huston but this one here comes from Stuant Heslier who got the job at William Wyler quit the project thinking that the documentary was too fake for its own good.
If you recently viewed this film on Turner Classic Movies then you probably saw the introduction with author Mark Harris. If not, his book "Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War" has some information about this film. From Harris, the War Department feared that black people weren't going to join the Army because there were reports out there that their lives might be better if the United States lost the war. When viewing this film it's obvious the see that the "truth" was being left out and especially since this film tries to make it seem like black people were "free" during 1944.
Of course, we know that a lot of hard times laid ahead but, as Harris states, it's important to remember that this film was made during wartime and the War Department needed people to join. The documentary features Joe Louis as someone doing it "right" and there's a lot of footage from the Olympics that were held in Germany where Jesse Owens shined. The film also talks about Hitler wanting to destroy black people and their freedom. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on here and the film is certainly entertaining but there's just too much missing or covered up for it to be a complete entertainment. -
I am continuing my US military propaganda film viewing series. I was surprised that this was available on Netflix, but grateful because some of the other films are much harder to come by. Of course, the word "negro" is no longer acceptable, but I'm not going to blame the film as racist for using it, since it was a vastly different time. If there is racism in the film, I will address it separately, but only for historical and cultural analysis, and not to blame the filmmakers or offer a prohibition on its content. The film starts out with exterior shots of people of color entering a church and a minister leading a sermon. Everyone looks proper and staged, almost whitewashed. The minister recalls the names of a few soldiers in the pews, except he forgets the only female soldier's name and she reminds him. It seems like an odd detail to add to the film. Why forget the only girl's name? This may be an example of sexist microaggression in America, but it also may be nothing at all. Many things are trivial, but just like using the word "negro", it may have been nothing at the time or even normal, but looking at it with a modern lens, it is clear there may be some underlying opinions or motives. Whether they are conscious or not, these racist terms and sexist attitudes were normalized and led to much greater examples of racism and sexism. Of course, like I prefaced, I am not calling this a racist or sexist film thus far nor am I saying it is prejudice material, but I am trying to recount that there are behaviors that either justify or develop into worse things. By looking back at a film like this, these things are more noticeable and it inspires me to take a closer look at the things we're saying now and how they may be interpreted in the future. Aside from the representation of women and people of color, the true racism in the film lies in the hatred towards Germany and a little bit of Japan, too. Of course, they are the enemies in this war, but the film is essentially flexing America's muscles over Germany and Japan's. In addition to war footage, they show black people beating Germans and Japanese at several sporting events. Then, they emphasize the evil that those countries have done during war. Of course, while this is true, we don't see any of the horrible things America did during the war or any of our losses in sports. The key to propaganda is showing why we're good and they're bad. We're supposed to be focused only on how we're flawless and the enemy is evil and weak. Obviously, they're not going to show America's weakness and faults, but I think it's good to keep in mind that America isn't perfect, so we don't watch this film agreeing that the only problem is the enemy. Aside from social analysis, the production value of this film is very good. I don't know how much stock footage was used vs shot footage, but there was clearly a lot of work put into the film. The plot involves a sermon glorifying the need for people of color to serve in WWII and includes a lot of examples and parallels to other wars and sports. While the minister speaks, footage of his examples are shown. These images are interesting to see as well as the amount of nice closeups of people in the church. Overall, it is just American military propaganda, but among the other films, this one is the most interesting to watch so far.
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bellabanana9324 October 2017This documentary was interesting enough considering that it is propaganda. If you're looking for a documentary heavy on facts about the contributions of African Americans, then it's probably not the best film since it takes many creative liberties to appeal to their audience and attempt to convince to join the American Army.
One way the film attempts to convince black people to join the army is by reading them excerpts from Mein Kempf that talk about black people and call them apes that are incapable of benefiting society. It makes sense to read them such an insane and offensive claim and compare it to their treatment in America because, despite the racism that they would have experienced, Mein Kempf is incredibly disturbing and bound to make anyone who reads it feels immense anger.
If you are interested in history, particularly American history, and would like to see an old propaganda film meant to aspire patriotism and encourage African American males to enlist in the army, then you should check it out because it is decent and has some interesting parts. I could see how this film might do a good job at inspiring some young black Americans to want to join the fighting forces and help in the effort to take down the Nazis for once and for all.
My biggest criticism is that I found the focus to change a lot. I felt that it bounced back and forth between ideas and not in an organized fashion. There were many scenes that just had nothing to do with war at all. I thought that since the documentary was short, they could have provided a lot more organization and focus on the film. Overall, it was not the best documentary, but it was very interesting to take a look at the past and see what types of propaganda were being consumed by the general populace and compare to the propaganda of the modern world. -
frantic-226 November 1998The aim of the movie is to encourage American blacks to identify themselves with the on-going struggle overseas.
It is convincing but fairly dull in comparison to other Frank Capra propaganda films. -
bkoganbing10 November 2016I guess the best thing you could say about The Negro Soldier today is that it provided work for black players which did not involve stereotyping. This film under the auspices of the Office Of War Information is directed at our black citizens to tell them why it is in their best interests to join in the fight against Hitler.
The most obvious argument of course is Nazi racial theories which don't have much appeal to those outside who the Nazis viewed as inferior races. Seems logical to me.
But sad to say racism was alive and well in the USA and in a quarter or so of the country vigorously in place legally with formal segregation.
This film managed to give an overview of black history by barely mentioning slavery. What else could they do. The OWI had to get its funding from Congress where several powerful senior Representatives and Senators from the South controlled things. So we heard everything from Crispus Attucks to Joe Louis. No mention however of Nat Turner or Jack Johnson.
I think that most people and not just blacks would find this film patronizing and offensive today. But it was a product of the times. -
drjgardner13 November 2016The US was recruiting more and more black people as soldiers as WW2 came to a close. Eventually 125,000 would serve overseas and nearly 1000 would die in combat, but in 1943 the big question was how to motivate blacks to fight for an America in which segregation was still very much alive.
Carlton Moss was serving as an adviser to the War Department and the job was given to him to write the documentary, and eventually he ended up starring as a Minister.
Moss decided to focus on the contribution of blacks in American history, particularly their role in battles as well as their achievements in science, medicine, and education. He contrasts that with the Axis views about "colored people" and their treatment of conquered peoples. The film switches tones and then follows the life of a new enlistee who eventually makes it to officer candidate school.
The documentary is very clever, telling the truth, but just enough of the truth to avoid some of the awful elements of life for black people in the U.S. -
Horst_In_Translation12 March 2016Let me give you my opinion on the subject. The uneducated viewer will say yes because they used the N-word in the title. How can they? People need to understand that this was a word like every other around that time and there was nothing wrong to it. Political correctness has really had a bad impact on us. After all, are we not allowed to call anybody the way they call each other? Anyway, this is a 40-minute black-and-white sound documentary from 1944 and the title and this year already tell you what it is about. It's the times of war and this film is supposed to emphasize the achievements of Black soldiers. That's what it does. However, it also drifts randomly into other areas, for example sports. It's okay if you show a black athlete win a gold medal. If you show a Japanese and German athlete fail at the same time, it's propaganda. So pretty despicable in my opinion. And on a very general note, isn't it all about equality. Why make a film that emphasizes black, Asian-American, Latino or White achievements. We should honor people who reached great things for what they did, not for which color they are, just like we should not vote for a Black President because there never has been one so far. All men are created equal. Lets not waste any time on how different they look. I do not recommend this film here. Thumbs down.
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grantss21 June 2018A US World War 2 propaganda film, showing how African-American soldiers are helping the Allied cause.
A well-made propaganda film. Quite stirring in showing the contribution African-Americans had made to previous wars and were making to the current war, World War 2. Made to convince African-Americans to join up and help win the war it does well to paper over the race-based social divide that existed in the US at the time.
Quite sad in the respect in that, while it was okay for African-Americans to fight and die for their country, they were treated as second class citizens at home, with less rights than whites. Just the fact that the film had to be made is a sad reflection of the times.
This said, it is very effective in its purpose and is even quite emotional at times. Some good military footage too. -
This movie is pretty amazing in one sense. Seeing proud African Americans doing intellectual, demanding, courageous work with pride as scientists, classical musicians, judges and all the jobs required in the military is pretty amazing during a time when African-Americans were seen as servants or represented by whites in blackface in the movies. Seeing the beautiful HBCs and monuments to African-American soldiers shown with pride was wonderful as well. However, just as businessmen are not as nice as Frank Capra would portray them, and politicians are not like Jimmy Stewart, real life is nothing like this for African-Americans during this time, and, despite the narrator's monologue, life was better in Europe and Asia for most African-Americans than at home. However, it is amusing to imagine the way this movie would have been received in the Deep South, and incredibly depressing to know the way these wonderful soldiers would be treated when they returned from their heroic actions.
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sbox9 February 1999This is a good patriotic documentary which focuses on blacks' role in World War II. Made in 1944, this film includes many interesting scenes, from training to actual service.