This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2007) |
Red Nightmare | |
---|---|
Directed by | George Waggner |
Written by | Vincent Fotre |
Produced by | William L. Hendricks Jack Webb |
Starring | Jack Kelly Jeanne Cooper Peter Brown Pat Woodell |
Narrated by | Jack Webb |
Cinematography | Robert Hoffman |
Edited by | Folmar Blangsted |
Music by | Howard Jackson William Lava |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 29 minutes/60 minutes (1985 video release) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Red Nightmare is the best-known title of the 1962 Armed Forces Information Film (AFIF) 120, Freedom and You. [1] Made for the Department of Defense, the short film was produced to mold public opinion against communism. The film was later released to American television and as an educational film to American schools under the Red Nightmare title.
The film is a Cold War-era drama short subject directed by George Waggner, narrated by Jack Webb and starring Jack Kelly and Jeanne Cooper.
In a typical American town, barbed wire, barricades and soldiers in Soviet uniforms are shown. Narrator Jack Webb explains that there are several places behind the Iron Curtain used for training Soviet espionage and sabotage forces prior to infiltrating America.
The Donovans are a typical American family consisting of father Jerry, mother Helen and daughter Linda, whose boyfriend Bill has been invited to dinner. Jerry is missing a PTA meeting to go bowling, and he intends to skip his Army Reserve training, which upsets Helen. Linda and Bill inform Jerry and Helen that they wish to marry, but Jerry replies they are too young and should wait five years.
Jerry awakens to find meetings in the public square about infiltrating America to bring down capitalism. He returns home to find his daughter going to a farm collective escorted by Bill, who is now in a Soviet Army uniform. Helen informs Jerry that he will have to address the PTA on the glories of communism, which Jerry refuses to do, but his wife says that he has no choice. At work, Jerry's foreman tells him that he has not met his quota and must work through the lunch break to meet it.
On Sunday morning, Jerry wakes to find his two youngest children being sent to a state-run communist school against his wishes. He insists that the children attend Sunday school and takes them to their church, which has been converted into a museum glorifying the Soviet Union, including many inventions made by Americans that the Soviets claim to have invented. Jerry knocks the exhibits over and is arrested by troops led by a commissar.
Jerry is brought to trial at a Soviet tribunal, where there is no jury nor defense attorney. Jerry demands to know the charge against him. After condemning testimony from several witnesses, including his own wife, Jerry is convicted and sentenced to death. When he is strapped into the execution chair, Jerry makes a speech about the Soviet people awakening one day to overthrow communism before he is shot in the head by the commissar (offscreen).
Jerry wakes to his freedoms and apologizes to Bill and Linda. Bill says that Jerry was right about waiting to get married and that he and Linda will do so after he finishes his enlistment in the United States Army.
Initial reports that Freedom and You (the original title) would be made first appeared in April 1962. [2]
The film's production is similar to that of episodes of The Twilight Zone . It was made by Warner Bros. under the auspices of the Department of Defense Directorate of Armed Forces Information and Education under the direct supervision of Jack L. Warner. The film features stars of Warner Bros. Television shows of the time. Jack Kelly was the co-lead of Maverick , and other cast members appeared in Warner Bros. shows that aired on the ABC network. A stock shot of the union picnic scene from Warner Bros.' The Pajama Game is included in the closing sequence of the film as Webb speaks about "freedom to enjoy the simple things of life."
Webb described the nightmare part of the film as the dramatization of a variety of stories told by refugees from Eastern Europe who fled the Soviet expansion following World War II.[ citation needed ]
Red Nightmare had similarities to a November 1962 episode of the Webb-hosted television series GE True , entitled "The Last Day", [3] although episodes of the television series were presented as representing actual events. While some sources state that Red Nightmare itself was broadcast on GE True, [4] no contemporary reporting or television listings indicated such a crossover.
Rhino Video released the film on videocassette in 1985 under the title The Commies Are Coming, the Commies Are Coming.
John Randolph Webb was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet franchise, which he created. He was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited.
Kangaroo Jack is a 2003 buddy comedy film directed by David McNally from a screenplay by Steve Bing and Scott Rosenberg with a story by Bing and Barry O'Brien. It is also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer with music by Trevor Rabin. The film tells the story of two childhood friends who get caught up with the mob and are forced to deliver $50,000 to Australia, but things go haywire when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo. It stars Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, Michael Shannon, and Christopher Walken, with Adam Garcia as the uncredited voice of the titular character.
Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television, is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of Warner Bros., a flagship studio of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Launched on March 21, 1955 by William T. Orr, it serves as a television production arm of DC Comics productions by DC Studios and, alongside Paramount Global's CBS Studios, The CW, the latter that launched in 2006 and WBD has a 12.5% ownership stake. It also serves as the distribution arm of WBD units HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Freddy's Nightmares is an American horror anthology television series that aired in syndication from October 1988 until March 1990. A spin-off from the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series, each episode is introduced by Freddy Krueger and features two different stories. Eight episodes throughout the series actually feature Freddy Krueger as the main antagonist. The pilot episode, directed by Tobe Hooper, begins with Krueger's prosecution on child-murdering charges.
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films. The characters featured in these cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, Arthur Davis, and Frank Tashlin, are considered major figures in the art and history of traditional animation.
I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American crime film noir produced by Bryan Foy, directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Lovejoy.
I Love to Singa is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on July 18, 1936.
Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 until his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them were originally broadcast on the NBC television network in the United States.
John Augustus Kelly Jr. was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of Bart Maverick in the television series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962.
Robert Louis Colbert is an American actor best known for his leading role as Dr. Doug Phillips on the ABC television series The Time Tunnel and his two appearances as Brent Maverick, a third Maverick brother in the ABC/Warner Brothers western Maverick.
Cheyenne is an American Western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1962. The show was the first hour-long Western, and was the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Bros. original series produced by William T. Orr.
Pierre Lynn de Lappe, also known as Peter Brown, was an American actor. He portrayed Deputy Johnny McKay opposite John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop in the 1958 to 1962 ABC-Warner Brothers western television series Lawman and Texas Ranger Chad Cooper on NBC's Laredo from 1965 to 1967.
Joanie Sommers is an American singer and actress with a career concentrating on jazz, standards and popular material and show-business credits. Once billed as "The Voice of the Sixties", and associated with top-notch arrangers, songwriters and producers, Sommers' popular reputation became closely tied to her biggest, yet most uncharacteristic, hit song, "Johnny Get Angry".
George Waggner was an American actor, director, producer and writer. He is best known for producing and directing the 1941 film The Wolf Man. For some unknown reason, Waggner sometimes configured his name in mostly lowercase letters but with his surname's two Gs capitalized ("waGGner"), including in the credits of some of the productions he directed.
Milton Holland was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percussion styles in jazz, pop and film music, traveling extensively in those regions to collect instruments and learn styles of playing them.
Palm Springs Weekend is a 1963 Warner Bros. bedroom comedy film directed by Norman Taurog. It has elements of the beach party genre and has been called "a sort of Westernized version of Where the Boys Are" by Billboard magazine. It stars Troy Donahue, Stefanie Powers, Robert Conrad, Ty Hardin, and Connie Stevens.
GE True is a 33-episode, American anthology series sponsored by General Electric that aired from September 30, 1962, until May 26, 1963, with repeats through September 1963. Telecast on CBS, the series presented stories, both published and unpublished, from the files of True magazine. The series' executive producer was Jack Webb through his Mark VII Limited company; he also acted as host-narrator, directed several episodes, and acted in several episodes.
Patricia Joy Woodell was an American actress and singer, best known for her television role as Bobbie Jo Bradley from 1963 to 1965 on Petticoat Junction.
Russell P. "Rusty" Mills was an American animator, director and producer. A Primetime Emmy winner, Mills was best known for his work with Warner Bros. Animation, including Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Pinky and the Brain. Mills was a five time Emmy winner, receiving one Primetime Emmy and four Daytime Emmy awards.
Events in 1945 in animation.