The World in Action

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The World in Action (aka World in Action) was a monthly series of propaganda films from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), created to boost morale and show the Allied war effort during the Second World War. [1]

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The series was inspired by the success of the NFB's Canada Carries On series. Patterned after the popular American March of Time newsreels, The World in Action was designed to appear to a broader international audience than Canada Carries On . It was distributed internationally by United Artists. [2] [3]

The World in Action series was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market. Each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by United Artists. [4]

After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending their life for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. [3]

The narrator in Global Air Routes in The World in Action series was Lorne Greene, known for his work on both radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series. [5] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and when reading grim battle statistics, "The Voice of Doom". [6]

Series titles

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When Asia Speaks is a 19-minute film produced in 1944 by Stuart Legg and directed by Gordon Weisenborn for the National Film Board of Canada series The World in Action. The film is narrated by broadcaster Lorne Greene. When Asia Speaks describes the disparity between the riches of Asia and the poverty of the masses during the Second World War that have led to nationalist movements in Asia. The film's French version title is Le Réveil de l'Asie.

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Khouri 2007, p. 164.
  2. ↑ Ellis and McLane 2005, p. 123.
  3. 1 2 Ohayon, Albert. "Propaganda cinema at the NFB – The World in Action." National Film Board of Canada, September 30, 2009. Retrieved: January 11, 2016.
  4. ↑ Ellis and McLane 2005, p. 123.
  5. ↑ Bennett 2004, p. 254.
  6. ↑ "Bonanza's Canadian Lorne Greene." Bite Size Canada. Retrieved: January 9, 2016.

Bibliography

  • Bennett, Linda Greene. My Father's Voice: The Biography of Lorne Greene. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse, Inc., 2004. ISBN   978-0-595-33283-0.
  • Ellis, Jack C. and Betsy A. McLane. New History of Documentary Film. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN   0-8264-1750-7.
  • Khouri, Malek. Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-46. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: University of Calgary Press, 2007. ISBN   978-1-55238-199-1.
  • Lerner, Loren. Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. ISBN   978-0-8020-2988-1.
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