Victory Through Air Power (1943)

Directors:

Perce Pearce
James Algar

Writers:

Alexander de Seversky (book)
Perce Pearce (story)

Release Date:

17 July 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Animation | War

Tagline:

There's a Thrill in the Air!

Plot:

An animated documentary promoting of the soundness of strategic aerial bombing in World War II.

Plot Keywords:

1940s | Aviation | Propaganda | 1900s | 1910s

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Alexander de Seversky	...	Himself (as Major Alexander P. de Seversky)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Art Baker	...	Narrator (voice)
Billy Mitchell	...	Himself (archive footage)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U (1943) | Sweden:(Banned) (1944)

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

After seeing the movie (at Winston Churchill's urging), Franklin Delano Roosevelt finally committed to a full strategic air campaign against Germany.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film claims the German's used air power to break through the Maginot line to conquer France. In reality, the German forces avoided directly engaging the Line and instead completely circumvented it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Conversation with John Hench (2004) (V)

Interesting and important documentary that helped turn the war effort.

This is the rarest of the rare. It's the one Disney film involving animation that has virtually disappeared. It is most absorbing and interesting and uses animation and a good narrative to clearly make a case for strategic bombing offensives to turn the tide of WW II. It was instrumental in this effort, causing both Churchill and Roosevelt to sit up and take notice. Major Alexander de Seversky's book on the subject is brought to the screen with first an amusing animated history of aviation and then live footage with Severesky himself speaking to the audience to explain his theory, helped with animated examples. It is all so clear and obvious from the present time perspective that it seems incredulous that the great statesmen of the time had to be won over to the tactic. The film earned an Oscar nom for Original Score, although this was nothing special, only adequate. Amazing it did not earn a nomination in the Documentary category as it was probably more important in its effect on WWII than anything else produced in the war years. Very worth seeking out - fascinating film.