Plan for Destruction

I didn't love Lewis Stone's narration here, not least because he kept referring to Britain/British and England/English which always strikes me as lazy writing. That said, though, it's still quite an interesting assessment of the forward-planning skills of former Imperial general Karl Haushofer (Frank Reicher). Following his defeat in the Great War he took up an academic position that not only facilitated his planning for the future domination of the world by a revitalised Germany but that also provided him with lots of fertile young and impressionable minds to indoctrinate. His former assistant Rudolph Hess (George Lynn) suggests to him that he meet a prisoner with a small moustache and the rest is history. It mixes some dramatic elements with some news actuality to deliver to American audiences an idea of just how meticulously the Nazis had planned their "Politik" agenda and at how this could all too readily impact on the USA, however geographically detached the maps might suggest it is. There is a positive message for the audience here suggesting that by uniting against the Axis powers, there are some sunlit uplands ahead - but there is more work to be done.

Plan for Destruction (1943)

*** (out of 4)

MGM, Oscar nominated documentary short about how Germany's defeat in WW1 led to Hitler trying to take the world over in WW2. This documentary offers quite a bit of information in its 22-minute running time. Most of the stuff is over-dramatic but that's just a part of these WW2 shorts from this period. Lewis Stone stars.

It's also interesting to see how they looked at war issues back then compared to today.

If you're interested in this film then Turner Classic Movies usually plays it during their "31 Days of Oscar" festival.

This short subject from MGM that came out in 1943 was at the time a reminder we still had a long way to go for total victory. That was the message that Lewis Stone conveyed as narrator. It was a collective feeling in the German body politic that they were sold out by the ruling classes and made to bear the brunt of the onus of starting World War I. There was enough guilt on that to go all around.

A name that few Americans knew about a retired German general and university professor Karl Haushofer is identified as the intellectual father of the Nazi movement. This was wartime and not a time for subtleties. The real Haushofer was the professor of Rudolf Hess who introduced him to a rightwing activist named Adolf Hitler whom he felt would be in sympathy with Haushofer's ideas on an expansive and expanding and dynamic Germany. In German they called that Lebensraum.

The story of the real Haushofer was far more fascinating than what you see here and in the one dimensional portrayal that Frank Reicher gives him. He never joined the party, he had too many differences with them. Chiefly on their anti-Semitism and that would be natural since he married a woman whose father was Jewish. She had to be given the status of honorary Aryan due to whatever strings Rudolf Hess could pull.

Haushofer's son was picked up and executed in the Von Stauffenberg conspiracy. There's a lot more, but you get the idea this is not a short subject that has stood the test of time.

This documentary was nominated for an Academy Award and looks at the intentions of the Nazis in future globl domination had they successfully prosecuted WWII. Fascinating (and more than a bit chilling) look at just how detailed the plans were for the systematic looting of funds and resources on a global scale for their own benefit. Turner Classic Movies shows this as filler between films and almost invariably airs this each March as a part of the Thirty-one Days of Oscar they do annually. Highly recommended.

A MGM Short Subject.

At the end of World War One, a Munich general turned professor begins to develop Germany's PLAN FOR DESTRUCTION for the next global conflict.

This fascinating little film will serve as a primer to the Nazi theory of geopolitics, by which they hoped to control all the lands around them & bring about their eventual domination of the entire world. A very interesting sidelight shows how the Nazis went about gathering massive amounts of information about their potential enemies.

MGM's fatherly Lewis Stone is the Host/Narrator; Frank Reicher does a fine job playing Professor Karl Haushofer.

After Pearl Harbor, Hollywood went to war totally against the Axis. Not only did many of the stars join up or do home front service, but the output of the Studios was largely turned to the war effort. The newsreels, of course, brought the latest war news into the neighborhood theater every week. The features showcased battle stories or war related themes. Even the short subjects & cartoons were used as a quick means of spreading Allied propaganda, the boosting of morale or information dissemination. Together, Uncle Sam, the American People & Hollywood proved to be an unbeatable combination.