Main Street Today

"Main Street Today" is an Oscar-nominated short that is intended to promote the war effort at home. It's set in a fictional town and shows the demands needed to produce things for the war effort--yet folks seem to come up with lots of excuses to do less and not put everything into their war production goals. This comes to a head during a town meeting--and one person after another has an excuse for doing less than 100%. However, folks are shamed when one of them reads a letter from one of their soldiers on the front lines--then, they all re-commit themselves to doing their all for America. It's all quite contrived and a tad corny--but also effective in creating a nice homey atmosphere and putting forth its message. Subtle, no...but effective. While this might not be the sort of film that would appeal to the average person today, it is a nice piece of our history and a look back at folks circa 1945.

Main Street Today (1944)

*** (out of 4)

John Nesbitt narrates this Oscar-nominated short, which was produced during WW2 and is obviously meant to inspire people to help their country. The film centers on a small town that produces a very important weapon for the military. The government asks for a third shift to be added but the people there feel they have too much going on to work a second job or to even work at all. The town calls a meeting where the letter from a soldier changes their minds. This is a fairly well-made little drama that certainly preaches way too much but this is to be expected considering what was going on during this period of history. Nesbitt, as usual, does a very good job with the narration and he really puts a lot of heart into the film. Ray Collins and Henry O'Neill both turn in fine performances in their small roles.

John Nesbitt narrates this short about Ray Collins' factory, gearing to increase production on a part vital to the war, and how it links into a town that's busy and short-handed. He needs to hire 500 more workers, and there's no one to hire... or are there?

I've been looking at similarly pitched propaganda films from Japan recently, and find a great similarity to this movie. The difference, however, is that in Japan, the sacrifices looks like fun, and unimportant; men meet with their dead sons' commanders and joke and sing. Here, news of death in war saddens people. The sacrifice is real, but necessary... and the things given up are luxuries and idleness.

Otis Bird's factory makes breech blocks for artillery and the Army needs more. He has two shifts going, but he needs a third. It's a struggle to find the manpower. Main Street is already struggling with a diminishing labor force.

I was going to say that these town folks are way too whiney. I finally realized during the old man's speech that that is the whole point of this short. They have all kind of complaints and none of it matters. All that truly matters is winning the war. I can guess that some people were getting tired by this time. They needed a pep talk to power through those final years.