Mr. Blabbermouth!

Great WW2 short.

A short movie, made for wartime informational / morale-building purposes. Shows how gossip-mongers undermine the morale of the population, spreading false, negative information and other rumours. Debunks many of the rumours of the time, eg US vs Japanese fleet strengths in the Pacific, and rather methodically sets out the argument that the Allies are stronger, militarily and resources-wise, and will thus win the war.

Quite well made and very convincing. Some of it is propaganda but much of it is unadulterated fact. The narration and gossip-mongering scenes are pretty good too, and quite funny at times.

At first glance this seems to be a stereotypical patriotic U.S. WWII film. It is much more than that even when you factor in some of the cringing portrayals of the enemy. If the enemy were as idiotic as they are often portrayed why were they such a problem? This film balances the jingoistic part with a very good message about attitude. Mr. and Mrs. Blabbermouth are the people who always make the worst of a good situation. If there is any good to be found they will bury it. This film tries to give the American public a feel good boost about their situation in the war. It's a morale builder and it works. I know that I would have felt more optimistic after seeing this short in 1942.

This features quite an effective use of archive to bolster US public awareness of the risk of idle talk. Using a variety of social scenarios, we put some "I've heard" or "I've read" sentences in the mouths of those in the shops, the hairdressers and the bars and then attempt to counter these speculative gossips with some facts and then some out and out propaganda about the superiority of the American soldier, kit and technology against not just the Japanese, but the Nazis too. On that last front, it does recognise that the USA is not the only nation fighting here, but as this is essentially designed to boost domestic morale and encourage people to keep their traps shut, it's largely a celebration of the might of a military and the strength of a democracy that will prevail, no matter what. There is some original photography here, but if you've followed the approach newsreel cinema took to World War II in any depth, then you will have seen most of that before. The commentary is far too earnest, and the more I watched this I wanted someone sarcastic and caustic - like Pete Smith - to make the point a little more engagingly and less like it was a school lecture, but in 1942 it probably served it's purpose.

This short subject is typical of the wartime propaganda films warning us against believing all the false rumors spread by the Mr. Blabbermouths in society who want to impress others with their know-it-all attitudes in spreading misinformation.

Since we all know people like Mr. Blabbermouth, it's easy to accept the idea that common sense must prevail against this sort of thing if we're to be good citizens. World War II was rife with sayings like: "Loose lips sink ships." Taking a stance against the Mr. Blabbermouths of the world was commonly accepted as the right thing to do.

Based on an editorial that appeared in The Los Angeles Daily News, it begins with a blackout during an air raid alarm and shows how the gossipers talked about it the next day, with some of them spreading false rumors implying that the Japanese were better equipped for war since they'd been training for it for years. We then see some amusing sequences of Mr. Blabbermouth spreading his own lies and finally getting his comeuppance from the neighborhood barber who knows how to shut him up.

Along the way, the narrator points out how much better equipped the United States was than Japan in terms of military preparations to fight back against the attack with a wealth of aluminum and steel.

Amusing and timely, it's done with a sense of humor but teaches a good lesson.

Wartime or peacetime, the basic idea of this film still applies: "for safety's sake, please engage brain before putting mouth in gear"; and don't assume that the guy you're listening to has followed that rule!

As Ray Bolger observed in "The Wizard of Oz" back in 1939, "Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking!" And while such people usually only damage themselves by looking ridiculous in front of people who actually do know something about the subject under discussion, sometimes they do manage to do major damage to others, whether by innocently ruining a reputation over something they've misinterpreted or by "only trying to help!" (case in point on that last: the Mr. Blabbermouth who invited himself along on a camping trip some friends and I had planned--he nearly laced our trail stew with "perfectly harmless wild mushrooms" which my friend D correctly identified as death angel mushrooms and intercepted in the nick of time!)

War or no war, Mr. Blabbermouth lives and can be hazardous to your health!