The Big Picture

I have watched a few of these old docs. But right now I watched an episode from 1953. It's the very basics presented in 28 minutes. Quite good yet shallow info with some great camera recordings. The narration is the basics presented to Americans who need to be informed about Japan as a friendly nation right post WW2. So you get a bit info about Japan, but largely it's a propaganda piece illustrating how the US friendly nation is crucial for American geopolitics.

The very rare recordings of curious Japanese events is stuff you won't find anywhere else. And there is much respect towards Japan and Japanese culture. But it's so short that you won't get much out of it. Just this one topic alone needed like 5 hours to be properly presented.

My brother and I were a couple of those kids who set an alarm to get up in time to see "The Big Picture" on Saturday morning in the 1960's. We really thought we were getting the real story on the US Army and it's exploits in various wars up through the Korean War. We loved playing with our large collection toy soldiers to refight the battles we saw on the show. At the time we didn't even realize some of the battle footage even came from Hollywood movies like "They Came to Cordura" which jumped out to us when we saw that movie on TV after watching "The Big Picture". A few years ago I borrowed a set of DVD's from the local library of the show and saw them in quite a different light now in my 60's. Yes, it was definitely a propaganda show for the Army, and some of the episodes were quite poignant, particularly one focused on Major General Dean who was captured by the North Koreans and eventually early in the war and was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor. He was interviewed at length and he was apparently still suffering from the mental and emotional strain of his ordeal as evidenced by his difficulty understanding some questions and struggling to articulate his answers. Rather than a dispassionate and careful examination of military history like more recent TV history series, this show is more an artifact of it's time and place in America in the depths of the Cold War and broadcast to a population made up of millions of WWII veterans like our father and their Baby Boomer offspring.

Well I guess there are a few people who got up really early on Saturday mornings before the cartoons came on at 6:00 A.M. Yes I was one of those kids! I use to drive my parents crazy. This time I was in Brooklyn, N.Y. back in 1965. I attended school at "Our Lady Help of Christians". This was right before we got assigned to the military base at Keflavik, Iceland. On Saturday mornings at 5:00 on TV was "The Modern Farmer" and right behind it was "The Big Picture" at 5:30. Since I was a military brat I loved all things military. I found this show interesting. Many people won't, but hey I was 10-11 years old at the time. This show must be really dated and won't compare to the new shows out now on the Military, or History Channels but back then it was good for me. Besides, at 6:00 A.m. on came the cartoons led by "Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger". Baby Boomers from New York will know exactly what I am talking about!

I found several DVDs of episodes of this series in the bargain rack at a Meijer store. It apparently ran in syndication during the 1950s, being shown in a manner somewhat like the "Army News" programs that turn up on community access TV. Many episodes play like something out of South Park The Movie, as each one ends by telling the viewer to visit the nearest recruiter and join the Army.

What seems to be a usual episode will consist of stock footage and narration to talk about a military topic - such as tanks, battle, or unit. This will be followed by a piece showing something like "What is in a C ration?" or a piece on weapons used by soldiers. In some ways, this makes it a bit like "Mail Call", though there doesn't appear to have been any viewer interaction at the time. Some of the footage shown is interesting, but it tends to be a mixed bag. A documentary on the 30th Inf division for example showed Russian BT series tanks and Luftwaffe planes from the Battle of Britain amidst the footage! I paid nine dollars for the box set. As a curiosity item or something to cut up into snippets, it's probably worthwhile.