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Coronet Instructional FilmsCommunism (1952)

Educational film on the Cold War conflict.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Coronet Instructional Films
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Cold War; Communism

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: mlwvandenberg - - August 4, 2009
Subject: communism
An intelligently made video made about the threat of communism. Notice how it puts emphasize on the difference between western individualism and oriental corporatism and mentioned communism across the world.

Reviewer: nikola_tesla - - May 27, 2009
Subject: Rubbish
ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa...
some classic rubbish videos

Reviewer: NoiseCollector - - February 8, 2009
Subject: Egg$ellent
Awesomely amusing and dramatic exaggeration of what didn't even need to be exaggerated. A treasure trove of sampling exploration and stock footage video clay to model you something more psychadelic and enjoyable around the volcano. A laughable look at overly alarmist propaganda based on a concept that was threatening enough without the noir-grindhouse mental sexploitation.

Funny how when every communist government fails it was not true to the cause... maybe there's an inherent flaw in the cause that opposes truth?

Great video, campy production and over the top s__t your pants antics await inside.

Reviewer: Eugene9 - - February 4, 2009
Subject: N.Lenin
Nikolay Lenin was his early pen-name.
Movie is really funny, particularly for man who lived in USSR long time. "Communism" in USSR is big shit, but in generally - very good idea.

Reviewer: mike.pwner - - May 10, 2008
Subject: Propaganda....is rarely the truth
First off: the USSR was communist in name only. It was a corrupt, and utterely totalitarian system that held little resemblence to the vision of Marx.

Now i want to take note of the fact that Karl Marx called for world revolution to liberate oppressed people.Second, Lenin's name was Vladimir Ilyavich Lenin, not Nikolay Lenin, a sign that this film was poorly researched. Thirdly, i want to make a point of the fact that the film did not show how much the US expanded, dimplomatically and influencially after the Second World War. Finally, on the point of "communist" injustice, what of the capitalist? The whole system is based on the exploitation of the masses, and even in the video you can see the capitalist, a man in the black suit, looking over the worker during the "aid to the European Nations" part

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - April 19, 2008
Subject: Dated Propaganda, But....
Seriously, The commies killed millions of people. Their people lived well below the standards of the rest of the world. FYI, The Democrates in the 50's/60's/70's also would warn against the dangers of Communism in their political campaigns. Even liberals like Lucille Ball generally hated commies. [Lucille Ball was accused of being a commie, much to her shock. She wasn't, and she successfully cleared her name. She may of been liberal, But she was also a proud American.]

However, This film, Although dated, Is quite enjoyable and fun, if not exactly always truthful. I give it 5/5 just for the fact that it's great for stock footage. BTW, I'm a Bisexual Agnostic, Not a "Conservative Christian".

Reviewer: Coillcara - - July 27, 2007
Subject: sloppy propaganda
Ever heard of "Nikolay" Lenin? (3:33/10:40) -- interesting interpretation of the name Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov "Lenin".

"such traitor..." (5.44/10:40) shows a scene from a trial of Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld by a Nazi court for his role in the plot against Hitler. The scene can be found, for example, in the BBC series The World at War, episode Inside the Reich.

Reviewer: torrogorro@web.de - - October 1, 2006
Subject: it's a great propaganda-video - typical for the times of the cold war
i enyoyed the video very much.

the techniques of propaganda didn't change very much,
nowadays the "finetuning" is a bit better i'd say,
but the game is still the same...

...divide et impera...

Reviewer: ERD - - July 1, 2006
Subject: Some truth for its time. Poorly presented.
Certainly during Stalin's time, the Soviet Union was a threat to Western nations. Stalin was a dictator and the idealistic Marx's utopian concept was never truly followed. Many of the people in the Soviet Union continued to suffer under him and others that followed him. This film's presentation however is overblown and stilted.

Reviewer: AlchemistJack - - April 11, 2006
Subject: Simplistic Propaganda
Very simplistic, distorted view of history. Very much Cold War propaganda of its time. Has a few shots of T-34 tanks in action. I like some of the audio lines "Ever heard of Karl Marx?", etc, I can imagine them being sampled in some music.

Reviewer: lolathemermaid - - July 16, 2005
Subject: American Propaganda= a waste of your time!
What a peice of trash, American Christian propoganda. This is a one-sided, simple minded clip. Don't waste your time or your computers precious space on this!

Much of what the narrator was accusing Russia and its' government of is a fault of the American government! It's very pathetic and the information is FALSE! Do NOT use this as educational because it will only poison your mind!

The ONE star is for the rare footage of russian leaders in the video. But for the content it deserves nothing.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - January 14, 2004
Subject: No Weenies in This Film
Unlike Capitalism, this Coronet film has no dorky teenagers or weenies in it. Instead, itÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs a fairly straightforward account of the history of Russian communism and Soviet aggression. This is not nearly as strident as it might have been, given the time that it was made, though it does clearly paint communism as an international conspiracy and a threat to world peace and freedom. Most of it is reasonably accurate, with the most inaccurate part of it probably being the talk about the U.S. fighting communism by supporting freedom in other countries, ignoring the U.S. policy of supporting tyrannical dictators in many countries simply because they werenÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt communist. So overall the film is kind of dull, though it does contain a lot of film footage of early Soviet Russia.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: ***.

Reviewer: rsmith02 - - July 7, 2003
Subject: simpleton's guide to communism
This supposedly educational film is a dull and simpleminded piece of American propaganda explaning the origins of the cold war. Communism is the brainchild of Karl Marx, who passed the torch to Lenin, Trotsky, and finally Stalin. Soviet society concentrated power in the hands of the few, and the state determined people's lives.

Marx's vision of a world revolution has apparently come to pass with Russian agression first resulting in a pact with the Nazis to take over the world, and then the actual invasion of European countries. The threat then spread to China and Indochina, but the free countries, with the help of the UN, are fighting back in Korea.

This film is simplistic in its view that the Cold War was a one-sided process, created by the Soviet Union to enslave the world. It ignores the weakness and insecurity of the USSR which led to the non-agression pact with fascist Germany, and the move into Eastern Europe after WWII. It ignores any differences between communisms and between communist countries.

Finally, this film asserts that the fundamental difference between communist countries and free countries is a belief in the value of the individual, which comes from a Christian belief that God made man in his image. This ignores the fact that non-western, non-communist societies (especially those in Asia) have different views of the role of the individual versus society, and that capitalist ideologues also treat individuals as cogs in a vast machine, where good is the product of greed and the lives of the victims of the system are considered inconsequential (e.g. supply-side capitalism and homelessness in Reagan's America.) In the turbulent 1960s, American propaganda films in this archive dropped the argument that the individual was paramount, and began stressing the need to cooperate with other citizens and the government for the good of society. Sound familiar, comrades?

Reviewer: Spuzz - - April 6, 2003
Subject: "Ever hear of Karl Marx?"
In this examination, from a CORONET film no less, Communism is treated like the evil scum that they are. While I'm no Communism expert, it's sure interesting to hear the arguements laid out in this film, and then compare it with the U.S.'s stance on Iraq, North Korea and other rogue nations. Also of note, the lack of stock footage they've seemed to have dug up, as almost every image is used twice, even three times. An interesting film, to say the least.

Reviewer: Mike P - - December 16, 2002
Subject: Commie
Intresting how this film describes the last days of Tsarist Russia. Corruption rife lawlessness sound familiar?
I only give it 3 stars, not enougth to laugth at

Shotlist

EXCELLENT COMMIE PROPAGANDA
"Russia today is regarded as a grave threat to our nation." Public display of giant portraits of Communist leaders. Cossacks on horseback wreaking havoc. World War I shortages of food in Russia. Storming the imperial palace.
Women gathering grain in field. Russian factories.
Narration: "communism denies religion and debases the individual to a part of the vast machine that powers the state."
Men shown imprisoned behind barbed wire. Tank brigades. Hammer and sickle flag waving
U.S. unity with Russia in World War II; Stalin, Truman and Churchill at Yalta.


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