Don't Be a Sucker

Lloyd Nolan narrates this short film and a few famous Hollywood actors (Paul Lukas and Felix Bressart) appeared in it. It was made for the war department and is a film anticipating the sort of racist crap that the Nazis were peddling being spread in America after the war.

The film consists of some ordinary boob listening to a speech by a Neo- Nazi type and agreeing with almost all of it. However, when the hate- filled diatribe also attacks him, indirectly, he's not so sure of the America first/non-whites suck message. Then an immigrant observing the speech (Lukas) talks about the many, many ways the speech is abhorrent to any decent American and why. While it could have come off as preachy and silly, the short film was handled well and is a lovely appeal for tolerance and decency.

WE HAVE ONLY recently became aware of this relic from the 1940's & bit of World War II American propaganda. As with so many other titles, we sort of accidentally bumped into it on Youtube.com. Being that the running time was listed at 17 minutes and change, we immediately watched it.

IN MUCH THE same manner as so many other films produced by the United States War effort, it is of surprisingly good, high quality production value, acting and effectiveness. This short manages to reach the subject and bring it in a highly effective manner to us, the viewing audience. And that message is one that is as pertinent to today's America and the whole, cockeyed World.

THE VERY FABRIC is the fact that we, as a people have a more than a casual and abrupt with the sort of discriminations. Although we may be aware and therefore, more or less immune from being taken over by such prejudices. But there is still danger of transferring at least some of these irrational dislike to the area of judging people not by race, creed, color or nationality; but by socio-economic status, income or occupation.

WHILE IT SURELY may be true that at least some of us have managed to recognize and avoid such discriminating when it comes to nationality, ethnicity and race-the same person may be inundated with petty peeves concerning anything that is found in the brotherhood of man.

THE VERY STRAIGHT forward story gets right to the point. There are indeed those who are less than honest with us. They may be sneak thieves, stick-up men or grifters. They are not by any means apt to be looking out for their fellow man, unless of course they can scam him.

THE LITTLE FILM manages to assemble the greatest little cast of players that one could imagine. Our cast includes: Paul Lukas, Chick Chandler, George Chandler, George E. Stone, Richard Lane (hey, it's Inspector Faraday!)and a number of actors that might be familiar to you by their names, but not by name.

ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS that many of our colleagues have panned this little movie, we must register our complaint to take the opposite position. The atrocities that plagued the World, and especially Europe, did not come about over night. It all started small and grew, unchecked.

AS A REMEDY for such happenings, may we suggest application of just a couple of old adages:

Do Unto Others As you Would Have Them Do Unto You.

Judge Not Lest You Will Be Judged.

This spells it out, the case against racism and xenophobia. This short film is an excellent reminder, in clear language, about how we are all minorities. America is a melting pot, and we need reminded about that sometimes. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of old films, but this one drew me in with its clear message of tolerance. If we want others to be tolerant of us, we must be tolerant of them. I don't think the message is condescending, but it IS simple. It is so simple that some might feel a little put off by the message at the end. Yes, we are all minorities, even us white western European mutts that are lots and lots of generations Americans.

The copy of the short subject I just looked at was not the original version released by Warner Brothers in 1943. It was a revised version issued by the War Office in 1947, which mentioned the Normandy Invasion.

It's a lovingly produced version, set up by Lloyd Nolan, then largely narrated by Paul Lukas, with a one-minute lecture by Felix Bressart on the nonsense of the idea of the Master Race -- before he is dragged off by the Nazis. If you had asked me ten years ago about this movie, I would have dismissed it as full of commonplace truths that we, as a nation, had evolved past. More recent events, including the rise of the alt-right, anti-Black sentiment, and other doctrines of hate, make it, unhappily, timely again.

I disagree with the movie's thesis, that people are not naturally prejudiced. We all grow up in our own little bits of society, dealing with people who look and think and feel like us. People who are not like us require thought and work and we don't always get them right, and when that happens, the results may be bad. Therefore, we approach strangers with caution.

Yet it is those very differences that make other people valuable to us. If we all had the same skills and attitudes, what need would we have for each other? If every man is a farmer, who will make his tools, his clothes, his home? We are stronger because of our diversity.

The short film "Don't Be a Sucker!" (17 min) is a tidy argument against fascist racism and it is an eye-opening study in philosophical pragmatism. I was surprised to learn that the US War Department was so explicitly anti-racism in 1943 even before the end of the second world war.