AllMovie

Objectivity was no longer an option for news reporters or camera crews once world troubles escalated to war and threatened to embroil the United States. Newsreels originally produced by Louis de Rochemont and narrated by Westbrook Van Voorhis comprise the first episode of the six-volume March of Time: War Breaks Out videotape series. Subtitled Americans Prepare, Pt. 1, this program chronicles the news of 1939-1940 in two sections: "Uncle Sam: the Farmer" (1939, 18 minutes) and "The Ramparts We Watch" (1940, 100 minutes). The first report reviews the problems created for U.S. farmers during and after World War I, and examines possible methods of increasing production for the coming wartime food requirements. The second film is American propaganda explaining the reasons the U.S. went to war in 1917 and encouraging U.S. involvement in World War II. This section features newsreel footage and clips from the Nazi propaganda film Feuertafe, which gives a pro-Nazi account of the German invasion of Poland. Gleaned from newsreels produced by Time Magazine during the years 1935-1951, the monumental March of Time videotape collection features the Academy Award-winning "pictorial journalism" that informed, educated, and entertained millions of Americans for a decade and a half.