Glamour Gal
Encyclopedia
Glamour Gal is a 1945
propaganda film
documentary film about the eponymous large artillery
gun and the ten Marines who work her, "a team of eleven".
. Life for the artillerymen aboard ship is depicted as monotonous, as they are, for the moment, "simply passengers" with little to do except read old magazines and brag about their girlfriends. However the monotony is broken once the captain announces that they are approaching their destination, Iwo Jima, described as "some rock in between the devil and the Dutch East Indies".
The rest of the film is devoted to authentic color footage of the battle of Iwo Jima
. No punches are pulled in its presentation of the event; the narrator notes that Mt Suribachi saw more flames going into it than it ever gave out as an active volcano, "where no Jap could go on living." But after 28 days everyone starts talking about where they will be sent to next: "Korea
, Formosa
, French Indochina
". But Glamour Gal's next assignment will be in Japan "to keep the peace in greater east Asia". The film ends on a somber note, informing the audience of the servicemen who will never leave Iwo Jima.
This was the second film that the U.S. military produced about Iwo Jima, the first being To the Shores of Iwo Jima
, which featured the famous flag-raising sequence.
1945 in film
The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
propaganda film
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
documentary film about the eponymous large artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
gun and the ten Marines who work her, "a team of eleven".
Overview
The film follows Glamour Gal and her escorts from the time she ships off through her service on Iwo JimaIwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
. Life for the artillerymen aboard ship is depicted as monotonous, as they are, for the moment, "simply passengers" with little to do except read old magazines and brag about their girlfriends. However the monotony is broken once the captain announces that they are approaching their destination, Iwo Jima, described as "some rock in between the devil and the Dutch East Indies".
The rest of the film is devoted to authentic color footage of the battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. No punches are pulled in its presentation of the event; the narrator notes that Mt Suribachi saw more flames going into it than it ever gave out as an active volcano, "where no Jap could go on living." But after 28 days everyone starts talking about where they will be sent to next: "Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, Formosa
Formosa
Formosa or Ilha Formosa is a Portuguese historical name for Taiwan , literally meaning, "Beautiful Island". The term may also refer to:-Places:* Formosa Strait, another name for the Taiwan Strait...
, French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
". But Glamour Gal's next assignment will be in Japan "to keep the peace in greater east Asia". The film ends on a somber note, informing the audience of the servicemen who will never leave Iwo Jima.
This was the second film that the U.S. military produced about Iwo Jima, the first being To the Shores of Iwo Jima
To the Shores of Iwo Jima
To the Shores of Iwo Jima is a 1945 Kodachrome color short war film produced by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. It documents the Battle of Iwo Jima, and was the first time that American audiences saw in color the footage of the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima.-Overview:The...
, which featured the famous flag-raising sequence.
See also
- List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
- List of films in the public domain