In order to overcome cultural differences, the United States War Department, and Signal Corps produced a series of documentaries that compared the US citizens and their lifestyles to the ones of the Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China.
This particular documentary focuses on establishing the connection between the United States of America and their British counterparts. It also serves as a counter-propaganda effort, as it busts some of the myths that the Nazis served when addressing the American public.
The power of moving images became the main propaganda tool during the war, and as the Nazis, under Joseph Goebbels, produced hundreds of films in order to persuade the German public into believing the racial superiority of their people, the Allies were trying to connect the world and establish a vision of equality between all nations.
The movie features comparisons that offer an insight of what the Americans thought of the Brits before the war. Differences like accents, sports, the way of life in general ― are analyzed with a humorous tone.
The film is also based on the presumption that the European politics of the 1930s weren’t of general interest in the US, so it carefully presents the main events that led to the war and it is paying great attention to the fact that the British people tried to preserve peace in Europe as long as it was possible.
The narrator emphasizes the British heroic resistance to Nazi Germany and the suffering its citizens endured during the Battle of Britain. Even though the differences are taken into consideration, it is the similarities that bind the two nations together.
As the fight against Hitler reaches the form of a crusade against the evil tyrant, the defenders of democracy unite under a common banner. The documentary also serves as a sort of a conduct manual in a hope of avoiding potential incidents by the US soldiers stationed on the British Isles.
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