Search - Cold War Era Cartoon Chronicles on DVD

Brief thoughts

Jim C. | Chicago, IL | 12/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Good content, odd packaging. The dvd case isn't bad, but it is printed and the dvd itself is burned. It should play in most dvd players, but those with older dvd players may have some trouble. I didn't realize that this was from an independent distributor. That being said, the packaging is rather well done over all. I wasn't disappointed, just surprised.

The content, itself, is pretty great. The films are a bit crackly, but the sound and picture are clear over all. The cartoons are very interesting examples of political propaganda. Some of them send a few mixed messages (ie. a policeman, being the good guy, stops a thief from stealing an apple, and then eats it himself anyways), and the stereotypes are quite over the top.

Ultimately, though, these films illustrate an important point in time: when America wasn't afraid to call itself capitalist. Despite these films being made in a time (40's-50's) when the government was expanding its power, their core principles (pride in competition, free markets, and entrepreneurship) are ideas often criticized or taken for granted in today's age. Too often today companies are either seen as big and evil entities, or pitiful things that need to be subsidized by the government. These cartoons often portray companies in a better light, I believe, that of self-starting, self-interested organizations that ultimately benefit society. It is interesting to see where we once stood.

If you're thinking about buying this because you are interested in pro-capitalist propaganda from the cold war era, or are an animation fanatic, then this is a pretty decent product. Not sure if you can find them on the Internet Archives or not, but the compilation was worth the price to me.

Run time is about 1 hr. DVD menu could use some help. Especially since it kept restarting this annoying 2 minute intro promoting the company."

Serious Propoganda

Arthur | America | 04/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Holy crap. I had no idea these types of films existed. These are not what I usually think of when I think of cartoons.

These are not things for children. Instead they were created at propoganda to convince people that the communists were dangerous and to get americans to work harder.

They are seriously scary propoganda. I reccomend them simply because it's important, I think, to see what the American governement is capable of creating so that if new leaders start to do this type of crap again."