Resisting Enemy Interrogation...

[therealfuster]

and other sundry issues.

 

I meant to tape this training film which TCM had programmed for this morning at 7am, but having stayed up too late watching deleted scenes from "Ivan the Terrible" made me sleep through my alarm clock setting.

 

Did I miss anything? Who watched? Would this training film have really helped you resist Nazi interrogation tricks, and would you have been able to only give out..Name, Rank and Serial Number if they put straw under your fingernails?

 

I hope they show it again. I love when TCM shows oddball things like this from their vaults!

 

Who else loves watching the short subjects, the etiquette primers, the Robert Benchley bits, the Ken Murray private films, and those Travel Talk documentaries?

 

 

 

[slappy3500]

Hey "Fus"... you aren't the only one who missed it. I don't think Jane Fonda saw it either.

[therealfuster]

was out dining in Hanoi, the first time TCM showed it.

 

Patty Hearst missed it too, when Stephen Weed wanted to take her to the cinema to see it.

 

Not that the Symbionese Liberation Army are like Nazis....

[KeithFromKC]

therealfuster,

 

I taped RESISTING ENEMY INTERROGATION this morning, along with the two Loretta Young films that followed it. When I get a chance to watch it tonight, or tomorrow, time permitting, I will let you know what I thought....and I do enjoy those Robert Benchley bits. I am intrigued by most everyone who belonged to the Algonquin circle. To have been a fly on the wall at that roundtable. Benchley, Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman, Alexander Woollcott, Harpo Marx, Edna Ferber, among other great minds, meeting for lunch and discussion at the Algonquin. To have even one of their discussions on tape would be priceless.

[therealfuster]

I made a special trip to the Algonquin, just to see what the dining room looked like.

 

They did not seem to mind, and let me walk around the hotel. Maybe they are used to it, but it definitely had a 1930's ambience.

 

Yes, my favorite Benchley story is when he visited Dorothy in the hospital, after one of her usual suicide attempts to slit her wrists and supposedly said "Dorothy, you really need to stop doing this as you may hurt yourself sometime."

 

I shall look forward to your assimilation of the tactics to "Resist Enemy Interrogation", Keith and your review!

[KeithFromKC]

Therealfuster,

 

Don't know what I was expecting, but as an Air Force training film, RESISTING ENEMY INTERROGATION is a bit myopic. I expected an instructional film and it is more of a dramatization involving five members of an US air crew that are captured by the most well-mannered Nazis you could ever imagine. Devious, but well-mannered. The Nazi commanding officer determines that to interrogate these soldiers, they must find each man's weakness and exploit it. Then we see this theory in action.

 

I won't give away too much of the story, because it is definitely worth seeing. But the overall message to soldiers who are caught is summed up in two words: "Don't Talk." Name, rank, and serial number is all that is required, and don't worry about threats or violence, because as one soldier tells another, the Nazis won't harm them due to fear of reprisals, as well as breaking the agreement of the Geneva Convention. Say What!?

 

This is the notorious SS we are talking about! Did whoever made this film really think the Germans were going to play fair? The only torture in the film is psychological in nature. There is no mention of physical torture ever made in the film. Not that I wanted to see physical torture, but if I'm watching this as a training film, I would want to be aware that the possibility exists. If this was indeed a training film, I wonder what captured soldiers thought when the violent interrogations began. As a drama, this is interesting stuff, but as a training film, it is severely lacking.

[venerados]

For the purposes of this film, don't you think it's better to assume that they're going to comply with the Geneva Convention? If I was told by my own government that they were going to pull out my fingernails, I'd be more likely to talk. Since the US wanted its soldiers to play by the rules they had to tell them it was a fair game. And conversely, showing the Nazis torturing our guys would've opened the door to torture on our side and consequently given a greenlight to them to torture us, if they didn't already, and so on

[KeithFromKC]

I understand your point, Venerados, and partially agree with you. On the other hand, if there is a possibility that I would be exposed to physical torture behind enemy lines, I would like that addressed in a 'Training' film. As I stated, the film is definitely worth watching and makes some good points, but it wasn't realistic enough for me. If I am to be put in the face of danger, and every soldier assumes that, I would like the cold hard facts. Maybe there's another film in the vaults that deals with that, who knows?

 

I think the soldiers would respect something more truthful, but having never served in the military, I can only speculate as to why the powers that be would produce a film that almost sugarcoats the nasty business of enemy interrogation. To keep up morale? I'm not criticizing the producer of this film's methods, I guess I'm just trying to understand what purpose it serves to not truly describe the threat and/or the dangers that soldiers might encounter. The film IS a good tool, but it only scratches the surface......

[venerados]

Hm, well, some people like to be told the facts up front and some don't. I've heard a couple people with serious illnesses complain about how evasive doctors are when giving prognoses. I think the reasoning is that a person who can't handle the truth should be protected and the people who want the truth will probably guess the worst.

[slappy3500]

American POWs could expect wildly different treatment by the different enemy nations. The Germans & Italians with a few exceptions obeyed the Geneva Convention and treated out POWs about as well as we treated theirs. The Japanese, however, did not sign the Geneva accords and made no pretense of following them. The B-35 crews from the Dolittle raid that were captured by the Japanese were tortured and killed to get information about how the attack was done. The Japanese, who very seldom surrendered, considered soldiers who prefered capture to death were "without honor" and were treated very badly. The "Bataan Death March" is only one example. The Japanese also routinely appropriated Red Cross parcels and medical supplies meant for the prisoners, for their own use. Prisoners were often killed at the whim of their guards, and endured inhuman conditions, especially when they were moved. This difference has been acurately portrayed by the movies. Look at the difference in the treatment of POWs in "Stalag 17" and "the Great Escape" compaired with that in "King Rat" and "Bridge Over the River Kwai."