Newsreels of World War II, Volume 2 (1943-1945)

Founded in 1939 by Leslie Winik, Official Films was a major player in the 8mm/16mm home movie business for decades. One of their most popular products was the one-reel, ten-minute "News Thrills" series, which compiled the most important events of the year from various sources. As the United States entered World War II and audiences grew hungry for wartime battle footage, Official expanded the series to multiple volumes per year. This compilation covers a selection of their releases from 1943 to 1945, including such important events as the Allied invasion of Italy; FDR meeting with Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek at the Cairo Conference; the Battle of Tarawa; General Douglas MacArthur's triumphant return to the Philippines; V-E Day in Times Square; the destruction of the giant swastika in Nuremberg; the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico; and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu signing the surrender of Japan that brings the war to an end. Many of these scenes are narrated by Jackson Beck, one of the most recognizable voice-over artists of the 20th Century. He was the narrator of radio's The Adventures of Superman, the voice of Bluto in Paramount's Popeye cartoons, and a pitchman for dozens of products, including Combat Roach Killer and Little Caesars Pizza.