First Motion Picture Unit

First Motion Picture Unit

The First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) was the unofficial name for the 18th Air Force Base Unit of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first unit of the United States Military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel.

Organization

More than a year before the United States entered World War II, the Army's public relations office in Washington, D.C., contacted Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles and asked for help in creating a series of short films for the purpose of educating the public about the different branches of the military. Jack Warner brought Gordon Hollingshead (film producer) and Owen Crump (a writer in Warner's Short Subjects Department) to a conference where they agreed to the idea. Eight two-reel technicolor films were produced and released in theaters in 1941 before America declared war on Japan and Germany.

The USAAF First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) was officially organized out of that core group in April, 1942, when Jack Warner took Hal Wallis (film producer) and Owen Crump to Washington, D.C., at the request of USAAF General "Hap" Arnold who offered the three of them Army Air Force commissions. Warner was made lieutenant colonel and Crump a captain but Wallis, who was then in production with "Casablanca", did not accept the offer. [cite book |title=The Making of Casablanca: BOGART, BERGMAN, AND WORLD WAR II |last=Harmetz |first=Aljean |year=2002 |publisher=Hyperion |isbn=0786888148 ] Warner and Crump were assigned to assemble the unit in Culver City, California, where they brought together a pool of experienced film technicians and widely-known movie actors who served the country making publicity films and military training films. Applicants varied from physically fit, young male film technicians who were eligible for the draft (and might hope to stay stateside if they joined FMPU) to middle-aged men who were eager to use their expertise to further the war effort. Civilian contractors including women working as animators, editors, writers, production assistants and office staff rounded out the organization. [ [http://www.genordell.com/stores/lantern/FMPU.htm Magic Lantern Video & Book Store. "First Motion Picture Unit"] ]

Crump ended the war at the rank of lieutenant colonel but Warner, initially very active in the making and promoting of military propaganda films, would resign his commission in less than six months in order to return to running his company. [Harmetz, pg. 110] His pioneering effort had been completed.

Major releases

The first FMPU film was completed in two weeks and starred then-Lieutenant Jimmy Stewart in "Winning Your Wings", an explanation of air cadet training. The government-sponsored film was given a very wide release throughout the U.S. and resulted in 150,000 enlistment requests for pilot training. [ [http://www.militarymuseum.org/1stmpu.html The California State Military Museum. "Hollywood's Army"] ]

Famous FMPU films include Major William Wyler's ""

Other films

[ [http://www.genordell.com/stores/lantern/FMPU.htm#films Magic Lantern Video & Book Store. "Partial F.M.P.U. Filmography"] ]
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137908/ "Learn and Live"]
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0175240/ "Three Cadets"]
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182988/ "Ditching: Before and After"]
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275240/ "Cadet Classification"] with Ronald Reagan as narrator
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036054/ "Recognition of the Japanese Zero Fighter"] with Ronald Reagan
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0174158/ "Reconnaissance Pilot"] with William Holden
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036539/ "Wings Up"] with Gilbert Roland, William Holden, Robert Preston and Clark Gable as narrator
*1943 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183086/ "The First Motion Picture Unit"]
*1944 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312892/ "Land And Live In The Jungle"] with Van Heflin
*1944 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037215/ "Resisting Enemy Interrogation"] with Arthur Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Mel Tormé, nominated for an Academy Award
*1944 "Bail Out"
*1944 "Crash Rescue"
*1944 "Ditch and Live"
*1944 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250024/ "Target for Today"] directed by William Keighley
*1944 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036622/ "B-29 Flight Procedure and Combat Crew Functioning"]
*1944 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461522/ "How to Fly the B-26 Airplane"]
*1945 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312891/ "Land and Live In the Desert"] with Van Heflin as narrator
*1945 "Land and Live In the Ocean"
*1945 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037502/ "Airborne Lifeboat"] with George Reeves and Barry Nelson
*1945 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037861/ "The Last Bomb"] nominated for an Academy Award
*1945 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037349/ "Target Tokyo"] with Ronald Reagan as narrator
*1945 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418240/ "Time to Kill"] with George Reeves, Barry Nelson, DeForest Kelley
*1945 "Wings for This Man" with Ronald Reagan as narrator

Veterans

Members of F.M.P.U. included:
*Edward Anhalt
*X Atencio
*Frank Capra
*Dann Cahn
*Jules Engel
*Maj. Clark Gable
*Maj. Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss
*2nd Lt. Van Heflin
*Corporal Gene Hilliard
*Capt. William Holden
*John Hubley
*Bill Hurtz
*Arthur Kennedy
*DeForest Kelley
*Herb Klynn
*Corporal Alan Ladd
*Maj. Paul Mantz
*George Montgomery
*Don Porter
*Capt. Ronald Reagan
*Sgt. George Reeves
*PFC Bill Scott (voice actor)
*James Seay
*Craig Stevens

ee also

*Lookout Mountain Air Force Station

References

External links

* [http://www.genordell.com/stores/lantern/FMPU.htm First Motion Picture Unit of WW2 at Magic Lantern]


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