Inflation (1943) User Reviews

Devilish laughter from Edward Arnold in wartime propaganda short...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 20 July 2008]

Five months after WWII's Pearl Harbor, Americans were cautioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to curb their spending and to buy war bonds while he encouraged paying off debts and mortgages in a responsible manner.

To thwart this common sense talk, we have EDWARD ARNOLD as The Devil, spreading his own version of what Americans should do so that they will be defeated by the enemy. In a phone call from his friend Adolf, he outlines his own plan after advising one of his associates to "put more heat on the 7th level".

In an illustration of encouraging spending, we see Joe Smith (STEPHEN McNALLY) and his young wife (ESTHER WILLIAMS) going on a buying spree using credit for things they can't really afford. After admonished by storekeeper HOWARD FREEMAN, who turns on FDR's radio speech when the couple want to buy a new radio, they see the error of their ways.

It's a sardonic morality tale, benefiting mostly from the relish with which Arnold plays his Devil role. His laughter is full of dark menace as his huge close-ups convince us that he wants his evil plan to work, happily engaged in causing a "Roman holiday of spending" and encouraging a man to cash in his $300 war bonds.

In the end, of course, the Devil is outmaneuvered by smarter Americans who refuse to get caught up in black marketing, hoarding and cashing in their bonds--and the American spirit wins.

Good little propaganda film spotlights Arnold at his best--or should I say "worst" (as The Devil).

If It Won't Bust The Budget

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 20 July 2008]

In this wartime short subject Edward Arnold looks like he's having a grand old time playing Mephistopheles planning with one of his number one supporters over in Germany the economic destruction of the USA through Inflation. I wonder if the folks at MGM from Louis B. Mayer on down knew that among Adolph Hitler's other interests was one in the occult. He may really have been trying to communicate with the devil, especially as the war started going against Germany.

Arnold between chuckles on the phone to Hitler gives us a short economics lesson about how the evils of inflation can cripple the American economy and thus the effort on the home front to back our troops in battle. Actually not a bad lesson to learn right now as we are going through an inflationary cycle at the moment.

Inflation is also significant as the screen debut of young Esther Williams. The former swimming champion and Olympic hopeful until the 1940 games were canceled had signed an MGM contract and went through the usual preparation back then that contractees had to go through. This short subject where she plays Mrs. Joe Smith American opposite Stephen McNally was a trial run so to speak. But Esther doesn't get near a pool.

Anyway though to see Arnold ham it up and love every minute of it, put Inflation on your shopping list if it won't bust the budget.

WWII Propaganda Advises Preferred Economic Behavior

[atlasmb · 5/10 · 12 March 2014]

Much has be written about the use of propaganda by Nazi Germany to control and misinform its citizenry. Inflation is an American short that falls into the same category.

Released in 1942, Inflation does not offer rational reasons for recommending certain behavior; it attempts to play on the emotions of the viewer. FDR outlines the unprecedented steps the government is about to take during the early months of WWII to control the U. S. economy. By 1942, the public had become accustomed to his far-reaching and federally-centric approach to public policy while fighting The Depression. The film suggests that another depression is down the road if Americans don't follow his advice.

Consistent with other wartime releases, Inflation implies in a very heavy-handed way that anyone who does not comply with Washington's edicts is unpatriotic and, in fact, traitorous. Don't even think about questioning the government's approach. Inflation tells the viewer not to complain.

Why? Because if you complain or act contrary to the public message, you might as well consider yourself a killer of American soldiers. Worse, you are in league with the devil. That's right, in this fable with a moral, the primary character is none other than El Diablo himself. And he converses daily with Hitler, of course. Together they plot the downfall of America. Their solution is to convince American citizens to ignore the pleas from Washington, which will cause that most dreaded of all calamaties--Inflation!

The acting is intentionally over the top, except for Esther Williams who (in her second film role) plays the wife of a spendthrift jerk who, for some reason, feels compelled to buy! Buy! Buy! The music is appropriate, providing the ominous strains of violins when The Devil speaks.

Looking back at this short film through the intervening years of history (after all the public exposures of government mismanagement and corruption)is interesting. Of course people today still fall victim to empty government promises and its foolish propaganda, especially during war or conflict (remember Freedom Fries? How about the way Mohammad Ali was condemned for following his conscience?) FDR starts with a short and accurate view of wartime realities: military buying produces scarcity in supplies which increases prices. His prescriptions for these economic consequences are sweeping and pervasive (price fixing, taxation, rationing, etc.). Too bad they couldn't rely upon reasoning to convince people. By tweaking the heartstrings of patriotism and invoking a diabolic metaphor, they sell U. S. citizens short. And they do it very well.

Hope you guess my name

[nickenchuggets · 6/10 · 10 February 2022]

Prior to and during world war 2, many people from all over the world mocked Hitler in order to somewhat humanize and poke fun at his atrocious actions. A well known example of this is Der Fuhrer's Face, a Disney cartoon in which Donald Duck awakens in a land inhabited by nazis and is forced to be a cog in the german war machine. A much less well known example is Inflation. Made during the war, the plot of this short film is so ridiculous that it's hard to see why anyone would even take it serious: the devil himself has a direct phoneline to Hitler because he knows they are basically one in the same. The devil (Edward Arnold) has been busy orchestrating disasters all over the world and making humanity suffer since the beginning of time, and he obviously has a field day during ww2. We see how he caused the japanese rape and invasion of Shanghai in china, the german invasion of the netherlands, and the invasion of poland. The devil calls Adolf and says now that america is in the war, they're logically the next target. The devil proposes that with a huge and well equipped military like the one america has, nobody has the power to strike at them directly. Therefore the only way to beat them is to cripple their economic influence by getting americans to buy an overabundance of things that don't assist the war effort. This will in turn increase the prices of already rare items astronomically, and the US government will be forced to fight the war on no money. The devil also says the public cashing in war bonds also harms the economy severely. In the end, all of this is just wishful thinking on the devil's and Hitler's parts, as there was never really any possibility of germany winning world war 2. The sheer economic and industrial power of the US saw to that. I thought this short was pretty stupid, as many wartime shorts often were. I remember another ridiculous one I saw a few weeks ago that attempted to reason that Hitler's title of Fuhrer was spelled out in an ancient greek constellation or something, and by rearranging the letters in the word Fuhrer, we are given a secret message that suggested Hitler would be assassinated by Hermann Goering, leader of the german air force. Of course this never ended up happening, but at the time, most people just wanted to see Adolf dead. As for Inflation, I didn't really care for it because it is just blatant propaganda on america's part, which is ironic because most people assume only immoral countries like nazi germany could do propaganda. I also thought it was quite tasteless at times, noticeably during a part Edward laughs over footage of a cemetery containing hundreds of dead US servicemen. I know he's supposed to be playing the devil, but still. Overall, if there's one positive thing I can say about this short, it's that it does a good job explaining that war bonds were extremely important during the conflict in achieving allied victory. Many celebrities, such as James Cagney and Frank Sinatra, had public events and tours to say how helpful they were.

Is Inflation available on DVD?

[newcastleboy-1 · 7/10 · 22 December 2006]

Does anyone know if "Inflation" is available as a DVD supplement? I watched this short anti-Nazi propaganda newsreel piece at the 1940s movie music movie group I attend several years ago, and thought the idea of the devil encouraging people to make goods and thus raise the inflation level of the USA quite ingenious. I believe the music was quite interesting used within it, and it was quite novel to see how greedy people were after the devil encouraged them through his own style of propaganda to buy to excess with his cunning plan to send the world into Depression and obtain enjoyment out of people's misfortune and personal misery. From memory the cinematography of this piece was quite interesting coupled with the devil's overacting entrenched this piece in my brain, even though it is really quite minor when you consider it in the aspect of short newsreel history. It is my belief that people remember the comic overacting devil, and this is why "Inflation" has found a warm place in most people's minds from the older generation. I am 35, so younger people might have also found this interesting short newsreel as well. I give this 7/10 for the novelty factor although it's possibly only worth a 5-6/10 at most for it's overall content.

Short, amusing lesson in war-time economics and financial patriotism

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 5 October 2020]

The Devil (a chortling Edward Arnold) und der Führer (or at least the phone-voice of der Führer) plot to use inflation to weaken 'the arsenal of democracy' by encouraging Americans to horde, cheat on rationing, cash in war-bonds, extravagantly spend on credit, and in general ignore the pleading of F.D.R. to show fiscal restraint and responsibility. Stephen McNally and an unusually dry Esther Williams are Mr. and Mrs. Smith, stand-ins for 'typical American' consumers who finally 'get it' when they hear a radio address from the President explaining the strategic necessity of financial self-control. The film's message is not subtle and after 15 minutes, becomes a bit repetitious but, as economics lessons go, the old home-front propaganda-short is imaginative and entertaining. The best parts are Satan's art-deco office, his insincere commiseration with Hitler about the large 'consignment' of German soldiers who just arrived in hell from the Russian front (and who appreciate the warmth), and his devilishly seductive assistant (Vicky Lane) with her self-lighting cigarettes and infernal hairdo. Vintage fun.

Edward Arnold is Devilishly Good

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 8 July 2014]

WW2 short from MGM about the Devil (Edward Arnold) conspiring with Hitler to wreck the U.S. economy. He plans to do this by making Americans buy things on credit, ignore rationing laws, and cash in their war bonds. That Devil sure is a stinker! The point of this short was to make American at home think about how they could help the war effort by keeping the economy strong.

I love patriotic WW2 shorts like these. It avoids being too preachy and delivers its message in a clear and entertaining way. Edward Arnold is terrific. Just the year before he was fighting Satan in The Devil and Daniel Webster, now here he is playing him and doing a wickedly delightful job. It's a great short that anybody who enjoys WW2-era material should love. Also features Esther Williams in one of her earliest roles.

Effective World War Two Short Subject

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 22 April 2001]

An MGM Short Subject.

In a phone conversation with Hitler five months after Pearl Harbor, a delighted Devil describes how INFLATION can win the War for the Axis as easily as bullets & bombs.

This is an imaginative little film which effectively alerted the American public to the 5 ways in which inflation could be unleashed on the economy:

••••• Impulse or overbuying ••••• Buying on the Black Market ••••• Hoarding food & supplies ••••• Breaking the price ceilings ••••• Cashing in War Bonds

Edward Arnold is at his most sardonic as The Devil; playing his role as if Lucifer were a corrupt businessman, Arnold gets to ham it up most deliciously. In her first film role, Esther Williams plays a typical young housewife who learns about the evils of inflation from an FDR radio broadcast.

After Pearl Harbor, Hollywood went to war totally against the Axis. Not only did many of the stars join up or do home front service, but the output of the Studios was largely turned to the war effort. The newsreels, of course, brought the latest war news into the neighbor theater every week. The features showcased battle stories or war related themes. Even the short subjects & cartoons were used as a quick means of spreading Allied propaganda, the boosting of morale or information dissemination. Together, Uncle Sam, the American People & Hollywood proved to be an unbeatable combination.

Fun Short

[Michael_Elliott · 4 May 2009]

Inflation (1942)

*** (out of 4)

WW2 propaganda short features Ester Williams in a small role in her film debut. The film tells the story of how Adolf Hitler calls the Devil (Edward Arnold) and asks to make American's start spending more money so that their war efforts can be washed down the toilet. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Stephen McNally, Williams) begin a shopping spree not knowing what they're doing to the country and their souls. It's rather amazing to see how far these shorts would go in terms of the war and one can't imagine any actors doing something like this today. Arnold wasn't the biggest star in Hollywood but he did have countless lead roles at MGM and was a fairly well known face. He is quite good in his role of the Devil and you can tell he's having fun. Williams is pretty much centered in a thankless role but she isn't too bad.

"Buy all you can - - go overboard - - complain about taxes . . . "

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 6 October 2020]

" . . . squawk about everything!" M-G-M channels the rants of 2020 America's Game-Show-Host-in-Chief under the guise of a character dubbed "The Devil" during INFLATION. This nefarious Fifth-Columnist Quisling film studio sides with Satan and The Fuhrer here in encouraging U.S. citizens to sabotage their boys fighting overseas during World War Two (referred to as "the losers and the suckers" in current White House lingo). "There's always the weak ones," Lucifer says of insidious super-hoarder "Mrs. Smith," once America's Sweetheart among mermaid fans. Old Scratch goes on the call his Core Supporters "stupid, greedy half-pints," reflecting the distain with which this traitorous mob of film makers and its affiliated political party has always felt toward the brainwashed Base making up the USA's Achilles' Heel.

War-time propaganda short

[lousvr · 2/10 · 15 September 1999]

Early, heavy, war-time propaganda short urging people to be careful with their spending practices, in effort to prevent any runaway inflation.

Using scare, guilt and patriotic jingoistic rhetoric, which was normal for the time, the government was concern that the sudden war-time production and therefore wage increase and subsequent spending practices if not checked could cause serious problems during and after the war.

It truly is a window into the past, historically and culturally.

A dandy little propaganda short

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 2 August 2006]

This is a must-see film for fans of the Golden Age of Hollywood like myself. Part of it is because of Edward Arnold's wonderful performance as the Devil (second for pure entertainment value, perhaps to Laird Cregar's rendition of Satan in HEAVEN CAN WAIT). Plus, the film is such a wonderful time capsule of WWII and the efforts to enlist the support of the people at home in the war effort.

The film starts with Old Scratch receiving a phone call from Adolf Hitler and they thank each other for the support! Then the Devil discusses how greed and hoarding are helping Hitler in his plans for global domination (just think,...buying that EXTRA pound of coffee might just lead to the fall of the Western World!). The performance of Edward Arnold is just hilarious (you don't actually see Adolf on screen).

Then the film cuts to Joe Smith, a "typical American" who doesn't think twice about hoarding--reasoning that no one will miss it if he keeps just a few extra odds and ends. Well, Joe finally realizes that he, too, has fallen into the Devil's plans and the only way to defeat Satan AND his #1 sidekick is to stop hoarding and give 100% to the war effort! The film is just a lot of fun and a great piece of American history. Well worth seeing!

New angle from the 1933 film

[bdywrkr · 2/10 · 27 April 2010]

In 1933, a propaganda film touting the virtues of inflation, going off the gold standard, and market forces was played in theaters across America. Nine years later, inflation was a tool of the Devil himself, a dark and destructive plot to destroy our country. Amusing how those folks could talk out of both sides of their mouths. Look at these two films back to back, and then consider whether either one's conclusions make sense.

P.S.: Canning your own peaches and raising/slaughtering your own meat was/is not hoarding. There were people, Rose Wilder Lane (Laura Wilder's daughter) among them, who never used ration cards/stamps. They took responsibility for themselves AND were able to share with neighbors in need. Just sayin'...

Edward as the Evil One

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 12 July 2008]

A nice little short subject, sometimes rerun on TURNER CLASSICS, it gives Edward Arnold his one chance at playing Satan. Coming only a year after Arnold faced Satan (Walter Huston) in ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY, here Arnold had his chance to be compared to Huston, Laird Cregar (HEAVEN CAN WAIT), Claude Rains (ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER), and others. It's also his only chance to be seen wearing a full beard on camera (pointed at the tip, and with eyebrows reminiscent of Eric Campbell's opposite Chaplin, but subtler).

We see Arnold in an office behind a large desk, not quite as fashionable as Cregar's but (under the circumstances) respectable. He rises from his desk and introduces himself as the Devil, and explains how he can help people with all sorts of goodies like armaments, propaganda machines, goose stepping soldiers. Soon there is a phone call and he answers, and it is his good chum Adolf, asking for more assistance to defeat the Allies. And Arnold soon is explaining that he can help by encouraging economic suicide - inflation.

The idea (seen dramatized in the short) is how by hoarding or buying to much and encouraging manufacturers to continue doing "business as usual", the public undercuts the war effort. It is an interesting theory, and has some validity. Presented here, with Esther Williams in her first role as a housewife caught in the realities of wartime economics, it is thoroughly understandable.

Today, of course, it is Arnold's wonderful chuckly Devil that makes us like the short. As has been said on several of the other reviews, it is an interesting time piece of our own propaganda machine at wartime at work.

Curiously, although Hollywood did not know it, the issue of "guns or butter" (as it was referred to by Herman Goering) was playing an odd role in of all places Germany. While the U.S. and England were sacrificing much to help their armed forces (and Japan even more), Germany acted as if nothing was happening until late in 1944! Albert Speer mentioned in his memoirs that the German economy was still producing luxury items until late that year - apparently it was in an effort to keep the German population under the assumption everything was going well (despite the heavy bombardments? - Hitler and his advisers had blinders on much of what they were observing). It was only when France (not Italy but France) was lost, and Hitler nearly killed in an assassination plot, that the Nazis started a belt-tightening policy that really was tight.

enjoyable

[MovieLoverWhirla · 27 August 2011]

I'm not usually up at 05:30 but this morning [27aug2011] I am and "Inflation" came on. Took me a while to find where it is documented but once I began looking I wasn't ready to give up. Due to the star and subject matter I was sure that someone would have entered something and, sure enough, I finally found it. I started opening titles in the filmography but it just wasn't there. I was about to give up when I read the biography. Its not high art by any means but Edward Arnold is a favorite actor of mine and I'm so glad I had the chance to see this short. I thoroughly enjoyed it, a very well done short on a very timely subject. No spoilers, just a recommendation.

A defense of propaganda!

[billsoccer · 1/10 · 24 July 2019]

This is amagnificent effort of state propaganda! Granted in wartime price fixing and everything that goes along with it might be reasonable for some goods. This went well beyond that point. Modern liberal/progressive would love this movie but it's shocking to a fiscal conservative or anyone who values freedom. If advocates today, this would draw heavy criticism. The acting was well done, but such advocacy for compliance is disturbing

It's purpose may be somewhat obscure today, but this propaganda film remains fun and weird

[OldAle1 · 8/10 · 5 May 2009]

"Inflation" was Cy Endfield's first film. It's a 16-minute anti-German propaganda short made for MGM with Edward Arnold as Satan, sitting behind his large CEO's desk and chatting amiably on the phone with Herr Hitler (a framed and signed photo of whom he has displayed) about his plans for destroying the U.S. economy through encouraging people to illegally buy or horded as much unnecessary stuff as they can in defiance of wartime government restrictions. Footage of FDR confirms what all of those complaining about our current government's "socialism" should know: we were a lot closer to it in the 40s than we've ever been since. Price caps? Quotas? Higher taxes, especially on the rich? Short propaganda films like these? Yup, all part of daily life in 1942.

There's lots of fun stuff under the surface here. Arnold's v-haircut, his cackling maniacal laughter, and the faky lightning-bolt effects that we see periodically behind him might remind one of Ed Wood films; he's got a sexy secretary (mistress? does the Devil have a mistress?) and indeed the film is full of sex: a sexy housewife (Esther Williams, in her first film role) wants nice dresses and a fur and her hubby seems willing to do anything to get them for her; there's a scene of several attractive young ladies rushing to buy nylons as the prices get hiked. The whole film is over-the-top and feverish, as propaganda films were meant to be, but it's a lot of fun and shows some real wit.

First-rate propaganda

[richard-1787 · 8/10 · 5 October 2020]

This is really first-rate World War II propaganda. Edward Arnold, an under-rated supporting actor who played the cold-hearted villain very well in some of Hollywood's greatest 1930s movies, like *You Can't Take it With You*, *Meet John Doe*, and *Mr. Smith Goes to Washington*, is perfect here as the Devil, who is in league with Adolph Hitler to destroy American arms production. He explains how selfish buying, especially on credit, of things we do not need leads to inflation, which in turn can lead to social unrest. The last part of this short movie, when he addresses the audience directly, is blood-chilling.

It also reminded me, in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, how our government once played to a sense of our obligation to our fellow Americans, a time when paying one's taxes was an act of patriotism and not an indication of stupidity, etc.

If the federal government made similar shorts today to urge Americans to join together to fight a virus that is threatening us, would movie goers break into laughter? Or would we be so surprised that we'd sit there in a state of shock?

Watch this film. It's only 17 minutes long. And while you watch it, ask yourself why we couldn't make such a film today.