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| Black Marketing | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William Castle |
| Produced by | Office of War Information |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 10 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Black Marketing is an American 1943 dramatic propaganda documentary short produced by the United States Office of War Information and directed by William Castle. It is an educational film warning American civilians against buying unrationed foodstuffs and materials.
Synopsis
The film opens in a courtroom with the prosecutor laying the government's case against a syndicate of racketeers with names like Joseph B. and Sam E. Once the prosecutor starts to go into the timeline of the case, the film dissolves into short segments showing the racketeers at work, how they organized themselves, bought up steers at inflated prices and forced butchers to distribute the illicit beef. They are caught, however, when one housewife is told that she can't buy a steak with her ration cards, but a woman after her does without them.
The butcher is taken by the OPA (Office of Price Administration) and interrogated. He is asked what his son in Africa would think if he knew his father were cavorting with saboteurs, and spills the beans about his accomplices. When the lawyer comes back, he looks to the audience and tells them that they too must not buy goods above the rationed price, and report it if they see it. A closing note tells the audience that everyone in the film is a law-abiding citizen who volunteered to act in the movie to educate the public about black marketing.
See also
References
- Hiltz, Madeline (2021-08-03). "Meat Is Such A Treat! And The Black Market's Hottest Commodity In The 1940s | War History Online". warhistoryonline. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
- "Bootleg Beef and Smuggled Sirloin: Black Market Meat During World War II". Heinz History Center. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
External links
- The short film Black Marketing is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- Black Marketing at IMDb
 | This article about a documentary film on World War II is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
- 1943 films
- American World War II propaganda shorts
- Films directed by William Castle
- American black-and-white films
- 1943 short documentary films
- American short documentary films
- RKO Pictures short films
- 1940s English-language films
- 1940s American films
- English-language short documentary films
- English-language war films
- World War II documentary film stubs