The Tanks Are Coming (1941 film)

The Tanks Are Coming is a 1941 American Technicolor short film. It is primarily a recruitment movie, but can also be regarded as a propaganda movie or a documentary with some light relief. Like Dive Bomber (of the same year) it is a pre-Pearl Harbor movie, made with the co-operation of the relevant branch of the US armed forces, showing off US military material to the US public, in lavish Technicolor. This material is shown in motion, both on the road and in the field; training equipment and methods are also featured.

It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 14th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).^[1]

Plot

New York taxicab driver Malowski (George Tobias) and his cab Betsy enlist in the "First Armored Force" and get caught up in large-scale mechanized maneuvers. The tanks featured in the short were the U.S Army's M2A4 light tank and the M2A1 medium tank.

Credited cast

• George Tobias as Malowski
• William Travis (i.e. Richard Travis) as Pete
• Byron Barr [later known as Gig Young] as Jim Allen
• Frank Wilcox as Colonel

Production

A young Richard Egan appears uncredited in a few scenes and has a few lines. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and achieved the rank of captain. He started his actual film career in 1949.^[2]

References

External links

• The Tanks Are Coming at the Internet Movie Database
• The short film The Tanks Are Coming is available for free download at the Internet Archive