''Design for Death'' is a 1947 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

that won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. It was based on a shorter U.S. Army training film, ''

Our Job in Japan ''Our Job in Japan'' was a United States military training film made in 1945, shortly after World War II. It is the companion to the more famous '' Your Job In Germany''. The film was aimed at American troops about to go to Japan to participat ...

'', that had been produced in 1945–1946 for the soldiers occupying

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Both films dealt with Japanese culture and the origins of the war. Following the war, Peter Rathvon at

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

, who had seen ''Our Job in Japan'' during his own military service, decided to produce a commercial version of the film. He hired the original writer and editor to work on the new project. Theodor S. Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, co-authored ''Design for Death'' with his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Elmo Williams was the editor for both films. Subsequently, Sid Rogell replaced Rathvon, and became the film's producer. The film was given wide release in January 1948; a review in ''

Daily Variety ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'' characterized it as "a documentary of fabulous proportions ... one of the most interesting screen presentations of the year".. Secondary reference; primary reference hasn't yet been confirmed. Bosley Crowther, writing in ''The New York Times'', was not complimentary; he wrote that the film "makes the general point that too much control by a few people is a dangerous – a '

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

' – thing and that another world war can be prevented only by the development of responsible, representative governments throughout the world. That is a valid message, but the weakness with which it is put forth in a melange of faked and factual pictures and in a ponderous narration does not render it very forceful." In his memoir, Elmo Williams maintains that he and Geisel created ''Design for Death'' nearly in its entirety, and that the credits for Fleischer and Warth were nominal ones. Rogell, Fleischer, and Warth received the Academy Awards for the film. Copies of ''Design for Death'' are apparently rare. Geisel thought that they had all been destroyed. However, the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

sponsored a screening in October 2005, and parts of the film were included in the documentary '' The Political Dr. Seuss''. Some materials related to ''Design for Death'', including its script, are in an archive of Geisel's papers at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

Cast

Kent Smith Frank Kent Smith (March 19, 1907 – April 23, 1985) was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theatre and television. Early years Smith was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Smith. He was born in New York City and was educated ...

as Narrator * Hans Conried as Narrator

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Design For Death 1947 films 1947 documentary films American black-and-white films American documentary films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Black-and-white documentary films Films directed by Richard Fleischer Films with screenplays by Dr. Seuss Documentary films about World War II Documentary films about Japan Japan in non-Japanese culture Occupied Japan RKO Pictures films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films