Com-Central.net

Neil_Baumgardner

Some interestin on stuff on there...

Rare military film collection opens to the public via Web

PRNewswire.com

The largest on-line military film and video Web site was opened to the public March 27.

RealMilitaryFlix.com spotlights hundreds of historical movies made by military organizations for documentation, training, and propaganda purposes. The site also features new military videos from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other collections, such as the WWII secret agent training films, were once classified as Top-Secret.

U.S. Air Force combat camera veteran John Corry spent the past year putting his collection on-line. He started his archive while producing a television series for A&E in 1991.

â€œThe Air Force used to care for all U.S. military film masters, but that responsibility shifted to the U.S. archives in the mid-1990s. During the transfer, many films were deemed unworthy of continued preservation and were simply thrown out. Others wound up on crates in government warehouses,â€? Corry said. â€œWe got there just in time.â€?

Most all military productions eventually become obsoleteâ€”deemed to be of little use as technologies evolve and as policies change. The general public rarely, if ever, saw these military films in their entirety.

â€œWhat makes these films so special is that they are like opening time capsules,â€? Corry said. â€œFor example, the U.S. Government took a hard line while training Soldiers to occupy Germany after WWII. The men were taught to not make any German friends and they were warned about the â€˜aggressive tendenciesâ€™ of the German people.

â€œToday the film seems un-politically correct, but it illuminates how people felt at the time.â€?

The military videos date back to World War I and the average length is about 12 minutes.

RealMilitaryFlix.com has 650 films online and approximately 1,200 more will be released throughout the year. Military films from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Italy are also featured.

â€œIâ€™d like to see history buffs from all over the world discuss military topics in our forum based on a shared viewing experience. We expect to have extraordinary discussions,â€? Corry said.

Author, historian, and retired Army Col. John Antal, recently signed on as the siteâ€™s military advisor. RealMilitaryFlix.com has also joined forces with the Internetâ€™s leading military resource and information portal, MilitaryConnection.com, to pass the word to military veterans and military history aficionados.