For the Common Defense!

Jun 20, 1942

0h 22m

★ 4.7

Another Crime Does Not Pay Subject

Overview

This Crime Does Not Pay short shows how cooperation among all the nations of the Americas helps the war effort. In this case, a US government agent travels to Chile and Colombia. He works with local authorities to try to thwart an Axis plan to ship stolen ammunition.

Genres

Drama

Crime

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

For the Common Defense! Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Subprefect Santiago Castillo

John Litel

Dutch Mullner

Douglas Fowley

Lt. Guytan

Stephen McNally

Agent Pritchard

Van Johnson

Adolph (uncredited)

Egon Brecher

Buckley's girlfriend (uncredited)

Jacqueline Dalya

MGM Crime Reporter (uncredited)

Mark Daniels

Heinrich Ort (uncredited)

Steven Geray

Officer (uncredited)

José Portugal

Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague, inventor Axel Bomasch manages to flee and reach England; but those who need to put his knowledge at the service of the Nazi war machine, in order to carry out their evil plans of destruction, will stop at nothing to capture him.

6.0

Red Nightmare

Feb 11, 1962

A man takes his American freedoms for granted, until he wakes up one morning to find out that the United States Government has been replaced with a Communist system. The basis for this short film, narrated by Jack Webb, is the alleged Soviet re-creation of US communities for the purpose of training infiltrators, spies, and moles.

6.9

Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi

Jan 15, 1943

A propaganda film during World War II about a boy who grows up to become a Nazi soldier.

7.0

Purity Squad

Nov 3, 1945

This entry in the Crime Does Not Pay series focuses on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's effort to ensure that drugs are fully tested before they are sold to consumers. Two unscrupulous investors market the drug 'Diabulin' as a substitute for insulin after preliminary tests show good results. After a short time, however, users start dying from the drug. The FDA and the state attorney general's office then go after the drug marketers.

6.7

Katyn

Sep 21, 2007

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

6.4

The Iron Lady

Dec 26, 2011

A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.

6.6

Their Finest

Feb 19, 2017

During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resilience as a way to buoy a weary populace's spirits. Her efforts to dramatise the true story of two sisters who undertook their own maritime mission to rescue wounded soldiers are met with mixed feelings by a dismissive all-male staff.

4.5

Seven Miles from Alcatraz

Nov 18, 1942

After Pearl Harbor, convicts at Alcatraz prison live in fear of bomb attacks, driving Champ Larkin and his pal Jimbo to a desperate escape attempt which lands them on a tiny lighthouse island, where they take over. The five inhabitants are stymied in their efforts to summon aid. But the island also figures in the schemes of a big Nazi spy ring; which will win out, the gangsters' greed or their patriotism?

5.8

Don't Talk

Feb 28, 1942

This Crime Does Not Pay series entry dramatizes the idea that during wartime, people should not discuss anything related to their work when in public. A casual remark can be overheard by an enemy agent and used to sabotage the war effort. In this short, the story involves shipments of parts to a defense plant.

6.1

The Negro Soldier

Apr 10, 1944

Documentary focusing on the contributions to the American war effort of African-American soldiers.

5.8

Curtiz

Sep 12, 2019

Hollywood, 1942. The US government pressures Hungarian-born film director Michael Curtiz, who is about to finish shooting Casablanca, to accentuate the film's propaganda message in order to sway public opinion in favor of the country's intervention in the European war.

6.7

Money to Loan

Mar 11, 1939

The MGM crime reporter introduces Norman Kennedy, District Attorney of a large city, he who talks about the general want for money, and the extraordinary lengths some will go to to get it. The loan sharking business has that want for money on both sides. He tells the story of one such loan shark, Stephen Hanley, who tried to pass his company off as a legitimate loan business, but who charged exorbitant rates, and used extortion and fraud to get out of his customers even more than what they may have owed on paper.