The Tanks Are Coming (1941)

Educational short about the status of battle tanks and tankist training in the American Army in pre-War 1941, featuring a comical Army trainee from the Bronx.

Director:

B. Reeves Eason

Writer:

Owen Crump (screenplay)

Stars:

George Tobias, Richard Travis, Gig Young

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
George Tobias	...	Malowski
Richard Travis	...	Pete (as William Travis)
Gig Young	...	Jim Allen (as Byron Barr)
Frank Wilcox	...	Colonel
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Litel	...	Thomas Jefferson (archive footage)
Walter Walker	...	Benjamin Franklin (from 'Declaration of Independence' [1938]) (archive footage)

Storyline

In spring, 1941, President Roosevelt orders increased military readiness. Malowski, a good-humored New York City cabbie, drives his cab Betsy to Fort Knox, Tennessee, to enlist. He learns tank mechanics, driving, and weapons firing. On the eve of their first maneuvers, in mid June, a sergeant who used to be a traffic cop turns in Malowski for having the taxi on the base. The base commander tells Malowski he'll have to get rid of her. He stashes Betsy in an old shed, then the maneuvers begin. How will Malowski fare? What about Betsy? Behind Malowski's story, the narrator gives lots of information about the growing power of the U.S. armed forces.

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Plot Keywords:

tank | new york city | taxi | mechanic | basic training | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 October 1941 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

U.S. Army, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vitaphone release #496A-497A.

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Connections

Edited from The Declaration of Independence (1938)

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Soundtracks

"Love Me, and the World Is Mine"
Music by Ernest Ball
Played when Malowski drives Betsy into the shed

User Reviews

Competent Short...

THE TANKS ARE COMING is a Warner Brothers (WB) short dedicated to military preparedness which in 1941 with the first peace time draft in effect and WWII raging was a major motivator. WB put a lot more into this short then usual. First it was filmed in the expensive Three (3) Strip TechniColor process. Second featured the WB stock company and third had the full cooperation of the U.S. Army and its Armor Training School at Fort Knox Kentucky.

Story in brief is that of recruits being indoctrinated in the then new theories of armored mobile warfare. Learning how to maintain and use their new equipment in a effective manner. Watching it no doubt gave theater goers the feeling that we were in good hands and prepared for the conflict ahead. Unfortunately our future enemies watching this no doubt felt we would be better off sticking to making refrigerators then playing with the big boys.

That is the best lesson in watching this now is how UNPREPARED we (U.S.A.) were at this new warfare and for WWII in general. The equipment that had to be depended upon just was not very good and would certainly not deter our future enemies Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Nor bring confidence to our future allies. We were fortunate to see this on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Its one (1) of those things that you have to be lucky to catch, but if it was not for TCM would never be seen at all.