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IMDbPro

Don't Be a Sucker

  • 19431943
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 18m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
281
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
158,840
2,054
Richard Lane in Don't Be a Sucker (1943)
ShortHistoryWar
Propaganda short film depicting the rise of Nazism in Germany and how political propaganda is similarly used in the United States to recruit Nazi sympathizers from the ranks of American raci... Read allPropaganda short film depicting the rise of Nazism in Germany and how political propaganda is similarly used in the United States to recruit Nazi sympathizers from the ranks of American racists.Propaganda short film depicting the rise of Nazism in Germany and how political propaganda is similarly used in the United States to recruit Nazi sympathizers from the ranks of American racists.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
281
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
158,840
2,054
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Stars
      • Lloyd Nolan
      • Robert Adler(uncredited)
      • Richard Alexander(uncredited)
    Top credits
    • Stars
      • Lloyd Nolan
      • Robert Adler(uncredited)
      • Richard Alexander(uncredited)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 8User reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Photos

    Felix Bressart in Don't Be a Sucker (1943)
    Don't Be a Sucker (1943)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Lloyd Nolan
    Lloyd Nolan
    • Commentator
    Robert Adler
    Robert Adler
    • Listener to Soapbox Orator
    • (uncredited)
    Richard Alexander
    Richard Alexander
    • Listener to Soapbox Orator
    • (uncredited)
    Robert Bailey
    Robert Bailey
    • Mike
    • (uncredited)
    Felix Bressart
    Felix Bressart
    • Anti-Nazi Teacher
    • (uncredited)
    Chick Chandler
    Chick Chandler
    • Con Artist
    • (uncredited)
    George Chandler
    George Chandler
    • Sucker
    • (uncredited)
    Albert Einstein
    Albert Einstein
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Joseph Goebbels
    Joseph Goebbels
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Adolf Hitler
    Adolf Hitler
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • (uncredited)
    Martin Kosleck
    Martin Kosleck
    • Nazi Orator
    • (uncredited)
    Kurt Kreuger
    Kurt Kreuger
    • Hans
    • (uncredited)
    Richard Lane
    Richard Lane
    • Soapbox Orator
    • (uncredited)
    Paul Lukas
    Paul Lukas
    • Hungarian Professor
    • (uncredited)
    Frank O'Connor
    Frank O'Connor
    • Listener to Soapbox Orator
    • (uncredited)
    Robert R. Stephenson
    Robert R. Stephenson
    • German Citizen
    • (uncredited)
    George E. Stone
    George E. Stone
    • Card Player
    • (uncredited)
    Charles Tannen
    Charles Tannen
    • Mugger
    • (uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The film was originally released in 1943 and then re-released, in a shorter version, in 1947. In August 2017, the short version gained tremendous attention due to the "Unite the Right" torch-lit rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
    • Quotes

      Commentator: There's a good old-fashioned word for people like this. We call 'em suckers. And there other people, people who stay up nights, figurin' out how to take away what they've got.

    • Connections
      Featured in A German Life (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      The Star-Spangled Banner
      Written by Francis Scott Key

    User reviews8

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    Mike and the Professor
    Somewhat confusing Hollywood made propaganda film-with the help of the US Defense Department-about the danger and horrors of an United States takeover by an un-named fascist group using patriotism as its way to split the population apart and against each other in order to achieve its ignoble gains. We get to see this loud mouth giving a speech on a soapbox about how foreigners and minorities are taking over the country and turning it into, even though he doesn't mention it, a third world backwater 12th century economy.

    There's Mike-young healthy and with a job-swallowing every word that this big mouth utters until this wise old professor or recent Hungarian immigrant enlighten him about what's really going on behind the scenes. Being a Freemason-Like most if not all of the Founding Fathers including George Washington- Mike who at first thought he was an all American realizes that he himself,in being a Freemason,is also on the chopping block if big mouth-played by Richard Lane-ends up getting his way. We get to see in a number of flashbacks in how the Nazis took over Germany some 15 years ago using the same tactics that this fire brand speaker is using now. The way the film plays out you don't quite know if this takes place-it was made in 1943 and re-released with new scenes added in 1947-since you can't figure out if WWII was over or still in progress.

    Using a number of outtakes of old WWII movies the wise old professor makes his point to the very confused and not really with it, in not having any sense of modern history, Mike what the speaker is all about. And in the end he finally sees the light in tearing up a what looked like literature about how great it would be if we, the American people, would follow the line of BS what the speaker tells us to do.

    Released during or right after the end of WWII this 20 some minute so-called educational short made it look as if the US population were asleep or unconscious in what happened over the last four years when the USA was in a life and death struggle with Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan Germany's allies in the war were never mentioned once, that cost the lives of over 400,000 US servicemen. And even worse it had the professor who just became a naturalized American citizen as the only person in the film who had any idea of what Nazi Germany and the jerk, who you would have expected to be chased off the stage and forced to run for his life, giving the speech really stood for.
    helpful•3
    5
    • kapelusznik18
    • Aug 15, 2017

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 4, 1943 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • U.S. War Department
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      18 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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