ABSTRACT
In “A Long Ride on the Metro,” Ross Melnick examines the history of U.S.-owned newsreels (not foreign co-productions or investments) that were designed explicitly for the foreign market before, during, and after World War II. The content of these newsreels was shaped and translated for local concerns and languages abroad, but ultimately served American foreign policy interests. Beginning with local, foreign-language versions of MGM’s News of the Day produced for Latin America during the 1930s, “A Long Ride on the Metro” focuses on the Office of War Information’s weekly newsreel for overseas theaters during World War II, its postwar successor, United News, and dozens of versions of MGM’s Metro News produced for numerous foreign markets beginning in 1946. Directed by Loew’s International Vice President George Muchnic, former executive officer to the Chief of the Army Pictorial Service during World War II, Metro News was “not just ‘another’ newsreel” according to Arthur Loew, but “an important tool in the work of enlightenment and peace.” The expansion of MGM’s newsreel service overseas was commensurate with the company’s large postwar investment in new foreign Metro Theaters/Cine Metros and an expansive 16mm distribution network throughout Latin America and other markets. “A Long Ride on the Metro” examines the associations between the Office of War Information, the War Activities Committee, the U.S. Department of State, and Hollywood and how U.S.-produced newsreels for foreign theaters like Metro News served explicit and implicit political and industrial interests for ideological and content expansion and influence in key markets throughout the 1940s. Melnick also reveals how the United States Information Agency (USIA) covertly financed News of the Day—whose footage was also used by Universal Newsreel and by MGM’s foreign reel Metro News during the 1960s—enabling it to stay in business for years after it was financially viable.
