Underplayed Gems

Kill or Be Killed (1942)

Kill or Be Killed poster
Directed by
Len Lye
Genre
propaganda film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
18 min
Rating
6.5 of 10 from 2 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This short documentary-style film trains soldiers and persuades civilians. It uses subjective camera angles to put the viewer directly into combat scenarios.

propagandisticinstructionalurgentatmospherictechnically observantstylizedtense

What happens

Kill or Be Killed is a 1942 British short documentary-style film directed by experimental New Zealand artist Len Lye for the Realist Film Unit during his time working for the British Government's Ministry of Information. The initial purpose of the film was to serve as a military training tool and a piece of post-war propaganda viewable by the general public, but since its release, both critics and filmmakers alike have hailed it as a "masterpiece of filmmaking," claiming that the realistic cinematography is pleasing both in aesthetics and technicality for its time. The film is most notable for its use of subjective viewing. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.