First Motion Picture Unit

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The First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) was a nickname for the 18th Air Force Base Unit of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first unit of the United States Military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel.

Organization

More than a year before the United States entered World War II, the Army's public relations office in Washington, D.C., contacted Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles and asked for help in creating a series of short films for the purpose of educating the public about the different branches of the military. Jack Warner brought Gordon Hollingshead (film producer) and Owen Crump (a writer in Warner's Short Subjects Department) to a conference where they agreed to the idea. Eight two-reel technicolor films were produced and released in theaters in 1941 before America declared war on Japan and Germany.

The USAAF First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) was officially organized out of that core group in April, 1942, when Jack Warner took Hal Wallis (film producer) and Owen Crump to Washington, D.C., at the request of USAAF General "Hap" Arnold who offered the three of them Army Air Force commissions. Warner was made lieutenant colonel and Crump a captain but Wallis, who was then in production with Casablanca, did not accept the offer.[1] Warner and Crump were assigned to assemble the unit in Culver City, California, where they brought together a pool of experienced film technicians and widely-known movie actors who served the country making publicity films and military training films. Applicants varied from physically fit, young male film technicians who were eligible for the draft (and might hope to stay stateside if they joined FMPU) to middle-aged men who were eager to use their expertise to further the war effort. Civilian contractors including women working as animators, editors, writers, production assistants and office staff rounded out the organization.[2]

Crump ended the war at the rank of lieutenant colonel but Warner, initially very active in the making and promoting of military propaganda films, would resign his commission in less than six months in order to return to running his company.[3] His pioneering effort had been completed.

Major releases

The first FMPU film was completed in two weeks and starred then-Lieutenant Jimmy Stewart in Winning Your Wings, an explanation of air cadet training. The government-sponsored film was given a very wide release throughout the U.S. and resulted in 150,000 enlistment requests for pilot training.[4]

Famous FMPU films include Major William Wyler's Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress

Other films

[5]

Veterans

Members of F.M.P.U. included:

References

  1. ^ Harmetz, Aljean (2002). The Making of Casablanca: BOGART, BERGMAN, AND WORLD WAR II. Hyperion. ISBN 0786888148.
  2. ^ Magic Lantern Video & Book Store. First Motion Picture Unit
  3. ^ Harmetz, pg. 110
  4. ^ The California State Military Museum. Hollywood's Army
  5. ^ Magic Lantern Video & Book Store. Partial F.M.P.U. Filmography
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