Although short films related to World War 2 are some of my favorite things to watch, not all of them are created equal. This one (made during the war) is pretty nondescript, but can almost be considered a predecessor to modern game shows. I say this because it involves showing the audience questions on a screen and encouraging them to answer, and each question has to do with US military history. Quite a few of them have answers that are intentionally misleading, such as when it asks when the tank was invented. Most people would say slightly before or during the First World War, but that's where they're wrong. The first thing that could be considered a tank was drawn up all the way back at the end of the 1400s by Leonardo da Vinci, and consisted of a round, wood plated vehicle with sloped sides. Strangely, da Vinci also seemed to predict sloped armor, which is a real feature on modern armored vehicles which gives them greater survivability. If a tank shell hits a piece of armor at an oblique angle, it won't go through as easily. The film then goes on to say how planes, parachutes, and submarines were also thought up by da Vinci during his lifetime, but because he was trapped in the 15th century, he couldn't make any of them work practically. The film (incorrectly) describes Leonardo's design for an ornithopter as a plane, which isn't really true since it has no motor and flies by flapping its wings. While the craft might have been capable of flight once airborne, even da Vinci knew of its biggest drawback: no human being would possibly have enough arm strength necessary to get it off the ground. Disappointingly, the film doesn't make any mention of his design for a helicopter, since what we recognize as helicopters today did exist in world war 2 (but weren't widespread). Overall, this film isn't really anything special. It gives some insight into terms the armed forces used back then to describe a container of milk or some other item, but aside from this, there isn't much to acknowledge. I just think it's weird that TCM shows things like this right after films that have nothing to do with the Second World War.
5 Reviews
Pete Smith's Victory Quiz provides questions that must have fascinated World War II-era viewers
tavm26 June 2008
In this short from Pete Smith, Mr. Smith asks questions pertinent to World War II. He asks what a "Bubble Dancer" is, and when tanks, planes, parachutes, and submarines were invented. Also, who invented them. There's some amusing visual gags accompanying many of the answers. You're given 10 or 15 minutes to answer while the clock is ticking and 4 multiple choices are printed on the screen. I discovered this on the TCM site on page 8 of various trailers, clips, and some shorts presented there. This site has various interesting gems just waiting to be discovered by anyone who seeks this out. So on that note, Victory Quiz should satisfy anyone curious about what played before the main feature back in the day.
Bubble Dancers And Honey Barges
boblipton7 December 2022
A Smith called Pete narrates one of his innumerable short subjects. In this one, he talks about various military inventions and demands the audience choose for four answers to choose the correct answer.
There are few of his corny quips, but Pete's trademark nasal voice is unmistakable. He started out as a publicity man, and found himself providing the voice-overs on a few of MGM's short subjects in the early 1930s. He spent the next quarter century producing and often narrating a long series of shorts for the company, winning four Oscars among 14 nominations for his work. He died in 1979, age 86.
There are few of his corny quips, but Pete's trademark nasal voice is unmistakable. He started out as a publicity man, and found himself providing the voice-overs on a few of MGM's short subjects in the early 1930s. He spent the next quarter century producing and often narrating a long series of shorts for the company, winning four Oscars among 14 nominations for his work. He died in 1979, age 86.
Fair
Michael_Elliott31 March 2009
Victory Quiz (1942)
** (out of 4)
Pete Smith short gives the viewer ten or fifteen seconds to come up with the answer to whatever question he has asked. Being from the WW2 era, most of the question are centered around the war but with Smith he throws in a few tricks. Judging a film like this is rather tricky because on one hand it gets tiresome watching something that pauses for fifteen seconds but on the other hand I can imagine this being quite fun back in the day when viewed with a room full of people with everyone shouting out their answers. Today the film isn't pure entertainment but an interesting look back at history.
** (out of 4)
Pete Smith short gives the viewer ten or fifteen seconds to come up with the answer to whatever question he has asked. Being from the WW2 era, most of the question are centered around the war but with Smith he throws in a few tricks. Judging a film like this is rather tricky because on one hand it gets tiresome watching something that pauses for fifteen seconds but on the other hand I can imagine this being quite fun back in the day when viewed with a room full of people with everyone shouting out their answers. Today the film isn't pure entertainment but an interesting look back at history.
Take Out Your Pencils & Paper..........
redryan6421 May 2018
..........For Today's Surprise Quiz !
THIS IS ANOTHER in the very long line of specialty shorts that were "Produced and Narrated by a Smith named Pete !" The series was well known at the time of this release and very popular. Years later, during the reign of the Baby Boomer Generation, we even had a PETE SMITH THEATRE on television in the local Chicago market. We believe that it was broadcast over NBC affiliate, WNBQ (now WMAQ), Channel 5 on your dial.
THIS ENTRY INTO the series was comic, though in a more subdued strain. Rather than the raucous and slapstick variety that Mr. Smith and Dave O'Brien usually dished out. If such a thing is possible in a PETE SMITH short, subtlety was the operative. The laughs, which didn't seem to approach the threshold of the belly-laugh, were confined to chuckles and snickers.
BEING THAT THE current time was that of our (USA) active participation in the many fronted World War II, the characters and situations were appropriately chosen to reflect the great conflict. Among the uncredited actors used to perform the snippet scenes depicted were regular Dave O'Brien and "Skipper" himself, a very young Alan Hale, Jr.
THE PART OF the film that was the quiz featured all questions that were relative to the inventions of modern warfare and in having us guess just when the first prototypes were produced. There were also some words about service jargon and the highly specialized terms that military service, as well as just about any and all walks of life have developed.
OVERALL AND WITH all things considered, we found this to be a very amusing and worthwhile short, over 3/4 of a century after its production and initial release.
THIS IS ANOTHER in the very long line of specialty shorts that were "Produced and Narrated by a Smith named Pete !" The series was well known at the time of this release and very popular. Years later, during the reign of the Baby Boomer Generation, we even had a PETE SMITH THEATRE on television in the local Chicago market. We believe that it was broadcast over NBC affiliate, WNBQ (now WMAQ), Channel 5 on your dial.
THIS ENTRY INTO the series was comic, though in a more subdued strain. Rather than the raucous and slapstick variety that Mr. Smith and Dave O'Brien usually dished out. If such a thing is possible in a PETE SMITH short, subtlety was the operative. The laughs, which didn't seem to approach the threshold of the belly-laugh, were confined to chuckles and snickers.
BEING THAT THE current time was that of our (USA) active participation in the many fronted World War II, the characters and situations were appropriately chosen to reflect the great conflict. Among the uncredited actors used to perform the snippet scenes depicted were regular Dave O'Brien and "Skipper" himself, a very young Alan Hale, Jr.
THE PART OF the film that was the quiz featured all questions that were relative to the inventions of modern warfare and in having us guess just when the first prototypes were produced. There were also some words about service jargon and the highly specialized terms that military service, as well as just about any and all walks of life have developed.
OVERALL AND WITH all things considered, we found this to be a very amusing and worthwhile short, over 3/4 of a century after its production and initial release.
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