Michael_Elliott Inflation (1942) *** (out of 4)WW2 propaganda short features Ester Williams in a small role in her film debut. The film tells the story of how Adolf Hitler calls the Devil (Edward Arnold) and asks to make American's start spending more money so that their war efforts can be washed down the toilet. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Stephen McNally, Williams) begin a shopping spree not knowing what they're doing to the country and their souls. It's rather amazing to see how far these shorts would go in terms of the war and one can't imagine any actors doing something like this today. Arnold wasn't the biggest star in Hollywood but he did have countless lead roles at MGM and was a fairly well known face. He is quite good in his role of the Devil and you can tell he's having fun. Williams is pretty much centered in a thankless role but she isn't too bad.

theowinthrop A nice little short subject, sometimes rerun on TURNER CLASSICS, it gives Edward Arnold his one chance at playing Satan. Coming only a year after Arnold faced Satan (Walter Huston) in ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY, here Arnold had his chance to be compared to Huston, Laird Cregar (HEAVEN CAN WAIT), Claude Rains (ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER), and others. It's also his only chance to be seen wearing a full beard on camera (pointed at the tip, and with eyebrows reminiscent of Eric Campbell's opposite Chaplin, but subtler). We see Arnold in an office behind a large desk, not quite as fashionable as Cregar's but (under the circumstances) respectable. He rises from his desk and introduces himself as the Devil, and explains how he can help people with all sorts of goodies like armaments, propaganda machines, goose stepping soldiers. Soon there is a phone call and he answers, and it is his good chum Adolf, asking for more assistance to defeat the Allies. And Arnold soon is explaining that he can help by encouraging economic suicide - inflation.The idea (seen dramatized in the short) is how by hoarding or buying to much and encouraging manufacturers to continue doing "business as usual", the public undercuts the war effort. It is an interesting theory, and has some validity. Presented here, with Esther Williams in her first role as a housewife caught in the realities of wartime economics, it is thoroughly understandable.Today, of course, it is Arnold's wonderful chuckly Devil that makes us like the short. As has been said on several of the other reviews, it is an interesting time piece of our own propaganda machine at wartime at work.Curiously, although Hollywood did not know it, the issue of "guns or butter" (as it was referred to by Herman Goering) was playing an odd role in of all places Germany. While the U.S. and England were sacrificing much to help their armed forces (and Japan even more), Germany acted as if nothing was happening until late in 1944! Albert Speer mentioned in his memoirs that the German economy was still producing luxury items until late that year - apparently it was in an effort to keep the German population under the assumption everything was going well (despite the heavy bombardments? - Hitler and his advisers had blinders on much of what they were observing). It was only when France (not Italy but France) was lost, and Hitler nearly killed in an assassination plot, that the Nazis started a belt-tightening policy that really was tight.

MartinHafer This is a must-see film for fans of the Golden Age of Hollywood like myself. Part of it is because of Edward Arnold's wonderful performance as the Devil (second for pure entertainment value, perhaps to Laird Cregar's rendition of Satan in HEAVEN CAN WAIT). Plus, the film is such a wonderful time capsule of WWII and the efforts to enlist the support of the people at home in the war effort.The film starts with Old Scratch receiving a phone call from Adolf Hitler and they thank each other for the support! Then the Devil discusses how greed and hoarding are helping Hitler in his plans for global domination (just think,...buying that EXTRA pound of coffee might just lead to the fall of the Western World!). The performance of Edward Arnold is just hilarious (you don't actually see Adolf on screen).Then the film cuts to Joe Smith, a "typical American" who doesn't think twice about hoarding--reasoning that no one will miss it if he keeps just a few extra odds and ends. Well, Joe finally realizes that he, too, has fallen into the Devil's plans and the only way to defeat Satan AND his #1 sidekick is to stop hoarding and give 100% to the war effort! The film is just a lot of fun and a great piece of American history. Well worth seeing!

Ron Oliver An MGM Short Subject.In a phone conversation with Hitler five months after Pearl Harbor, a delighted Devil describes how INFLATION can win the War for the Axis as easily as bullets & bombs.This is an imaginative little film which effectively alerted the American public to the 5 ways in which inflation could be unleashed on the economy:••••• Impulse or overbuying ••••• Buying on the Black Market ••••• Hoarding food & supplies ••••• Breaking the price ceilings ••••• Cashing in War BondsEdward Arnold is at his most sardonic as The Devil; playing his role as if Lucifer were a corrupt businessman, Arnold gets to ham it up most deliciously. In her first film role, Esther Williams plays a typical young housewife who learns about the evils of inflation from an FDR radio broadcast.After Pearl Harbor, Hollywood went to war totally against the Axis. Not only did many of the stars join up or do home front service, but the output of the Studios was largely turned to the war effort. The newsreels, of course, brought the latest war news into the neighbor theater every week. The features showcased battle stories or war related themes. Even the short subjects & cartoons were used as a quick means of spreading Allied propaganda, the boosting of morale or information dissemination. Together, Uncle Sam, the American People & Hollywood proved to be an unbeatable combination.