Don't Be a Sucker!

From Wikiquote
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Don't Be a Sucker! is a short film produced by the US War Department in 1943 and re-released in 1947. It has anti-racist and anti-fascist themes. The film was made to make the case for the desegregation of the United States armed forces.

Dialogue (transcribed from the film)[edit]

[Intro music plays proudly with title card]

[ Opening credits play] [Cut to scene where wrestling match is taking place. One wrestler is being pinned in a staged ending]

Narrator: This looks like a fake, doesn’t it? Well it is a fake. [zoom in on 2 men placing bets] but, here's someone willing to bet his hard earned money on it. [cut to scene where 4 men are on a train car ] Henry here got on the train with $200. He couldn't see any harm in a friendly game of cards, what if the other men were strangers? [cut to a scene of a man and a woman at a bar] And take Joe Collins. He's got a nice wife at home, but he met this girl at the bar, and she looked kinda cute... (sarcastically)after the first couple of drinks. [ scene plays out where a male friend of the woman knocks Mr. Collins unconscious, robbing him of his money before scampering away.] [ cut to a scene where a con-person is showing a "guess the cup" scam to an unsuspecting "sucker."] There's a good old-fashioned word for people like this. We call 'em "Suckers." And there are other people, people who stay up nights trying to take away what they've got.

[ Cut to a scene on a train where the camera pans to a young man sitting in his seat while a staffer in the aisle offers people, but not the young man, a drink.]

Narrator: There are all kinds of games, and all kinds of suckers. Take Mike here for instance. "He's got everything," you might say: he's young, he's healthy, he's got a job. And he's got a country called America. (slowly fades with a montage corresponding to the narrator's Words) It's a wonderful thing to have. America: lots of room, room enough to raise plenty of food, big factories to make things a man can use, big cities to do the business of a big country. And people, lots of people: enough to work the farm, and build the factories, dig the mines, and run the businesses. All kinds of people: people from different countries with different religions, different colored skins, free people. They can live together, and work together, and build America together because they're free. Free to vote, to say what they please, go to their own churches, to pick their own jobs. [as Mike puts on his hat and prepares to get off at the next train station] Yep, Mike's got something alright, he's got America.

Narrator[ as Mike exits the station into a town's public square, followed by Hungarian Man]: But there are guys who stay up nights, figuring out how to take that away from him.

Public speaker: I wanna give ya the truth, folks, the truth about America! I know you've got a lot of questions. You wanna know why you're not getting the breaks you deserve. Well I'm not a politician, but I've made it my business to study these things, and I happen to know the facts! My friends, I'm just an average American; and I'm an American American, and some of the things I see in this country of ours make my blood boil! I see people with foreign accents making all the money!!! I see negroes holding jobs that belong to me and you!! Now I ask you, if we allow this thing to go on, what’s going to become of us Real Americans? (trailing off) Now I know and you know, we all know.....

Hungarian man: I've heard this kind of talk before, but I never expected to hear it in America.

Mike : Well, I mean, this fella seems to know what he's talking about.

Hungarian man (sarcastically): Yes, he knows all right.

Public speaker: What's the answer?! What are we Real Americans going to do about it?! [ brings out paperback book from behind his coat,] You'll find it right here in this little pamphlet. The truth about negroes and foreigners! The truth about the Catholic Church! [Helpers of speaker pass out copies to those in the crowd, including Mike and Hungarian Man.] Now friends, these books are free, paid for by real Americans who want others to know the truth!!!

Hungarian man: Excuse me young man, but are you actually going to read that stuff?

Mike: Well sure, why not, you heard what he said, didn't ya?

Hungarian man: Yes, I heard, but you actually believe in that kind of talk?

Mike [Shrugging]: I dunno, makes pretty good sense to me.

Public speaker: I'm speaking to you as an American American. And I tell you friends, we'll never be able to call this country our own, until it's a country without. Without what?!

Onlooker [snydely]: Yeah, without what?

Public speaker(counting on his fingers): Without negroes!!! Without Alien foreigners!!! Without Catholics!!! Without Freemasons!!!

Mike [looking up from his pamphlet in surprise]: Wait, what's wrong with the masons? I'm a mason! Hey, that fella's talking about me!!

Hungarian Man: And that makes a difference, doesn't it?

Public speaker: These are your enemies!! These are the people who are trying to take over our country! Now you know them, you know what they stand for!!! And it's up to you and me to fight them!!! Fight them and destroy them before they destroy us!!! Thank you.

[ One onlooker flacidly claps, while the others except Mike and the Hungarian Immigrant leave, disgusted.]

Hungarian Man: Before he said Masons, you were ready to agree with him.

Mike: Yes, well he was talking about- what about all those other people?

Hungarian Man: In this country we have no "other people", we are American people, all of us.

Mike: Well, what about you, you're not American, are you?

Hungarian Man: I was born in Hungary, but now I am an American citizen. And I have seen what this kind of talk can do — I saw it in Berlin.

Mike: What were you doing there?

Hungarian Man: I was a professor at the university. I heard the same words we have heard today. But I was a fool then. I thought Nazis were crazy people, stupid fanatics. But unfortunately it was not so. You see, they knew that they were not strong enough to conquer a unified country, so they split Germany into small "groups." They used prejudice as a practical weapon to cripple the nation. Of course, that was not easy to do, they had to work hard to do it. You see, we human beings are not born with prejudices, always they are made for us, made by someone who wants something, remember that when you hear this kind of talk. Someone's going to get something out of it, and it isn't going to be you. This is not classroom theory, I saw it happen....

[ Cut to scene of German Plaza in Berlin, 1932,]

Hungarian Man [Narrating]: I saw it first in Berlin in 1932, 5 young men that I knew were standing in the crowd listening to the nazi speaker: Erich was a catholic, Anton, a student of mine, was a Jew, Heinrich owned a small hardware store, Karl was a farmer, and Hans was an unemployed metal worker.

Nazi speaker [projecting]: To all true Aryan Germans, I say it is time that you inherited the nation which rightfully belongs to you! To you alone belongs the glorious destiny of The Greater Germany! The Nazi Party will provide land for the farmer, work for the worker, and profits for the small businessman. Who is getting these things now? [Coldly] The Jew.... The Jew who has stolen our nation and our birthright! Who makes all the money and takes all our jobs? [emphatically] The Jew!!! He must be shunned, he must be ostracized, he must be eliminated! [ pointing to Erich] And the Catholics... We don't want our great nation being run by a foreign church!!! We Germans will know what to do with these people when the time comes... they and their faith must be destroyed!!! [ Pointing at Heinrich ] Then there are the Freemasons... In Germany we have no place for secret societies, there will be only one society! And that is The Nazi Party!! There will be no secrecy about that in the new Greater Germany!!!

Hungarian Man [Narrating]: One by one he attacked each minority, and he split them off one from the other. These men were all fellow Germans when they came here today, now they were split up into rival groups... suspicious of each other, hating each other! They were being swindled, all of them... but the man who was really being fooled was Hans... He was Pure German According to Nazis Standards, to him they promised everything, and he fell for it.

Nazi speaker [projecting]:You who are true Aryan Germans will share the glorious destiny of our fatherland!!! You are the Pure Blooded! The Master Race!!! It is your Divine Right to rule, and The Nazi Party stands ready to put you into power!! It is for you to command All Germany, and some day, The Entire World!!!

Hungarian Man [Narrating]: That's how Hans became a "Super Man." They gave him a uniform and they pumped up his ego. He wasn't just a little fellow out of work anymore, he was a member of the "Master Race". His wife couldn't really understand, even though he was a "Super man," there wasn't any food in the house. [ as if reading Hans' Thoughts] Stupid woman. Didn't she realize that the Nazis were going to make jobs for everybody? There would be plenty of food and clothing, and a new house! Everything they wanted, the glorious future of Germany was to be theirs, and their children would someday rule the world!!! But his wife, silly woman, still wondered where the next meal was coming from. Hans didn't like that kind of talk. It was dangerous; for that kind of talk people should be put in jail!!! Hans had swallowed the bait alright, and these were the men who baited the hook. Why? So that Hans could come to power? No, of course not, so they could come to power! They would merely use Hans to help them get there! He would do the "dirty work" for them. [cut to footage of Nazi Rally] Hans and thousands of others like him, all playing a suckers' game. They gambled with other people's liberty, and of course they lost their own. A nation of suckers. Hitler needed these people, there was lots of work to be done: there were trade unions to be smashed, because unions were organized, and might offer resistance. There were many political parties in Germany; these the Nazis destroyed. They were determined to smash every organization where people might band together and resist them. [cut to a scene where a Jewish man is being arrested by Nazi Gangsters, forced into a police car, as his wife looks on in horror.] There were Jews to be beaten and killed!!! The Jews were not powerful, but they were a convenient excuse for all of The Nation's Ills. And besides, a Nazi Party Member could not take over This Man's Store. [cut to a scene where a catholic priest is being brutally apprehended from his church by Gestapo members.] Hundreds of Catholics were put in jail! Because the Catholic Church had strength, and could resist the Nazi Drive for power. [Cut to a montage of Nazi marches and Nazi Members putting up propaganda posters, ending on a poster of a "Reichsadler" with the slogan "Hail Victory, Arise Germany!"] They had split the nation into a hundred pieces, and then one by one, they had destroyed the pieces. Over these broken pieces the Nazis rode into power, [quoting Nazi Propaganda slogan as the montage ends] "One party, one nation, one religion!"

These men had won their struggle for power, they now ruled all of Germany, but still they had trouble with their oldest and most persistent enemy, the truth. They found that truth does not die easily, and so they decided to abolish truth. [ cut to footage of a book burning] One great source of truth is literature, so they burned books, 20,000,000 of them. Many great men in Germany who were spokesmen for truth were jailed, or driven from their country: teachers, writers, scientists. Education was discouraged! In 5 years college attendance dropped 53%. It was forbidden to listen to a British radio program, or read an American newspaper. In Nazi Germany you had to get your information from "Dr. Goebbels," He knew what was best for you. (cuts to a poster of a hollywood blockbuster of the era, titled Little Man What Now?) You couldn't see this movie, (Cut to: Record label cover of the song "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by German Jewish Composer Felix Mendelssohn, author of "The Wedding March/Here Comes the Bride") or listen to this music, (Cuts to: a boxing match between Joe Louis, a famous black boxer of the 40's, and his white opponent, who may be a Hitler-Endorsed boxer) and you couldn't watch Joe Louis fight, because the champion had black skin; he disproved Hitler's Theory of "Nordic Supremacy." Albert Einstein, one of the world's great scientists, disproved the theory too. He was "Non-Aryan," so he had to leave Germany. His Mind was dedicated to the search for truth, and the Nazis, having sold the lie, were most afraid of truth. The Church was one force in Germany still strong enough to proclaim the truth in public.

(Cut to: A Catholic Preacher in His Church giving a sermon to His Congregation):

Catholic Priest: No doubt is possible, we Christians are in a grave battle. Against us stands a faith out of blood. The Battle Signals range from cool repudiation, to hate-filled causes. Weapons are used that centuries have dulled. The aim of this battle is to dislodge Christianity from Our Fatherland.

Hungarian Man: This Catholic Priest was arrested the following way on charges of "immorality."

(Cut out of publicly available form : The priest is black bagged by Nazi Stormtroopers)

Hungarian man (Still narrating) : The Protestant Church also continued to try and fight for truth:

(Cut to:

Protestant Preacher: He who desires liberty for himself, can not deny to others, lest he loose what he has gained. This is the great lesson the world can learn from Germany.

Hungarian Man : The Nazis put this man in a concentration camp. There were other people who tried to fight for truth, and I am proud to say that educators were among them.

Anti-Nazi Teacher: And what may I ask, is an Aryan? I don't know myself. But let's see what our present so-called "authorities" have to say about him : they say he is tall [shows Goebbels], slender [shows Göring], blue-eyed [shows Rudolf Hess] and blond [shows Hitler]. There is no "Aryan Race" – and more important – there is no "Master Race." There are people who may find these ideas convenient, but science cannot support them. There is no scientific proof that there is any correlation between a man's racial characteristics and his native ability, or character. In all racial groups, we find the same range of potentialities. We find idiots, and geniuses, we find criminals, and philanthropists. We must judge each man as an individual, and not by the color of his skin, or his eyes, or by the length of his nose.

[Hitler youth members enter in full uniform]

Anti-Nazi Teacher: Come in, gentlemen, make yourselves comfortable. There are many differences between individuals. We each have different capabilities, different backgrounds, different ideas about what's right and what's wrong. Like the difference between me and these gentlemen who have just arrived. But that is not a difference in race, it is a difference in the way we think (puts finger to his temple). Remember that. And remember, that there is no master race, that is a scientific truth. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying!

[Smacked and detained by Hitler Youth Members]

Hungarian Man[narrating]: And so for all practical purposes, truth had been abolished in Germany. Many of my German friends had wondered what had hit them, How did it happen? Where did it start? It started right here. And this was where it could have been stopped. If those people had stood together, if they had protected each other, they could have resisted the Nazi Threat. Together they would have been strong, but once they allowed themselves to be split apart, they were helpless. When that first minority lost out, everybody lost out. They made the mistake of gambling with other people's freedom; now let's see how those bets paid off: Karl, the farmer was gambling on a better life for himself; what he got was extra hours of back-breaking work, as much as 100 hours a week. He was forced to stay on his land and produce what he was told to produce, because now Hitler was preparing for war. For Heinrich who owned the hardware store, the bet didn't pay off either. One hundred and four thousand small businesses were closed in 2 years. And for Hans, conditions hadn't improved any. He had a job now, in the munitions factory, where he worked long hours for little pay; the working conditions grew increasingly bad. And even though he didn't like the job, he wasn't permitted to leave it. There still wasn't enough food in his house. Hitler said you " couldn't have butter, and cannon," so Hans couldn't have butter. And when Hitler decided the time was right, Germany went to war... not by declaring war, but by a carefully prepared "sneak attack." [cut to a scene of Hans kissing his wife and children while dressed in a Wehrmacht uniform.] Once again, Hitler needed Hans to do his dirty work. Hans was an expert at brutality by this time; and Hitler had decided to use Hans and his brutality against other peoples: The Czechs, The Poles, The French, the Russians. But in the crucial test of war, Hitler's "Race Theories" didn't pay off. His "Pure-Blooded Super Men" were defeated by the "Mongrel Armies" he despised: by the British at El-Alamein; by the Russians at Stalingrad; and then on D-Day by American soldiers of every color and religion, who smashed across the Normandy Beaches, and drove on through to the heart of Germany. For the misguided Germans who had swallowed the Nazi bait, the Nazi game did not pay off. The continent of Europe was strewn with millions of German bodies, "Pure, Aryan bodies": Karl the farmer was left in the snow outside of Moscow; Heinrich stayed in Italy at Salerno; and Hans who was going to "rule the world," got only a little patch of Normandy that he could call his own. [cut to present day at the time of the film's release] Hungarian Manː We must never let that happen to us or to our country. We must never let ourselves be divided by race or color or religion, because in this country we all belong to minority groups; I was born in Hungary, you are a mason, these are minorities. And then you belong to other minority groups tooː you are a farmer, you have blue eyes, you go to the Methodist Church. Your right to belong to these minorities is a precious thing. You have a right to be what you are and say what you think, because here we have personal freedom, we have liberty. And these are not just fancy words, this is a practical and priceless way of living, but we must work at it. We must guard everyone's liberty, or we can lose our own. If we allow any minority to lose its freedom by persecution or by prejudice, we are threatening our own freedom, and this is not just simply an idea, this is good, hard, common sense. You see here in America, it's not a question whether we tolerate minorities, America is minorities!!! And that means you, and me.

[Mike, feeling disgusted with what he's just heard, and resenting almost falling for the public speaker's lies, tears up the pamphlet and throws it on the sidewalk] Hungarian Man [narrating as triumphant music plays and the camera angles up to the sky]ː So let's not be suckers. We must not allow the freedom or dignity of any man to be threatened by any act or word. Let's be selfish about it. Let's forget about "We" and "They," let's think about Us!!!

[End card with triumphant music shows on screen]

Cast (taken from main Wikipedia page)[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about: