WW2 short from MGM about the Devil (Edward Arnold) conspiring with Hitler to wreck the U.S. economy. He plans to do this by making Americans buy things on credit, ignore rationing laws, and cash in their war bonds. That Devil sure is a stinker! The point of this short was to make American at home think about how they could help the war effort by keeping the economy strong.I love patriotic WW2 shorts like these. It avoids being too preachy and delivers its message in a clear and entertaining way. Edward Arnold is terrific. Just the year before he was fighting Satan in The Devil and Daniel Webster, now here he is playing him and doing a wickedly delightful job. It's a great short that anybody who enjoys WW2-era material should love. Also features Esther Williams in one of her earliest roles.

In 1933, a propaganda film touting the virtues of inflation, going off the gold standard, and market forces was played in theaters across America. Nine years later, inflation was a tool of the Devil himself, a dark and destructive plot to destroy our country. Amusing how those folks could talk out of both sides of their mouths. Look at these two films back to back, and then consider whether either one's conclusions make sense.P.S.: Canning your own peaches and raising/slaughtering your own meat was/is not hoarding. There were people, Rose Wilder Lane (Laura Wilder's daughter) among them, who never used ration cards/stamps. They took responsibility for themselves AND were able to share with neighbors in need. Just sayin'...

In this wartime short subject Edward Arnold looks like he's having a grand old time playing Mephistopheles planning with one of his number one supporters over in Germany the economic destruction of the USA through Inflation. I wonder if the folks at MGM from Louis B. Mayer on down knew that among Adolph Hitler's other interests was one in the occult. He may really have been trying to communicate with the devil, especially as the war started going against Germany.Arnold between chuckles on the phone to Hitler gives us a short economics lesson about how the evils of inflation can cripple the American economy and thus the effort on the home front to back our troops in battle. Actually not a bad lesson to learn right now as we are going through an inflationary cycle at the moment.Inflation is also significant as the screen debut of young Esther Williams. The former swimming champion and Olympic hopeful until the 1940 games were canceled had signed an MGM contract and went through the usual preparation back then that contractees had to go through. This short subject where she plays Mrs. Joe Smith American opposite Stephen McNally was a trial run so to speak. But Esther doesn't get near a pool.Anyway though to see Arnold ham it up and love every minute of it, put Inflation on your shopping list if it won't bust the budget.

Early, heavy, war-time propaganda short urging people to be careful with their spending practices, in effort to prevent any runaway inflation.Using scare, guilt and patriotic jingoistic rhetoric, which was normal for the time, the government was concern that the sudden war-time production and therefore wage increase and subsequent spending practices if not checked could cause serious problems during and after the war.It truly is a window into the past, historically and culturally.