Essential for TV junkies and WWII buffs, this fascinating documentary reveals that the first revolution in television occurred in Nazi Germany. Footage long-buried in East German archives reveals that from 1935 to 1944, Berlin studios churned out evening news shows, sports coverage, racial programs, and interviews with Nazi officials. Despite impressive technical achievements--including near instantaneous broadcasts of the 1936 Olympic Games--the Third Reich did not experience the propagandistic breakthrough it wanted, and its official support for television waned after 1939. This treasure trove of remarkable footage opens up a surprising chapter in media history.

DVD Features:

Keep Case
Audio:
(Unspecified) - English, German
Subtitles - English - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Additional Footage - WWII Film Gallery
Text/Photos Galleries:
Biographies - Filmmaker Biography

Distributor Notes: Legend has it that the triumphal march of television began in the United States in the 1950s but in reality its origins hark back much further. Nazi leaders, determined to beat Great Britain and the U.S. to be the world's first television broadcaster, began Greater German Television in March 1935. German viewers enjoyed their TV broadcasts until September 1944, as Allied troops closed in.

Making use of 285 reels of film discovered in the catacombs of the Berlin Federal Film Archive, TELEVISION UNDER THE SWASTIKA is a fascinating look at the world's first television broadcast network. It explores both the technology behind this new medium, and the programming the Nazis chose to put on it. Interviews with high-ranking Nazis as well as "ordinary' people on the street, cooking shows, sporting events, cabaret acts and teleplays are some of the stunning finds seen here - all of it propaganda, but some of it quite entertaining.

A rare and intriguing look into the Third Reich, TELEVISION UNDER THE SWASTIKA is required viewing for anyone interested in the history of television, the intersection of media and propaganda, and the inside story of Nazi Germany.

Source: First Run Features Home Video

Michael Kloft: Director, THE GOEBBELS EXPERIMENT (2005)