User Reviews

Another week, another short film centered on World War 2 to discuss. This time, I actually came across one that doesn't feel like a rehash of hundreds of shorts I've seen already, mainly due to one of its settings. Freedom Comes High begins with a woman named Ellen (Barbara Britton), who works in a factory for America's war effort, coming home for the night. She reads a letter from her husband, now deployed in the Pacific Theater against Imperial Japan. Ellen remembers the moments she shared with her husband Steve (James Craig) before he left. Because the two had recently had a child, Ellen wanted Steve to stay with her, convinced he was too old to enlist. Steve is adamant that his country needs him. After being sent overseas, Steve becomes the focus of the short as he is stationed on a ship in the pacific. He and his crew try their best to fight off a submarine, which manages to send a torpedo into the side of his ship. They also fight off a japanese cruiser at night. Some time after, Ellen gets another letter from Steve, and sees a vision of him saying how sacrifices need to be made in order to achieve the greater good. Freedom isn't free, and people in America's armed forces are fighting to protect the liberty centric way of life the Nazis (and japan) want to wipe off the face of the Earth. Right after, the doorbell rings. A man from the navy department hands Ellen a letter telling her that Steve is missing in action, but not confirmed dead. She seems positive that he'll make it home alive. This short was better than most other ww2 related things I've seen lately. The story is really easy to follow, and the scene involving the ship battle is exciting as naval batteries fire at distant targets in the dark. The muzzle flash from the guns creates a kind a strobe effect when set against the backdrop of night. What really matters here though is the moral, which is noticeably more morbid than your average piece of ww2 american propaganda. Most of the time, these shorts are all focused on making the US look unbeatable, but this one does the opposite. It tries its best to prepare families for the inevitable shock and disappointment they will feel when they discover a father, brother, or some other person fighting won't be coming back. Although the letter at the end doesn't say Steve is dead, it's hard not to see the implications. Overall, Freedom Comes High is one of the better shorts I've seen from Periscope Films, since it attempts to familiarize the american public with the cold realities of war.