Educational short about the status of battle tanks and tanker training in the U.S. Army in pre-War 1941, featuring a comical army trainee from the Bronx.Educational short about the status of battle tanks and tanker training in the U.S. Army in pre-War 1941, featuring a comical army trainee from the Bronx.Educational short about the status of battle tanks and tanker training in the U.S. Army in pre-War 1941, featuring a comical army trainee from the Bronx.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
Photos
Richard Travis
- Pete
- (as William Travis)
John Litel
- Thomas Jefferson
- (archive footage)
Knox Manning
- Narrator
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMost of the tanks shown are M2 Light tanks used sparingly after war was declared. Under-armored, under-powered and under-gunned, it would have performed poorly against enemy armor. It's gasoline engine was far more susceptible to catching on fire than German tanks with Diesel engines. The only combat action the tank saw was on Guadacanal with the Marines in the Pacific Theater. Otherwise, they were used for training only. 698 were made from 1935 to 1942.
- GoofsThe narrator states the M2 Light Tank seen in this film could go 60 mph. Possibly false on purpose to not give any enemy the real statistic, which was 36 mph.
- ConnectionsEdited from The Declaration of Independence (1938)
Featured review
Competent Short...
THE TANKS ARE COMING is a Warner Brothers (WB) short dedicated to military preparedness which in 1941 with the first peace time draft in effect and WWII raging was a major motivator. WB put a lot more into this short then usual. First it was filmed in the expensive Three (3) Strip TechniColor process. Second featured the WB stock company and third had the full cooperation of the U.S. Army and its Armor Training School at Fort Knox Kentucky.
Story in brief is that of recruits being indoctrinated in the then new theories of armored mobile warfare. Learning how to maintain and use their new equipment in a effective manner. Watching it no doubt gave theater goers the feeling that we were in good hands and prepared for the conflict ahead. Unfortunately our future enemies watching this no doubt felt we would be better off sticking to making refrigerators then playing with the big boys.
That is the best lesson in watching this now is how UNPREPARED we (U.S.A.) were at this new warfare and for WWII in general. The equipment that had to be depended upon just was not very good and would certainly not deter our future enemies Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Nor bring confidence to our future allies. We were fortunate to see this on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Its one (1) of those things that you have to be lucky to catch, but if it was not for TCM would never be seen at all.
Story in brief is that of recruits being indoctrinated in the then new theories of armored mobile warfare. Learning how to maintain and use their new equipment in a effective manner. Watching it no doubt gave theater goers the feeling that we were in good hands and prepared for the conflict ahead. Unfortunately our future enemies watching this no doubt felt we would be better off sticking to making refrigerators then playing with the big boys.
That is the best lesson in watching this now is how UNPREPARED we (U.S.A.) were at this new warfare and for WWII in general. The equipment that had to be depended upon just was not very good and would certainly not deter our future enemies Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Nor bring confidence to our future allies. We were fortunate to see this on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Its one (1) of those things that you have to be lucky to catch, but if it was not for TCM would never be seen at all.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Technicolor Specials (1941-1942 season) #1: The Tanks Are Coming
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime20 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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