1941

US, 1979, 113 minutes, Colour.
Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Lorraine Grey, Murray Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Warren Oates, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen, John Candy, Elisha Cook, Sam Fuller, Slim Pickens, John Landis, Mickey Rourke.
Directed by Steven Spielberg.

There are national senses of humour and often what pleases locally does not travel well. 1941 might be hilarious satirical farce for Americans who know California and its style, remember the war, enjoy a broad jokiness and loud unsubtle farce. The plot is very much The Russians Are Coming but presented in the vein of the Mad Mad World after Animal House (including John Belushi and Tim Matheson). Opening with a funny parody of Jaws (even the same actress), director Steven Spielberg uses clever effects, elaborately staged dances, brawls and mad battle mixups to highlight American war paranoia. Cast ranges from Toshiro Mifune to Robert Stack weeping over Dumbo and Warren Oates insane General.

1. The impact of the film as comedy, satire, war film? For a specifically American audience? The drawing on history and memory, broad American comic styles, the plots of such film as The Russians Are Coming and It's A Mad Mad World? The ethos of Southern California and the possibility of paranoia? The impact on a non-American audience, especially if quite unfamiliar with this background? The range of senses of humour? Differences in style, subtlety, jokes?

2. The work of Steven Spielberg and his reputation in the '70s: his scope, cinematic style?

3. The comic styles used in the film? their particularly American tone, their road tone unsubtle use of humour both verbal and visual? Comic characters, farcical situations? The loud comic style?

4. The Russians Are Coming and the model of the plot where an invader lands on the American coast and is confronted by the local people? The Japanese and the Germans at the time of Pearl Harbour? The solemn opening of the film and the words about the attack on Pearl Harbour (and the accompanying music)? The presentation of the Japanese and their submarine, the invasion and the target of Hollywood? The German adviser? The American captured by the Japanese and tortured? The satire on the resistance to torture. the refusing to reveal information? (And the American version of lavatory humour for satire?) The theme of paranoia and ordinary people's reaction to the possibility of invasion, coping with war? Showing ordinary people within their occupations transformed into people involved in war? The presentation of family life and its disruption? The presentation of the military, the Air Force?

5. The success of the farcical treatment of the war themes ? the length and spectacular madness of the Mad Commo World? The range of stars and their acting according to style and expectations or against this? The nonsense of the plot, the nonsense aspects of the characters and the treatment? War and battles, explosions? The overtones of M*A*S*H and the ultimate mayhem of war?

6. The technical scope of the film? Panavision, colour, the Californian coast, Los Angeles, the Grand Canyon, the desert, the Los Angeles coast? The special effects especially for the battle sequences? The contribution of the score, the contemporary songs? The theme and the final credits?

7. The tribute to the Hollywood film , the borrowings from them, the satire? The opening satire on Jaws with the music and the same actress? The military and Army film and the presentation of the men, morale, brawls, comradeship? Heroism in war? The overtones of the '40s musical? the sequence in the kitchen with the throwing of the plates, the jitterbugging competition? The mad Generals and paranoia in the desert? The sex themes and the innuendo especially with the couple discussing planes, flights, their final flight? The use of the excerpt from Dumbo ? the tribute to Disney and the sentimental audience response in the weeping General?

8. The picture of the Japanese? the accident of their landing, the determining of their purpose and the decision about Hollywood? The capture of the fat American, the torture and interrogation, the lavatory sequences? The traditional picture of the Japanese in war film? The sinister German adviser and his mouthing Nazi propaganda ? Christopher Lee and his particular style in this role? The attack/ the confusion, the defeat?

9. The jitterbug sequences, the introduction to Wally and his friend and the throwing the dishes, the clash with the military in the diner? The girls and the booking up of the jitterbug competition? The fight? The move to the house on the coast, the father and his attitude towards Wally, the encounter with the military, the long sequences in the shed and the comedy routines? The build-up to the dance? The clash between Wally and the soldier? The long sequence of the dancing and its choreography, the transition to the Army and the Air Force lining up and fighting? The sudden emergence and eruption of the war in Los Angeles, Wally as tank commander? The waging of the war and the finale?

10. The overtones of the '40s with the dancing, the jitterbugging, the Andrews Sisters, the compere, breaking into the fight?

11. John Belushi and the '70s comedy style of National Lampoon's Animal House? As a character, vulgarity, the plane, filling up with gasoline and burning the station down? The characters in the desert that he encountered? His being lost in the Grand Canyon? His confronting the couple in the second plane and shooting them down, pursuing them up and down the boulevards? His final landing? The satiric purpose of his character?

12. The presentation of the military with Robert Stack as General - his speeches and the bomb exploding, his taking time off to watch Dumbo and laughing at the cartoons, his intervention in the brawl, the presentation of his subordinates? His not answering the appeals from the General in the desert? The presence of all at the house in the morning?

13. The General's assistant and his flirting, trying to get the girl into the plane, sexual innuendo, the speech and their falling out of the plane? His going into the desert and meeting the mad General and his troops? The flight, the pursuit by Belushi? The final crash? The satire on romance and sexuality?

14. The couple and their house? the ordinary American couple, the timid husband, the house-proud wife? Their attitude towards their daughter? The tank invading, their home, their being on the lookout? The sighting of the Japanese and their involvement in the battle? The mayhem and destruction? The plaque on the door and the disappearance of the house?

15. The people working at the carnival, the ferris wheel and the watch, the puppet? The owner of the carnival and his involvement in the war, the two men stranded on the ferris wheel, all the lights going on and the Japanese thinking it was Hollywood?

16. The mad General in the desert and his jingoism?

17. The length of time given to the battle sequences - especially the aerial battle over Los Angeles boulevards? The final confrontation?

18. The device of having places and times and the comic use of this? Hollywood as goal and the spoofing of war film? The use of the film as a moving from one day into the dawn of the next with victory achieved?

19. The value of a farcical presentation of war? the wisdom of hindsight? The entertainment value of the film, the moralising? The satire on the American people and their attitudes towards war and invasion? the '40s, the '70s and '80s?