Trifles That Win Wars (1943) User Reviews

Take three Parts...

[boblipton · 6/10 · 24 June 2010]

This is a wartime episode of the long-running "Passing Parade" MGM short series, narrated by John Nesbitt. This being produced smack in the middle of World War Two, it concerns itself with three discoveries that had a profound effect on the war as it was currently running: celluloid, safety glass and spider silk, interspersed with stock shots of war planes, soldiers and aerial bombs being dropped.

The series, and this one in particular, will strike the modern viewer as overblown and simplistic, but they provide a fascinating view into the attitudes of the period. That is one of the virtues of cheap shorts and B movies: produced too rapidly to be made immortal, they flaunt the habits of their day.

wartime inventions.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 22 January 2019]

John Nesbitt narrates another chapter in his journal of tidbits, Passing Parade. This one from 1943 is dedicated to seemingly-small inventions helping the war efforts. First -- a replacement for ivory, specifically for billiard balls. Nesbitt explains how billiards works, and the extensive testing done. This led to the invention of celluloid, the new material known as Plastic! so many uses, wartime and otherwise. Second -- Shatter-proof glass. During car accidents, the passengers get scars from the broken pieces of glass. Apparently, when collodion dries, it leaves behind a glue-like substance that holds the pieces of glass in place after a break. Now, the windows of cars and airplanes just shatter in place but don't come apart, protecting the passengers (and WW II pilots!) Third -- testing the strength of spider web silk. Used in wartime weaponry. They don't get too specific about this one, just saying it was used in bombs and aiming technology. Apparently they were keeping the science under wraps so it wouldn't be snitched by wartime enemies. This bit was kind of in the center of Nesbitt's timeline. He died quite young at 49. He had been hospitalized, but no cause of death is listed anywhere. Pretty dated information by today's standard, but interesting enough science.

The other day we were tail-gating before the Big Game . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 11 November 2018]

. . . and the topic of conversation swung around to "TRIFLES THAT WIN WARS." "Lint," blurted Blaise. "I've heard that a country needs to collect--literally--tons and tons of lint to win a Great War." After a brief stunned silence, Tiffany piped up "How could belly button jam help achieve an Armistice?" Tiffany's sidekick Cricket always corrected everything her shadow said, so she clarified "The Navy needs it: That's why they call it NAVAL lint, silly!" Hope chimed in, "At least it floats." But Wendy chided "I think you guys are all wet. I probably saw the same thing on the Tube that Blaise did, but I'm sure they were referring to the kind of lint clothes driers gather. During World War Two semi-trucks made the rounds of laundromats, hotels, and dorms as part of War Fuzz Drives." At this point we were interrupted by a passing parade, so who's to say if there are REALLY any "TRIFLES THAT WIN WARS." If lint DID win WWII, maybe poker chips, pool balls, gum wrappers, empty bottles, dust bunnies, or spider webs will help us to win the NEXT world war.

Passing Parade

[Michael_Elliott · 25 June 2010]

Trifles That Win Wars (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Third film in a series of "trigles" shorts from MGM and their Passing Parade. This time we get three more stories that involve items that were being used in the war. The first story tells us how after the Civil War when it was harder to get ivory from Africa, a cue ball company opened a contest to see what they could use to make an effective ball. The second story deals with a car wreck victim whose wife had shattered glass in her face. The scientist, thanks to a strange twist, invited how to make shatter-proof glass. The final story takes a look at a spider and how its web is so important to winning the war. All three stories are pretty good and will certainly keep one entertained through the short 9-minutes. These Passing Parade entries were always good for teaching us about bits of history that we might not know about all these stories are nice additions. As usual, the narration by John Nesbitt is very good and certainly helps bring you into the stories.