Design for Death

Design for Death is a 1947 documentary film that won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It was based on a shorter U.S. Army training film, Our Job in Japan, that had been produced in 1945-1946 for the soldiers occupying Japan after World War II. Both films dealt with Japanese culture and the origins of the war. Following the war, Peter Rathvon at RKO, who had seen Our Job in Japan during his own military service, decided to produce a comm... more

Design for Death is a 1947 documentary film that won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It was based on a shorter U.S. Army training film, Our Job in Japan, that had been produced in 1945-1946 for the soldiers occupying Japan after World War II. Both films dealt with Japanese culture and the origins of the war. Following the war, Peter Rathvon at RKO, who had seen Our Job in Japan during his own military service, decided to produce a commercial version of the film. He hired the original writer and editor to work on the new project. Theodor S. Geisel, who is better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, co-authored Design for Death with his wife Helen Palmer Geisel. Elmo Williams was the editor for both films. Subsequently, Sid Rogell replaced Rathvon, and became the film's producer. The film was given wide release in January 1948; a review in Daily Variety characterized it as, "a documentary of fabulous proportions ... one of the most interesting screen presentations of the year".... less