65194 1941 FBI / FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION DOCUMENTARY J. EDGAR HOOVER

This 1941 black and white film about the FBI and its wartime activities was narrated by Westbrook Van Voorhis. The inside of a 1940s FBI car is shown, followed by its FBI license plate (0:31-0:50). Men in suits walk into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice building (0:51-1:05). FBI agents work at a community table, do paperwork, and hold meetings with local law enforcement officers (1:06-1:48). People walk through the hallways in the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC (1:49-2:09). Women work as secretaries and typists and men work as telephone switchboard operators (2:10-2:20). J. Edgar Hoover works at his office desk (2:21-2:34). Agents file paperwork in a room full of filing cabinets. Women sort through mounds of fingerprint papers. FBI scientists in a forensic crime lab suspend WANTED fliers in liquid, analyze papers under lights, work with chemicals, analyze specimens using microscopes, and take gear wheels and fuses samples from evidence (2:35-3:28). The Quantico, VA FBI Academy plaque is shown outside the school (2:29-3:36). Student agents in 1940s gym shorts are trained in self-defense, including grabbing a gun from an attacker. They work with firearms, practicing their marksmanship at an outdoor shooting range course. They work in a laboratory, learning spectral analysis and microchemical analysis (3:37-4:48). FBI scientists adjust chemical tools, look through 1940s analysis technology, inspect microfilms, and decode enemy materials (4:49-5:21). A reenactment of an on-file case from WWII is shown, where German agents work in a house. On display is a swastika, a sketch of Hitler, and other Nazi memorabilia (5:22-5:51). The German agent’s restaurant has a secret back room, shown hosting a meeting of German-American Nazi supporters while wearing a Nazi uniform. He is unaware a FBI agent is there undercover, who pulls up the antennae of a discrete radio transmitter from his grocery bag. FBI agents in a nearby car listen (5:52-7:04). FBI agents perform distance surveillance on the German agent as he talks on the phone and then meets with a high-ranking Nazi. He hides German officers in his cellar where a Nazi banner hangs (7:05-9:31). The FBI agents send an agent in undercover with a fake German identification microfilm hidden in a Bayer Aspirin tin, which the German agent falls for. The FBI agent speaks perfect German to the German officers in the cellar and collects evidence as they sleep. The evidence is brought back to the FBI office, where they formalize plans to capture a Nazi officer as he leaves (9:32-12:29). They follow the Nazi who hitchhikes into the country and apprehend him. They arrest the German agent, Nazi officer, and workers. The FBI removes the Nazi home memorabilia and arrest the leader of the spy ring (12:30-16:25). At FBI headquarters, agents do paperwork, review headshots, and hold meetings (16:26-16:57). J. Edgar Hoover gives a speech to local law enforcement officials (16:58-17:16). Agents leave the FBI Academy. The crest of the FBI is shown (17:17-17:31).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

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