{{short description|1947 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Design for Death | image = Design for Death poster.jpg | caption = Theatrical poster | director = [[Richard Fleischer]] | producer = {{plainlist| *[[Sid Rogell]] *Theron Warth}} | writer = {{plainlist| *[[Dr. Seuss|Theodor S. Geisel]] *[[Helen Palmer Geisel|Helen Palmer]]}} | narrator = {{plainlist| *[[Kent Smith]] *[[Hans Conried]]}} | cinematography = | editing = {{plainlist| *Marston Fay *[[Elmo Williams]]}} | distributor = [[RKO Pictures|RKO Radio Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1947}} | runtime = 48 minutes | country = United States | language = English }}
'''''Design for Death''''' is a 1947 American [[documentary film]] that won the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]].<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/138625/Design-for-Death/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306185502/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/138625/Design-for-Death/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 6, 2009 |title=NY Times: Design for Death |access-date=November 7, 2008| first=Bosley |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |author-link=Bosley Crowther |date=2009 | last=Crowther}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Williams>{{cite book|last=Williams |first=Elmo |year=2006 |title=Elmo Williams: A Hollywood Memoir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fk832KXUp9gC&pg=PA70 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-7864-2621-7 |pages=68–70}}</ref> He hired the original writer and editor to work on the new project. Theodor S. Geisel, 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 ''[[Variety (magazine)|Daily Variety]]'' characterized it as "a documentary of fabulous proportions ... one of the most interesting screen presentations of the year".<ref name=Morgan>{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Judith |author2=Morgan, Neil |title=Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel |publisher=Random House |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-41686-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/drseussmrgeisel00morg/page/119 119–120] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/drseussmrgeisel00morg/page/119}}. Secondary reference; primary reference hasn't yet been confirmed.</ref> [[Bosley Crowther]], writing in ''The New York Times'', was not complimentary; he wrote that the film "makes the general point that too much control by a few people is a dangerous – a '[[racketeering]]' – thing and that another world war can be prevented only by the development of responsible, representative governments throughout the world. That is a valid message, but the weakness with which it is put forth in a melange of faked and factual pictures and in a ponderous narration does not render it very forceful".<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowther |first=Bosley |title='Design for Death', Factual Film About the Japanese, Opens at Victoria -- 'Bad Sister' Also Arrives |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F00EEDD1338E13ABC4952DFB0668383659EDE |work=The New York Times |date=June 11, 1948}}</ref>
In his memoir, Elmo Williams maintains that he and Geisel created ''Design for Death'' nearly in its entirety, and that the credits for Fleischer and Warth were nominal ones.<ref name=Williams /> Rogell, Fleischer, and Warth received the Academy Awards for the film.
Copies of ''Design for Death'' are apparently rare. Geisel thought that they had all been destroyed.<ref name=Morgan /> However, the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] sponsored a screening in October 2005,<ref>{{cite web|title="Oscar's Docs" Begin to Shift Focus Beyond WWII |url=http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2005/05.10.04.html |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |date=October 4, 2005 |last=Unger |first=Leslie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122061037/http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2005/05.10.04.html |archive-date=November 22, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and parts of the film were included in the documentary ''[[The Political Dr. Seuss]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Independent Lens. THE POLITICAL DR. SEUSS. The Film. |url=http://www.ucsd.edu/portal/site/Libraries/menuitem.7974bc238fac0eb7147f6defd34b01ca/?vgnextoid=fd79c70d381c3110VgnVCM10000045b410acRCRD |publisher=Public Broadcasting System |access-date=December 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102035632/http://www.ucsd.edu/portal/site/Libraries/menuitem.7974bc238fac0eb7147f6defd34b01ca/?vgnextoid=fd79c70d381c3110VgnVCM10000045b410acRCRD |archive-date=January 2, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Some materials related to ''Design for Death'', including its script, are in an archive of Geisel's papers at the [[University of California, San Diego]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Seuss Collection: Films |url=http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf1000043t&chunk.id=c02-1.2.9.4.2&brand=oac |access-date=December 22, 2008 |publisher=Mandeville Special Collections Library, University of California - San Diego}}</ref>
==Cast== * [[Kent Smith]] as Narrator * [[Hans Conried]] as Narrator
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0040285|title=Design for Death}}
{{Richard Fleischer}} {{Dr. Seuss}} {{Academy Award Best Documentary Feature}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Design For Death}} [[Category:1947 films]] [[Category:1947 documentary films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:American documentary films]] [[Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners]] [[Category:Black-and-white documentary films]] [[Category:Films directed by Richard Fleischer]] [[Category:Films with screenplays by Dr. Seuss]] [[Category:Documentary films about World War II]] [[Category:Documentary films about Japan]] [[Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture]] [[Category:Occupied Japan]] [[Category:RKO Pictures films]] [[Category:1947 English-language films]] [[Category:1947 American films]] [[Category:English-language documentary films]]