The Challenge of Ideas (1961)

★★★★★ · Communism: The most destructive ideology in the history of mankind. · mcloughlin · 2006-12-13

No other ideology is the foundation and driving force of more murders and genocides then communism in the history of the world. Islam may come a far second, but even Jihad could only murder tens of millions in a thousand years. Communism under Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pot, the Derge, etc. is easily guilty of over 100 million deaths by various methods of genocide. Roman Catholism to compare is only guilty of aprox 300,000 deaths over 300 years. The communist ideology is fought by using slightly different terms today (ie socialism, etc), but the goal is the same as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pot…

★★★★★ · The Cold War was a scary time. · ffelix · 2007-06-09

We felt we had the best system of government, but the Soviets were performing at a level that indicated that we might be wrong. Given the American veneration of productivity above all other considerations [including the much vaunted "family values"], Sputnik must have been utterly, painfully, inconceivably devastating. Even John Wayne was perturbed--though not enough to give up smoking for 30 minutes of filming. But rather than soul-searching we dug in, using scare-tactics & agitprop like this to activate soldiers & the citizenry to fight against Communism in our community [male soldiers in…

★★★★ · Fascinating Film Did Not Go Far Enough · legalriter.com · 2002-09-20

I saw this film in school in 1964. It is fun to see it 37+ years later, but also to see what the film omitted. "Ken Smith" (in the shot list) sarcastically summarizes the film as though it had painted an untrue picture. This film, however, fell far short because it failed to fully count the results of world communism. It accurately talks about human rights, ideological warfare and economic issues, shows a few general pics of repression, but omits showing how communism butchered 20+ million civilians in Red China, another 40+ million in the USSR. These facts were known in the 1950's; they are…

★★★ · We Won The Challenge · donwert · 2010-02-02

Produced when the cold war was at its height, this film was intended to educate service members about the basics of the conflict---much like the "Why We Fight" series produced by the War department during World War II. Of course, 30 years after this film was released, the cold war ended with almost complete victory by the democracies. It took patience, sustained effort, sacrifice and steady national nerve to do it. Therein lies a lesson for today: the threats posed by those claiming to act on behalf of Islam will best be met by the steady, vigilant opposition of free men and women. The cold…

★ · Cold War Propaganda · nextNYC · 2010-12-27

I find it fascinating that those people who claim that US values triumphed in the defeat of the Cold War don't recognize this as propaganda that is literally telling the viewer what to think and is extremely disingenuous when it comes to the reasons why the Soviet Union were bad. Some mention how cynical the 60s were. Well if there a draft, and you know your govt could send you to war over a conflict really between the elites of two superpowers, for reasons that were ridiculous such as the domino theory, you might be cynical too. You also say we "won" the Cold War. It's funny, I don't see it…

★ · The Challenge Os Staying Awake · Spuzz · 2003-03-06

In this monotonous hoo-ha of of how great America is compared to Those Communist Bastards, noted experts like Edward R. Murrow, John Wayne and, yes, Helen Hayes trot out to spit out ideologies of how great America is compared to the communists. Curiously, R. Murrow and Wayne both have lit cigarettes in their hands. Is that some kind of metaphor? Dissapointingly plodding and boring, it's not really worth your time, despite it's starpower.