Story of the Unknown Soldier (1932)

Director: Henri Storck

Built from 1928 newsreels—the year 60 nations vowed to outlaw war—Storck’s razor-edged montage mocks the era’s self-congratulation by cross-cutting speeches and parades with portents of renewed violence: nationalism, colonial repression, police brutality. Slow-motion collapsing chimneys and the exhumation of an “unknown soldier” give the satire its sting.

Cast

Benito Mussolini

Himself (archive footage)

Philippe Pétain

Himself (archive footage)

Czar Nicholas II of Russia

Himself (archive footage)