A newsreel is a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the twentieth century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs, and entertainment for millions of moviegoers until television supplanted its role in the 1950s. Newsreels are now considered significant historical documents, since they are often the only audiovisual record of historical and cultural events of those times.
Newsreels were typically featured as short subjects preceding the main feature film into the 1960s. There were dedicated newsreel theaters in many major cities in the 1930s and 1940s, and some large city cinemas also included a smaller theaterette where newsreels were screened continuously throughout the day.
Created in 1908, this form of film was a staple of the typical North American, British, and Commonwealth countries (especially Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and throughout European cinema programming schedule from the silent era until the 1960s when television news broadcasting completely supplanted its role. The National Film and Sound Archive in Australia holds the Cinesound Movietone Australian Newsreel Collection, a comprehensive collection of 4,000 newsreel films and documentaries representing news stories covering all major events.
Point the camera at the baby
Shoot the mother giving birth
Watch the blood run down the table
Close-up to the after-birth
Newsreel
Newsreel
Push the mike into the mouth of the wound
Tape the sound of fading life
Edit out the sounds of displease
Ask the feelings of a dead man's wife
Newsreel
Newsreel
Pretend the camera doesnt't't change things
Send me a few images in only one eye
A soldier poses, then pulls the trigger
Wipes his hand and waves good-bye
Newsreel