In what is surely the most obscure episode of any podcast ever recorded, Rob and Duncan are joined by author and documentary-maker Phil Tinline to watch 1954's "Prisoner of War", the film that was going to turn Ronald Reagan into a major movie star.

The reason that never happened wasn't simply the quality of the movie. It was also because of a shift in the US military's attitude to prisoners returning from Korea, which makes this film a fascinating window into the changing mindset. "Every man has his breaking point," Reagan warns, but why did that message become unpopular? And more importantly, how is he smuggling his hair products into North Korea?

You can watch Prisoner of War here: https://youtu.be/uUhJVRCMN6U?si=XHxsSNf2cNjH0fCB or here: https://archive.org/details/prisoner-of-war

And you can watch Phil's documentary about it here: http://www7.bbk.ac.uk/hiddenpersuaders/documentaries/every-man-breaking-point-reagan-brainwashing-movies/

And you can buy Ghosts Of Iron Mountain, Phil's new book, here: https://amzn.to/4orOWeC

Suggestions? Comments? Drop us a line at warmovietheatre@gmail.com.

Visit us at facebook.com/WarMovieTheatre or on Bluesky and Twitter.

Watch War Movie Theatre discuss 1917 LIVE at the Imperial War Museum on November 1! Tickets here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/podcast-live

Help us out by doing our listener survey: http://bit.ly/warmovietheatre-survey

Suggestions? Comments? Drop us a line at warmovietheatre@gmail.com.

Visit us at facebook.com/WarMovieTheatre or on Bluesky and Twitter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.