Between the Front Lines: Military training films, machine guns, and the great war

This chapter, by Florian Hoof, describes how the military utilized vocational training films in the 1910s and how producing, promoting, and selling such films turned into a profitable business model for filmmakers. It specifically looks at vocational training films produced by Frank Gilbreth for the U.S. Army in the context of the Great War. Due to the development of industrialized warfare, concepts from Gilbreth’s industrial work proved to be newly relevant for the military. Film addressed the problem of how to organize the transfer of complex topics in military training. The chapter sheds new light on the interrelations between film, the organizational culture of the military, and educational theory. Lastly, the utilization of film in the military is situated in the broader context of a film history on nontheatrical film.