Excellent but underrated film

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

WW2 short from MGM about the Devil (Edward Arnold) conspiring with Hitler to wreck the U.S. economy. He plans to do this by making Americans buy things on credit, ignore rationing laws, and cash in their war bonds. That Devil sure is a stinker! The point of this short was to make American at home think about how they could help the war effort by keeping the economy strong.I love patriotic WW2 shorts like these. It avoids being too preachy and delivers its message in a clear and entertaining way. Edward Arnold is terrific. Just the year before he was fighting Satan in The Devil and Daniel Webster, now here he is playing him and doing a wickedly delightful job. It's a great short that anybody who enjoys WW2-era material should love. Also features Esther Williams in one of her earliest roles.

"Inflation" was Cy Endfield's first film. It's a 16-minute anti-German propaganda short made for MGM with Edward Arnold as Satan, sitting behind his large CEO's desk and chatting amiably on the phone with Herr Hitler (a framed and signed photo of whom he has displayed) about his plans for destroying the U.S. economy through encouraging people to illegally buy or horded as much unnecessary stuff as they can in defiance of wartime government restrictions. Footage of FDR confirms what all of those complaining about our current government's "socialism" should know: we were a lot closer to it in the 40s than we've ever been since. Price caps? Quotas? Higher taxes, especially on the rich? Short propaganda films like these? Yup, all part of daily life in 1942.There's lots of fun stuff under the surface here. Arnold's v-haircut, his cackling maniacal laughter, and the faky lightning-bolt effects that we see periodically behind him might remind one of Ed Wood films; he's got a sexy secretary (mistress? does the Devil have a mistress?) and indeed the film is full of sex: a sexy housewife (Esther Williams, in her first film role) wants nice dresses and a fur and her hubby seems willing to do anything to get them for her; there's a scene of several attractive young ladies rushing to buy nylons as the prices get hiked. The whole film is over-the-top and feverish, as propaganda films were meant to be, but it's a lot of fun and shows some real wit.

Inflation (1942) *** (out of 4)WW2 propaganda short features Ester Williams in a small role in her film debut. The film tells the story of how Adolf Hitler calls the Devil (Edward Arnold) and asks to make American's start spending more money so that their war efforts can be washed down the toilet. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Stephen McNally, Williams) begin a shopping spree not knowing what they're doing to the country and their souls. It's rather amazing to see how far these shorts would go in terms of the war and one can't imagine any actors doing something like this today. Arnold wasn't the biggest star in Hollywood but he did have countless lead roles at MGM and was a fairly well known face. He is quite good in his role of the Devil and you can tell he's having fun. Williams is pretty much centered in a thankless role but she isn't too bad.

Five months after WWII's Pearl Harbor, Americans were cautioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to curb their spending and to buy war bonds while he encouraged paying off debts and mortgages in a responsible manner.To thwart this common sense talk, we have EDWARD ARNOLD as The Devil, spreading his own version of what Americans should do so that they will be defeated by the enemy. In a phone call from his friend Adolf, he outlines his own plan after advising one of his associates to "put more heat on the 7th level".In an illustration of encouraging spending, we see Joe Smith (STEPHEN McNALLY) and his young wife (ESTHER WILLIAMS) going on a buying spree using credit for things they can't really afford. After admonished by storekeeper HOWARD FREEMAN, who turns on FDR's radio speech when the couple want to buy a new radio, they see the error of their ways.It's a sardonic morality tale, benefiting mostly from the relish with which Arnold plays his Devil role. His laughter is full of dark menace as his huge close-ups convince us that he wants his evil plan to work, happily engaged in causing a "Roman holiday of spending" and encouraging a man to cash in his $300 war bonds.In the end, of course, the Devil is outmaneuvered by smarter Americans who refuse to get caught up in black marketing, hoarding and cashing in their bonds--and the American spirit wins.Good little propaganda film spotlights Arnold at his best--or should I say "worst" (as The Devil).