Let There Be Light (1946). US Army Signal Corps. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.
Let There Be Light
Huston filmed psychiatric treatment of returning soldiers at Mason General Hospital on Long Island; the Army blocked its release until 1980.
- Year
- 1946
- Made by
- US Army Signal Corps
- Directed by
- John Huston
- Free to use because
- A work of the United States government — no copyright, anywhere
The note
The last of Huston's three wartime films and the one that cost him. He recorded genuine intake interviews and treatment sessions with men suffering what was then called combat fatigue, and the Army — arguing consent, though the releases existed — kept it off screens for a generation. As audio it is almost unbearable and completely unlike anything else in this archive: no narration for long stretches, just two people in a room. Walter Huston narrates what there is. Federal work, no copyright.
Let There Be Light, 1946. US Army Signal Corps. Directed by John Huston. This is the film’s soundtrack: narration, score and location sound, streamed from the Internet Archive’s master. No picture — the audio is the work. A work of the United States government, and therefore free of copyright anywhere it is used.
The soundtrack