The Killers, 1946

An early noir piece starring Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster, partly on the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. besides being Burt’s first role, it was also William Conrad’s first credited role, being on of the killers. Two killers come to the small town of Brentwood and kill “The Swede” (Lancaster), The rest of the film is in flashback mode as life insurance investigator Jim Reardon (Edmond O’Brien), unfolds the story leading up to the Swede’s murder.

Soviet Assault, 1941

Still delayed along the 2000 mile Eastern Front was the long-expected summer offensive. Soviet airmen, however, were not idle. In repeated air assaults they battered Nazi-held rail centers, like the one in Bryansk, where connecting lines lead north to Smolensk and south to Kharkov. Pictured here is a low-level strafing attack by a flight of twin-engined DB-3A medium bombers swooping down over a Nazi rail point jammed with Axis troops and supplies moving to the front.