“1941” was an action/adventure period comedy directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (of “Back to the Future” fame). It was released in 1979 and even though it sported an incredible cast of characters (Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Ned Beatty, Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, the list goes on) it was considered one of Spielberg’s weakest films, both critically and financially.

The film follows many different story threads as the people of California deal with the chaotic aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 and prepare for yet another possible attack.

Hey, I liked the film. I think it’s underrated. And John Belushi as a wacky fighter pilot? Come on now! How can you not love that?

So what I’ve included here is the Pressbook for the film. What is a Pressbook? Wiki describes it best:

“In cinema a pressbook may be a piece of promotional material created and distributed by film producers in order to market their films. Prior to 1980, most film companies did their own promotion, and the pressbooks would be given to exhibitors.

Pressbooks generally contained information on the stars of the film, illustrations of film posters or newspaper advertisements, notes that could be planted in newspaper features or blurbs, ideas for exploitation campaigns, and other promotional materials including ready-made film reviews, souvenir-style giveaways and listings of various tie-ins with the film.”

So below is a cool little piece of vintage movie memorabilia. It’s more than just press layouts. There are a few pages of information about the film as well.  Following is the Movie Trailer.

So go crazy and check it out.  Click on the Pic below to open the Pressbook.