Manpower was a short propaganda film produced by the US Office of War Information in 1942.

Made early shortly after America's enty into the war, the film addressed the problems associated with the labor market adjusting for war time, such as people with the wrong skills rushing to a town looking for war work, and labor shortages in essential industries. The film discusses how the Roosevelt administration dealt with the problem by the establishment of the Federal Employment Commission, which brought together representatives from labor, management, and the military to organize war production effectively, the test case being in the city of Baltimore.

Still, there were labor shortages, and people had to be taken from other occupations and put into war work. Different examples are given and briefly dramatized:

• a man who has seniority working in a white collar profession is promised his position back when he returns to work after the war
• small businessmen are persuaded to sell their shops and go into war production
• Negroes are taken from menial jobs like custodians, and put to work welding
• women are taken from domestic life and put in to work that is adjusted for "feminine muscles" (the film points out that taking a job doesn't affect their husbands' draft status)
• women with small children will have access to day care

Finally a few more possibilities are noted, but left undramatized, such as retired people coming back to work, the handicapped are recruited and America's "youth" going into agricultural labor. It is noted that these youth programs are voluntary, but it's possible that the government could make youth participation mandatory.

Manpower is a 1941 film about power company linemen starring Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, and George Raft. The memorable posters for the movie proclaimed, "Robinson - He's mad about Dietrich. Dietrich - She's mad about Raft. Raft - He's mad about the whole thing." The film was written by Richard Macauley and Jerry Wald, and directed by Raoul Walsh.

Robinson and Raft got into a fistfight on the set that was eagerly splashed all over the front pages of the nation's newspapers. Victor McLaglen was originally going to play Robinson's role, which would have made it a supporting part, and Raft reportedly resented sharing leading man status on the film as a result of Robinson being cast instead.

Raft chose Manpower over the remake of the 1931 pre-Code version of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, and the career-catapulting role of "Sam Spade" went to Humphrey Bogart instead.

Hank McHenry and Johnny Marshall work on a road crew for the power company. In a freak accident Hank is injured and is promoted to foreman of the gang. One night Hank and Johnny meet Fay Duval in a clip joint, but tensions start to show in the road crew as rivally between Hank and Johnny increases. Written by Col Needham