Hollywood's View of Germany

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Hollywood's interpretation of Germany's participation in World Wars I and II fluctuated between politics and concern for profits but did not engage in propaganda as commonly charged. The author points out that independent movie producers, surged into the international market during World War I, which provided them with one of its greatest sources of plots and profits, such as D.W. Griffith's "Hearts of the World" (1918). The paper relates that the majority of the films were anti-war and action/war adventures made after the war, such as "The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse" (1924). The author relates that Hollywood films of the 1960s and 1970s revisited the anti-German theme and highlighted American heroism, such as "The Dirty Dozen" (1967); however, the the most outstanding film was Stanley Kramer's black and white "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961). The paper cites many films and includes many quotations.

From the Paper:

"There was one firm that did: Warner Bros. They shut down their German operations in 1933, three years before Hitler limited the release of American films. By 1939, the European market was closed off. In 1940 Will Hays, the dour President of the Motion Picture Production and Distribution Association (MPPDA), lifted the ban on anti-Nazi films that he had imposed after "Confessions of a Nazi Spy", and the cameras began to roll against Nazi Germany and for the defense of the United States. "Sergeant York" (1941) actually harked back to Tennessee farmer Alvin York's heroics in World War I."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Behind the Big Screen: History of the Development of International Films Spread: Timeline". www.library.thinkquest.org/CO122862/BehindtheBigScreen/ history.html
• Fischel, Jack R. Reds and Radicals in Hollywood. "The Virginia Quarterly Review: A National Journal of Literature and Discussion". Winter, 2003. http://www.vqronline/articles/2003/writer/fischel-reds-radicals-html
• "History of Motion Pictures-MSN Encarta". http:/ca.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia 761567568 3/History of Motion Pictures
• "Charles Lindbergh's Nonintervention Efforts and America First". http://www.charleslindbergh.com/americafirst/index.asp
• Moser, John E. "Gigantic Engines of Propaganda": The 1941 Senate Investigations of Hollywood. The Historian. 22 June 2001. 2001.

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