For my Top Ten project, I've been working my way through films from the 1940s, and a lot of WWII movies. I should clarify that I don't mean just movies about WWII, but movies about WWII that were being released while WWII was taking place. WWII was the first major war that took place after filmmaking really became an industry, and the various world governments were able to turn to them for their propaganda needs.
Hollywood was awash in patriotic and morale boosting films, especially during the later years of the war. In addition to information documentaries, like the "Why We Fight" series, there were also a ton of films about supporting the troops, maintaining the homefront, and generally portraying the US involvement in the war in the best possible light. Famous actors and filmmakers enlisted in the armed forces, while those who stayed behind were often involved in fundraising and volunteering for projects like the Hollywood Canteen. You can find advertisements for war bonds and other calls to action all over movies and shorts from this era.
The popular films of the time reflect this, full of adventure stories about the exploits of brave fighting men, with titles like "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" and "The Story of G.I. Joe." There were also a ton of lighthearted musicals like "This is the Army" and "Star Spangled Rhythm," designed to lift spirits and inspire patriotism. "Mrs. Miniver," a melodrama depicting the Blitz and the Dunkirk evacuation, topped the box office in 1942, after the U.S. entered the war. These films still stand out because at no other time did Hollywood devote its efforts so wholeheartedly toward the cause of any armed conflict. Moreover, there wasn't an ounce of cynicism to be found anywhere. Korean War films existed, but these were far fewer and less popular. By the Vietnam War, filmmakers were less enthusiastic and audiences were less receptive.
There are some wonderful pro-war movies that came out of the WWII propaganda effort, including "Casablanca," "This Land is Mine," "The Human Comedy," and "Went the Day Well," and they clearly influenced how Hollywood operated going forward. They're also a huge reason why the American involvement in WWII is still largely viewed positively. The war films of today are far more cautious about their political stances and resist reducing any conflict to simple good v. evil. They don't offer the easy, straightforward narratives of beating back Axis foes, and the villains were never quite so evil as the Nazis and the Japanese Empire. Disney and Warner shorts turned them into grotesque cartoon caricatures. Service men and women. By contrast, were lionized without question.
I also watched a few wartime films from Germany and Japan, and they were more similar to the American and British films than different. Keisuke Kinoshita and Akira Kurosawa made propaganda films - fairly innocuous morale boosters about domestic life in wartime. I did, however, manage to track down a dramatization of the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective. "The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya," released in 1942, used miniatures to stage such convincing air raid sequences, that it was mistaken for actual combat footage. Alas, despite the technical quality, the film is a notorious bore.
Germany famously had more disturbing examples of propaganda, but the Nazis were also concerned with keeping the morale of the country high, and pushed filmmakers to create a steady stream of escapist fare like romances and comedies. There are some fantastic German films from this period like "Romance in a Minor Key," "The Punch Bowl," and "Munchhausen." The films that did try to demonize the Allied Powers often did so clumsily. I watched the 1943 German version of "Titanic," which mostly plays like a typical disaster film, except that it places the blame on greedy British and American businessmen.
I don't think I've delved deep enough into this subject to draw too many definitive conclusions - but I'm glad that I took the trouble to track down many of these titles and get some different historical perspectives on WWII. These films were made for audiences that had to deal with the war as a day-to-day reality, and were often more empathetic and sensitive than I expected, especially when dealing with civilian experiences. WWII remains popular subject matter, and subsequent films were much more sophisticated and have the benefit of hindsight. However, those first, often crude attempts at depicting modern warfare retain an immediacy and a power that is still remarkable.
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