Hollywood's Second World War Backdrop Blur
Hollywood's Second World War Poster
Germany
8.0 1h 30m

Hollywood's Second World War

For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of the masses, was quite simply their most important weapon. Government authorities monitored the production of feature films and the military itself produced documentaries aimed at rallying the American people to support the troops. This film tells the story of four Hollywood directors of European origin, who returned to the "Old World" during the Second World War to make propaganda documentaries for the US Army at the front: William Wyler from Alsace, Frank Capra from Italy, Anatole Litvak from Ukraine and - in post-war Germany - Billy Wilder from Austria.

Watch Now

Top Cast

  • Volker Schlöndorff

    Volker Schlöndorff

    Self

  • George Stevens Jr.

    George Stevens Jr.

    Self

  • Catherine Wyler

    Catherine Wyler

    Self

  • Anatole Litvak

    Anatole Litvak

    Self (archive footage)

  • William Wyler

    William Wyler

    Self (archive footage)

  • Frank Capra

    Frank Capra

    Self (archive footage)

  • Billy Wilder

    Billy Wilder

    Self (archive footage)

  • George Stevens

    George Stevens

    Self (archive footage)

  • Charlie Chaplin

    Charlie Chaplin

    Adenoid Hynkel (archive footage)

Overview

For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of the masses, was quite simply their most important weapon. Government authorities monitored the production of feature films and the military itself produced documentaries aimed at rallying the American people to support the troops. This film tells the story of four Hollywood directors of European origin, who returned to the "Old World" during the Second World War to make propaganda documentaries for the US Army at the front: William Wyler from Alsace, Frank Capra from Italy, Anatole Litvak from Ukraine and - in post-war Germany - Billy Wilder from Austria.

Related Movies

The War on Democracy

Set both in Latin America and the United States, the film explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile. Pilger says that the film "...tells a universal story... analysing and revealing, through vivid testimony, the story of great power behind its venerable myths. It allows us to understand the true nature of the so-called "war on terror". According to Pilger, the film’s message is that the greed and power of empire is not invincible and that people power is always the "seed beneath the snow".

The War on Democracy

7.5 2007