Conflicting interests and conflicting attitudes toward the war characterized the uneasy relationship between Washington and Hollywood during World War II. There was deep disagreement within the film-making community as to the stance towards the war that should be taken by one of America's most lucrative industries. Hollywood Goes to War reveals the powerful role played by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Office of War Information—staffed by some of America's most famous intellectuals including Elmer Davis, Robert Sherwood, and Archibald MacLeish—in shaping the films that were released during the war years. Ironically, it was the film industry's own self-censorship system, the Hays Office and the Production Code Administration, that paved the way for government censors to cut and shape movies to portray an idealized image of a harmonious American society united in the fight against a common enemy. Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black reconstruct the power struggles between the legendary producers, writers, directors, stars and politicians all seeking to project their own visions onto the silver screen and thus to affect public perceptions and opinion.
Hollywood Goes to War How Politics, Profits and Propaganda Shaped World War II Movies
About the Book
Table of Contents
Preface
I. HOLLYWOOD, 1939
II. HOLLYWOOD TURNS INTERVENTIONIST
III. WILL THIS PICTURE HELP WIN THE WAR?
IV. OWI TAKES THE OFFENSIVE
V. SHAKEOUT IN HOLLYWOOD
VI. HOME FRONT: DEFINING AMERICA
VII. PUTTING THE RUSSIANS THROUGH THE WRINGER
VIII. DEMOCRATS OLD AND NEW: "CLASSLESS" BRITAIN AND "MODERN" CHINA
IX. THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE
X. NAZIS, GOOD GERMANS, AND G.I.'s
XI. HOLLYWOOD, 1945
Notes
Bibliographical Essay
Index