Frank Capra and “Why We Fight” Capra, an Italian immigrant…at first insecure and unhappy in Later he became a famous Hollywood director making “Capraesque” films, musicals, escapist films, little man challenges the big shots…very popular stuff during the Depression of the 1930s (like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) War Dept and General Marshall needed to tell recruiters why we were fighting this war. Decided to recruit Capra Happy to serve, followed orders. Proud of his work and received the Legion of Merit for it. Pamphlets not enough, needed films. Americans in 1917 had faith, and needed it again now. Signal Corps resented Capra. They had been making training films and did not want to release Nazi films to him. Information Division houses Capra under $400,000 spent on Why We Fight, a fraction of War Department film budget But Capra had to fill out reports on his writers and John Sanford was barred as a Red or premature anti-fascist, but later worked on The
Made Capra was impressed by Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will. Nazi propaganda rally from 1934 scared Capra. He suppressed his earlier admiration for Mussolini common among Italian-Americans before the war.
Series conceived in the summer of 1942…slavery vs. freedom and decency Capra focuses blame on Nazis, not German people, but no so with the “Japs” FDR : WAR FOR SURVIVAL Why We Fight had seven parts: Prelude to War (which we’ve already watched), The Nazis Strike, The Capra produced the films and helped assemble the footage and rework the scripts. Marshall and Stimson had to approve the films. FDR meddled too. Prelude to War won an Oscar in 1943 OWI (Office of War Information) war of showing the film in theaters: backlash claiming it was FDR reelection propaganda, and OWI had promised Postwar survey of GIs who had seen the films showed mixed reactions…some knowledge useful but some war of staged scenes and one-sided presentations, but War Department convinced of its value…millions saw them. |
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Why We Fight notes
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