BY DOUG OSWALD
A
collection and analysis of Frank Capra’s World War II propaganda films are
available in a Blu-ray collection by Olive Films titled, “Mr. Capra Goes To War:
Frank Capra’s World War II Documentaries.†The title of this collection is an
obvious play on the titles of two Capra classics. The movies on this disc
encompass two of the seven films collectively known as “Why We Fight,†but all were
intended to inform and boost the moral of the troops. Capra felt the movies
should also be seen by the public but the idea was met with disinterest by
movie theater owners due to the length of the short films. Additionally,
Americans were looking for an escape from the war when they went to the movies.
It’s no wonder the series was mostly forgotten after the war.
Prior
to World War II, Capra was one of the most successful directors in Hollywood.
Winner of three Oscars for best director, he was also president of the Motion
Picture Academy. He was a consistent hit maker with movies considered classics to
this day including; “It Happened One Night†(1934) and “Mr. Deeds Goes to Townâ€
(1936), “Lost Horizon†(1937), “You Can’t Take It With You†(1938), “Mr. Smith
Goes To Washington†(1939) and “Meet John Doe†(1941). “Arsenic and Old Laceâ€
(1944) was also a hit which he completed prior to reporting for duty with the
Army in 1942, but was released two years later.
Capra
would head the production of U.S. military training films which was part of the
Army Signal Corps. Capra and the film unit were transferred to the morale
branch of the Special Services Division where he commanded the Army Pictorial Service.
He wasn’t the only Hollywood director to join the military film unit. John
Ford, John Huston, William Wyler and George Stevens would also be actively
involved making movies for the Army and were embedded with the troops. Capra
acted largely as production head in telling the story of the war from a desk in
Washington, D.C. Their story is told in the excellent 2014 book by Mark Harris,
“Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War.†It was also
made into an equally excellent companion documentary.
Challenged
by the success of Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda film “Triumph of the Willâ€
(1935), Capra set out to counter the Nazi message with an American series of
documentary propaganda films. It’s difficult to know how much of a hand Capra
had on the movies commonly credited to him and released by the War Department
between 1942 and 1945. Most likely he acted as executive producer and gathered
together found footage and reenactments from the battle front and hired Hollywood
experts such as Walt Disney to create animated maps, Alfred Newman to provide
music and Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) as writer; to piece everything together
into a cohesive story. Five of these movies are included in the Olive Films
Blu-ray collection: “Prelude to War,†“The Battle of Russia†“The Negro
Soldier,†“Tunisian Victory,†and “Your Job in Germany.â€
“Prelude
to War,†the first in the “Why We Fight†series, was released in 1942 with a 52-
minute running time and is narrated by Walter Huston. This is my personal favorite
of the titles on this disc. The narration by Huston makes it feel like a
Hollywood documentary of the era and less like a piece of U.S. government
propaganda. I think it’s a great snapshot to the start of America’s involvement
in WWII and was awarded an Oscar for Best Documentary.
“The
Battle of Russia,†fifth in the “Why We Fight†series, is the longest of the
films here and was broken up into two parts due to its feature length. Released
in 1943, Part 1 has a 36- minute running time with Part 2 lasting 47 minutes.
This film was important due to the unique relationship between Russia’s
relationship with the other Allies, based on mutual necessity following Hitler’s
betrayal of Stalin. In the documentary, Russia is depicted as God- fearing benevolent
allies out to defeat Hitler. In reality, the Soviet Union was not much
different from Nazi Germany as far as freedom and liberty is concerned; not to
mention Stalin and Hitler’s similar propensity for genocide and crimes against
humanity. Scenes from Sergei Eisenstein’s Russian epic “Alexander Nevsky (1938)
were used to drive home the resolve of the Russian people and give Americans a
history lesson. This feature length entry includes what are most likely
recreated battle scenes and it all works well as a war propaganda.
“The
Negro Soldier,†released in 1944 with a 40- minute running time is often cited
as the most acclaimed of Capra’s war documentaries due to the discussion of
race relations in the still segregated U.S. military. Racial segregation in the
U.S. military ended after the war on 26 July 1948 when President Harry S.
Truman signed executive order 9981. The Women's Armed Services Integration Act
was signed by President Truman on 12 June 1948. It’s a pity a film about women
serving in the military wasn’t also a part of this series.
“Tunisian
Victory†arrived in 1944 and is nearly feature length at 76 minutes. Largely a
British effort both in terms of troops and filming, this entry was a joint
UK/US effort with the intent of buttoning down the special relationship between
America and Britain. This entry is often criticized for the recreated battle
scenes.
“Your
Job in Germany†was released at the end of the war in Europe in 1945 and very
short at 4 minutes. We didn’t know what to expect from the German people at the
end of the war and this film was a cautionary reminder to the troops stationed
in Germany to not trust anyone. It almost sounds like it could also be
cautionary regarding our Cold War relationship with the Soviet Union shortly
after the end of the war.
Capra
titles not included on this disc are the
other five “Why We Fight†films: “The Nazis Strike†(1943), “The Battle of
Britain†(1943), “Divide and Conquer†(1943), “The Battle of China†(1944), and
“War Comes To America†(1945). Other Capra war time documentaries include: “Two
Down and One to Go (1945), “Know Your Enemy – Japan†(1945) and “Here Is
Germany†(1945).
Often
criticized for recreating battle scenes, censoring film footage deemed too
graphic for public consumption and ignoring war atrocities, these films should
be viewed within the context of their time and place as well as their purpose. They
are propaganda, after all, but in the style of Capra’s Hollywood movies. Isn’t
Hollywood (and movie entertainment in general) propaganda of the “American Dream†or the
American Dream gone mad? Capra often depicted the everyman who triumphs in the
midst of a nightmare situation. His final classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,â€
epitomizes this triumph through the darkness of a world in which one never
existed. I think in many ways Capra told a nightmare story of a world gone mad
throughout WWII in the “Why We Fight†series. What would the world have looked
like if America had never existed or if America was defeated? America did triumph
in the end, like the men in his best movies triumph over the nightmares they
face.
What
makes this disc worth a viewing is the informative analysis by film historian
Joseph McBride, author of “Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success.†McBride
hosts the half hour documentary, “Frank Capra: Why We Fight., an analysis of
Capra’s career including his time with the U.S. Army. He also provides a brief introduction
to each the five movies included on this disc which was produced in cooperation
with the National Archives. For those seeking the complete “Why We Fightâ€
series, they are available on DVD and Blu-ray.
The
movies look and sound terrific with a total running time of five hours and 10
minutes including the running time for McBride’s introductions and the
documentary. There are no other extras on the Olive Films disc, but the
collection is a great overview of Capra’s wartime productions as well as a look
back at a forgotten aspect of World War II.
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