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 Town” (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 Lace” (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 Will” (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.”

“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.