Figure 1.--the Warner Bros film, "Watch on the Rhine", starring Bette Davis and Paul Lukas (1943). It was based on Lilian Hellman's Broadway play of the same title. The screen play was written by Dashiel Hammet, the mystery writer and Hellman's lover. The story involves Sara and Kurt Muller who arrive in Washington, D.C., after 18 years in Europe. Sara is the daughter of a wealthy American grand dame, but she is married to Kurt, a German citizen who is engaged in undercover anti-Nazi espionage (Paul Lukas). The Mullers have three children. The youngest is Bodo. Here he wears a short pants suit with long stockings, still very common in Germany.

The development of taling pictures more or less coincided with the rise of the NAZIs (1933). Hollywood steered away from addressing the issues of totalitarianism and aggression. It did not address anti-Semitism ir racism directly, but more of the suppression of discent and free expression. We do not see anti-NAZI films until Hitler actually launched the War. Anti-Japanese films did appear earlier. But it was only after Pearl Harbor and American entry into the War that a torrent of anti-NAZI films came from Hollywood. Totally unaddressed were Italian Facists and even more so Soviet Communists. The failure to address the Communists attrocuties can be explained because they were not well known and of course they were critical allies. It often coincided with the ideological outlook of many in Hollywood. We note quite a few films made by Hollywood before and during World War II. There were also a number of related films made after the War. We are especially interested for HBC with the films made that had children involved.

Before World War II (1933-39)

Hollywood was slow to address the NAZI menace. A factor was lucrative box office receipts from Germany. I fairness to Hollywood, however, the trur character of the NAZI regime did not manifest itself immediately. It is easy for us to criticize now because we benefits from the insights of hindsight. Hitler was, however, a clever politican and was at first relatively moderate. TYhe turning point was the Nurremberg Laws and open remilitarization (1935). But it was not untill 3-years later that the NAZI menace fully manifested itself with the Anschluss, Munich, and Kristallnsvht (1938). In that same year the FBI cracked a NAZI spy ring in America and a sensatiional trial brought home the point that the NAZIs were not an exclusively European problem. This finally brought Hollywood into the anti-NAZI struggle.

Confessions of a NAZI Spy (US, 1939)

The Warner Brothers film, "Confessions of a Nazi Spy", is a spy thriller. It is notable as the the first overtly anti-Nazi film produced by an important Hollywood studio. It was feleased before the NAZIs launched World War II in Europe. It is somewhat surprising looking back that movie studios in the Western democracies were so reluctant to take on the NAZIs. (American studios were somewhat more willing to take on the Japanese.) This reluctance in America was primarily the fear of losing the income from the European releases. Hollywood films made quite a bit of money from German and other European relases. The British reluctance was more a reflection of the Government's apeasement policy. The film stared Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and several German refuge actors. Notice that the film was set in America. A film set in Europe was seen as to provactive. The film had some factual basis. The plot was drawn from aticles written by former FBI agent Leon G. Turrou. He had been involved in investigating NAZI spy rings in the United States.

Before America Entered the War (1940-41)

Germany launched World War II by invading Poland (September 1939). Hollywood no longer held back. There was a seies of antu-NAZI films. In addition, the British began making anti-NAZI films which were released in America. There was some concern that Hollywood's campaign against the NAZIs was too provocative. America was officially neutral and many Americans held strongly isolationist views. Interestingly, I do not know of a single studio which produced films endorsing the isolationist point of view.

Foreign Correspondent (US, 1940)

The most interesting aspect of this film is the political context. At the end Hollywood makes an appeal to America. The American foreign correspondent is making a broadcast with the Luftwaffe makes another raid on London. When the lights go out in the studio he describes the lights going out all over the world, only in America were the lights on. The correspondent urges American to build more guns, tanks, planes, and battleships. Sounds hokey today, but it wasn't at the time. Actually look back on it, it is rather startling that a foreigner would be allowed to make such a strong plea for America to enter the War. Esprecially because President Roosevelt at the time was assuring Americans that we would not go to war unless attacked. Hitchcock's message while perhaps stronger than other films, was not essebtially different than other Hollywood films made during 1939-41 befofe America entered the War. The quite amazing fact is even though isolationiost sentiment was very strong in America, I don't know of one Hollywood movie made during this period that had an isolationist message.

I Married a Nazi (US, 1940)

This film is also known as "The Man I Married". It is based on a short story by Oscar Schisgall. The film mixed in period 1938 newsreel footage into the film. This was the year the NAZIS annexed Austria and forced the British and French to abandon Czechoslovakia at Munich. Carol Hoffman (Joan Bennett) is an American woman married to Eric Hohhman (Francis Lederer), an American of German ancestry. They married in America and Carol does not learn the truth about her husband until the family travels to Germany to visit with Eric's family. She is horrified about what she sees in Germany. Her husband is mesmerized and emerges as a devoted NAZI. She tries to get their son Ricky (Johnny Russell) back home to America. The film was made after the NAZIs had conquered much of Europe, but before America had entered the War. Darryl Zanuck at 20th Century-Fox decided to shoot a series of movies to inform Americans as to what was happening in Europe. The film includes the stock characters such as storm troopers, Gestapo, and Hitler Youth boys.

After America Entered the War (1942-45)

The Japanese carrier strike on Pearl Harbor (December 1941) finally brought America into World War II. Hollywood was already making anti-NAZI and anti-Japanese militarist films. Hollywood never gave much attention to the Italian Fascists, although the Italians sometimes had bit parts in films dealing primarily with the Germans. With the entry into the War, Hollywood becamne an enthusiastic supporter of the American war effort. Hollywood also wholeheartedly supported the Soviet war effort. There was never any mention of vthe fact that the Soviets had been a NAZI ally and persued its own series of aggressions. While the World war II films depicted NAZIs as evil, the amazing thing is that the depictions did not fully depict just how evil they were. None of the World War II-era films even touvhed on the Holocaust. Some attricities were depicted, but the NAZI obsession with killing Jews was not addressed.

Hitler's Children - (US, 1943)

The film is puportedly about the Hitler Youth. Actually relatively little is shown about the Hitler Youth. The film is more about the love affair between two young adults. Two young people become caught up in the mass hysteria and emotion that propelled Hitler to power. One reviwer describes the film as "A realistic portral of young people caught in the horror of NAZI Germany." While we agree with the "horror of NAZI" Germany we do not agree that the film is a realistic depiction. The film begins in Berlin at the American colony school which is accrossed the street from the Host Wessle Schule and fights occur between the German boys and the American children. The movie is a powerful, but rather perposterous Hollywood melodrama in which some historically accurate depictions are mixed in with outright false scenes. Other aspects I am unsure about. The German boys wear Hitler Youth uniforms to school and the school is run like a military academy. This is simply a false depiction of German schools. The American and other foreign boys wear knickers and long pants. Their clothing seems plausible. The American school flew an American flag. This would have been unlikely unless it was on Embassy grounds which was not the case. The movie touched on the German concentration camps and euthenasia, Lebensborn, and eugenics program with varying degress of accuarcy. The mention of some of these programs in themselves is an improvement on many Hollywood films. The Holocaust is not touched on with the exception of a Jewish boy taken away from school, but the presentaion does not suggest how the Jews were singled out. Perhaps the most redidulous part of the film is the toleration shown by the NAZIs for the Church.

(The) Boy from Stalingrad (US, 1943)

Columia produced "The Boy from Stalingrad". Scotty Beckett did his part in World War II with this film set in Stalingrad during the height of the NAZI onslaught against Russia. Presumably Scotty was the boy in the title. He would have been about 14 years old when the film was made. Another boy in the film was Steven Muller, a German Jewish boy whose family managed to get out of Germany only days before World war II broke out. One source tells us that the movie was never released. All known copies were apparently destroyed during the Cold War when it was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee

Watch on the Rhine (US, 1943)

Watch on the Rhine" (1943), is an an important film based on Lillian Hellman's famous play of the same name. It is one of a series of films made before and during World War II. It painted an evil picture of the NAZIs, but Americans viewing the film had no idea how understated was the evil of the NAZIs. The film was was based upon Lillian Hellman's 1941 play concerning American complacency about what was happening in NAZI Germany in the yers before Pearl Harbor and the American entrance into World War II had fully awakened America to the grim realities of European politics. The film was directed by Herman Shumlin and starred Paul Lukas (who won an Academy Award for his performance) and Bette Davis. Lucile Watson plays a wealthy, acid-tongued matriarch of the internationally oriented upper-class society of Washington, D.C. in 1940.

(The) Seventh Cross - (US, 1944)

This film dealt with pre-War NAZI atrocities. It touched upon the NAZI sterilization program, but emphasized political rather than racial motivations. Bobby Blake has a small part, but I do not remember it. There is a scene early in the film, after Spencer Tracy has escaped from a concentration camp, that he steals a boy's jacket in order to disguise himself. The boys return from playing their football match and make the discovery. All are wearing shorts and knee socks, I believe, and one boy, the owner of the jacket gives a police officer a very detailed description of the stolen jacket. Not long after this scene, as Spencer makes his way toward into a town, he sees the police in pursuit of a suspect. This arouses the attention of quite of the townsmen, including several Hitler Youth who are in full uniform.

Tomorrow the World (US, 1945)

An orphaned Hitler Youth comes to America to live with his mother's brother. The arrogance and contempt inculcated in him by the NAZIs strains his relationship with his new family and schoolmates. The family warmly tries to include the boy in their lives. They face, however, years of NAZI indoctrination by the Hitler Youth. Their efforts at rehabilitation are futile until an act un vilonce by the boy causes a belated change of heart. This World War II drama dealt with Hitler's seduction of German Youth. Few who saw it realized that it only scratched the suface of the Third Reich and how terribly successful the NAZIs were in deluding an entire generation of young people. It was Skippy Homeier's film debut. He had performed this role in live theater the year before. The film and play deal with a Hitler Youth boy who can not accept his father's oppostion to his beloved Führer and the NAZIs. He has one scene in both play and film in an Hitler Youth uniform.

Post-war Films

Created: 7:39 PM 2/23/2009
Last updated: 11:41 PM 12/7/2010