Chapter 7: Hollywood goes to War

WWII officially started on September 1, 1939
US maintained a position of strict neutrality and “isolationism”
Only entered after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 against Japan and Germany

Thesis:
The Big Problem: the average American had no interest in going to war before Pearl Harbor was bombed. Isolationist sentiment was still strong so the government decided to set up a ministry of information (propaganda) to supplement the work of the private media.

Office of War Information (OWI)
President Roosevelt created the OWI
Its job was to assist the media in spreading the message about supporting the war. It had numerous branches, including the Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP), which was designed to influence Hollywood to make films to support the war effort and to make films that portrayed the US in a positive light
Hollywood worked closely with the government to support its war-aims information campaign. They created features with patriotic, morale-boosting themes and messages about the American way of life, the nature of the enemies and the allies, civilian responsibilities on the home front, and the fighting forces themselves.
The OWI or BMP couldn’t stop the production of films but they had some moral suasion to keep film makers from doing anything that was not patriotic

The Manual
The OWI issued a manual to act as a guide to film makers
The 7 questions asked in the manual are basically making sure that films don’t portray the wrong influence of America and its partaking into the war.
Some successful films made under the guidelines of the maual:
    -Casablanca (1943)
    -Sahara (1943)
    -Since you went away (1944)

Casa Blanca
It is the kind of film that the OWI had in mind when they wrote the guidelines
The film draws heavily on narrative conventions of previous films, especially the Western – the dichotomy between Eastern and Western US to one between Europe and America
The film was made in 1942; a few months after US entered WWII

Combat Films of WWI
Prior to 1942 there were not a lot of films made about war and it was not the most popular genre in American cinema.
WWII changed all that – became very popular
    -movies on the Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq War etc. etc.
Formula for these types of movies:

1. Isolated males in a life or death task
2. The group – distinct types – teamwork and individual exploits
3. Professionalism and stoicism in the face of danger and death
4. Outsiders enter the group and become threats to it
5. Outsiders must win admission to the group

Sahara
Interesting example of how the OWI influenced film making during the war
Set in North Africa where the US joins British forces to defeat Germany
The crew that makes a stand against the Germanys at the well of the oasis was a microcosm of the allies (the American, the British doctor, the French Resistance Fighter, a Sudanese officer and his Italian prisoner)

-the Sudanese officer addresses the ongoing problem of racism in the real American military

    -blacks were not allowed to fight along side whites during the war

Since You Went Away
Made about the duties of those who remained at home during the war
A lady named Anne Hilton shows the type of model representation of home life that the OWI wanted to demonstrate

Hollywood Film Directors Go to War
A number of prominent film directors offered their services to various branches of the Armed Forces
They were assigned to make training films and documentaries explaining war-related issues

-not all Hollywood films during this time related to war effort, the government wanted to continue to make entertainment films to escape American worries

Film Noir (1941-1958)
Encompasses different genres but more prominently gangster and detective films
The term was devised by the French after WWII
Four fundamental components:

1. War and Post War Dillusionment 
• -delayed reaction to the Great Depression, WWII and aftermath

• Post War Realism
• documentary films gave audiences an appreciation for more realistic representation of the world

1. The German Influence 
• visual stylistic and dark sensibilities of German Expressionism
• Quintessential example of German Expression: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

1. The Hard-Boiled Tradition 
• literary tradition – cynical, world-weary, street-wise and tough male protagonis

Elements of Film Noir

1. Visual Style – low-keying lighting, anti-traditional frame compositions and the use of claustrophobic framing devices like doors and windows and stairways
2. Moral Ambiguity – characters are morally questionable
3. The World-weary Detective – hard-boiled detective stories of the thirties, the noir detective is an individual, non-affiliated professional, law superior – creates his own “law”

Women and Film Noir
In many Hollywood films, the nuclear family is the embodiment of stability and the locus of ideological conformity\many conventional films end with the creation of a couple at the end, usually in the form of a marriage
Women – the vehicle for satisfying male sexual needs and to raise children and take care of the home
Two types

1. Femme Fatale 

• the sexual predator who use men and their desires to get her own way, they are not to be trusted
• at a metaphorical level they embody the fears that men have about powerful women (threat to male power)

2. Good Woman 

• usually the wife, fiancé or girlfriend

Questions:
->In the movie Sahara, “the crew” is a microcosm example of the Allies. What makes up this “crew” and how does it exemplify the war? 
->Discuss the pros and cons of the OWI spreading the message through film to support the war?
-> Discuss and compare propaganda from the GNP, the creole commission, and the (BMP) Bureau of Motion Pictures