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The second half of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series
The "Why We Fight" series was produced by Frank Capra during World War II. Capra was a major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was commissioned by Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall to make a series of short documentaries that would explain the policy of the U.S. government to the troops that were being hastily assembled, trained, and sent overseas to fight. Eventually the "Why We Fight" series was shown to the public in theaters and prints were distributed to American allies in England and the Soviet Union as well. The first volume of this DVD set includes the first four parts, "Prelude to War," "The Nazis Strike," "Divide and Conquer," and "The Battle of Britain." This DVD has the final three episode, which are quite interesting because of the way their views <
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>"The Battle of Russia" is the fifth film in the series that is the supreme example of American propaganda during World War II. Released in 1943 and narrated by both actor Walter Huston and writer Anthony Veiller, "The Battle of Russia" begins with Hitler deciding to betraying his alliance with Stalin and attacking the Soviet Union. However, at the end of this documentary the Soviets stop the Nazis at the battle of Stalingrad and Hitler's army suffers a crippling defeat at the gates of Moscow. "The Battle of Russia," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature-Length Film Documentary, is a prime example of the way the Soviet Union was presented as a strong ally during World War II (check out the film "Mission to Moscow" in this regard as well). <
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>"The Battle of China" shifts the focus to the Chinese defense against Japanese aggression. Like the previous chapter, "The Battle of Russia," an important part of the intent here is to establish a sense of identification between the American people with a foreign ally, although Capra does not have to gloss over the political ideology of the Chinese the same way he did with the Communist Soviets. This explains why this chapter provides a brief history of China and its people and then details why the Japanese wanted to conquer the country, namely getting the raw materials and slave labor necessary for taking over all of Asia. The War in the Pacific covered, showing the valiant effort by the Chinese to stop the Japanese. Also featured are General Claire Lee Chennault's famous Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group who had joined the battle to defend China. This 67-minute black & white 1944 documentary is narrated by writer Anthony Veiller (Walter Houston just does the voice of Abraham Lincoln this time) and Anatole Litvak served as an uncredited co-director. In the next volume, "War Comes to America," the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings the United States into the war. <
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>"War Comes to America," the final part of the "Why We Fight" series, has Anatole Litvak as the uncredited co-director, music by Alfred Newman, and actors Walter Huston and Lloyd Nolan providing the narration for this 67-minute black & white documentary produced in 1945 as the war was ending. This final installment celebrates the good qualities of the United States and establishes those things worth fighting for and also looks at the history of the United States and traces how the shifting opinion of the public towards supporting the Allies against the Axis forces was clearly shifting in that direction when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. As such the film presents the mood of the American people on the eve of World War II and how the isolationist position changed in reaction to the aggressive policies of the Axis powers (a.k.a. "Death, Inc.") as traced in a revealing series of Gallup Polls. There is also a summary of Japanese aggression from the invasion of Manchuria to Pearl Harbor. <
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>This particular chapter is one of the most interesting because Capra is going out of his way to present America as an inclusive society when Hungarians, Portuguese, American Negroes and Chinamen all work together, although it is interesting that the first two are shown more often and more progressively than the latter pair. Even Germans and Italians are included in the mix, but not the Japanese, which is not surprising given the internment camps in California (which were actually called concentration amps at the time). But we do see an indictment of activities of the German American Bund as well. The perspective here is decidedly liberal, seeing the U.S.A. as a nation proud of having trade unions and capable of correcting mistakes like Prohibition. While covering December 7, 1941, the day that "will live in infamy," Capra ends with the uplifting music of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and the idea of an inevitable Allied victory. <
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>Capra was able to use the facilities of MGM, Paramount and 20th Century Fox, as well as the talents of filmmakers like Walter Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler, as well as composers Alfred Newman and Dmitri Tiomkin. The animated map sequences were done by Walt Disney and his staff. In addition to being effective tools of propaganda, helping to shift American from an isolationist to a war footing, the "Why We Fight" series effectively redefined the art of the documentary. At the end of the war Capra also made a pair of films for the occupation forces, "Your Job in Germany" and "Know Your Enemy: Japan." Even today the "Why We Fight" series remains a prime source of archival footage of this period, with film of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Haile Selassie, Vyacheslav Molotov, Hermann G�ring, and a score of German and Soviet military figures. In 2000 the "Why We Fight" series was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry.