Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939

479 Pages·2013·8.95 MB·English

by  Thomas Doherty

HOLLYWOOD
AND
Hitler
1933–1939
FILM AND CULTURE
JOHN BELTON, EDITOR
FILM AND CULTURE • A SERIES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE LIST OF
TITLES IN THIS SERIES, SEE SERIES LIST
HOLLYWOOD
AND
Hitler
1933–1939
THOMAS DOHERTY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Columbia University Press All rights reserved E-ISBN 978-0-231-53514-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Doherty, Thomas Patrick.
Hollywood and Hitler, 1933–1939 / Thomas Doherty pages cm. — (Film and culture) Includes
bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16392-7 (cloth : alk. paper) —ISBN 978-0-231-53514-4 (ebook) 1. National
socialism and motion pictures. 2. Motion picture industry—United States—History—20th century.
3. Motion pictures—Political aspects—United States—History—20th century. 4. Motion picture
industry—Germany—History—20th century. 5. Motion pictures—Political aspects—Germany—
History—20th century. 6. Motion pictures in propaganda—Germany—History—20th century. 7.
Motion pictures, American—Germany—History—20th century. 8. Motion pictures, German—
United States—History—20th century. 9. Nazis in motion pictures. I. Title.
PN1995.9.N36D65 2013
791.43094309'04—dc23 2012046863
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-
[email protected].
Cover image: “Song of Songs” © 1933 Paramount Productions Inc. Courtesy of Universal Studios
Licensing LLC
Cover design: Lisa Hamm References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of
writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may
have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
To Sandra—Again
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE: JUDENFILM!
1. HOLLYWOOD–BERLIN–HOLLYWOOD
“The Hitler Anti-Jew Thing”
The Aryanization of American Imports
The Aryanization of Hollywood’s Payroll
2. HITLER, A “BLAH SHOW SUBJECT”
The Disappearance of Jews qua Jews
The Unmaking of The Mad Dog of Europe
“What about the Jews, Your Excellency?”: Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.’s
Hitler’s Reign of Terror (1934)
The Story of a Hollywood Girl in Naziland: I Was a Captive of Nazi
Germany (1936)
3. THE NAZIS IN THE NEWSREELS
“The Swastika Man”
“Naziganda”
4. THE HOLLYWOOD ANTI-NAZI LEAGUE
“Unheil Hitler!”
The Politics of Celebrity
5. MUSSOLINI JR. GOES HOLLYWOOD
6. THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR IN HOLLYWOOD
“Censored Pap!” Walter Wanger’s Blockade (1938)
Loyalist Red Screen Propaganda
7. FOREIGN IMPORTS
“German Tongue Talkers”
Anti-Nazism in the Arty Theaters
“Nazi Scrammers”
8. “THE BLIGHT OF RADICAL PROPAGANDA”
Trouble from Rome Over Idiot’s Delight (1939)
Trouble from Berlin Over The Road Back (1937)
Trouble from Washington with the Dies Committee
9. INSIDE NAZI GERMANY WITH THE MARCH OF TIME
10. “GRIM REAPER MATERIAL”
History Unreels
“The Present Persecutions in Germany”
11. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR LENI RIEFENSTAHL IN
HOLLYWOOD
12. “THE ONLY STUDIO WITH ANY GUTS”
The Warner Bros. Patriotic Shorts
The Activist Moguls
“The Picture That Calls a Swastika a Swastika!”: Confessions of a
Nazi Spy (1939)
13. HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR
EPILOGUE: THE MOTION PICTURE MEMORY OF
NAZISM
Thanks and Acknowledgments
Notes
Index