Why We Fight
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the World War II documentary films.
- For the 2005 documentary see Why We Fight (2005 film).
- "Why We Fight" is also the name of an episode of Band of Brothers and the title of an album by Gatsbys American Dream.
- It is also the name of an episode in the fifth and final season of Angel (TV series) : Why We Fight (Angel episode)
Why We Fight is the name of a propaganda series of seven documentary films commissioned by the United States government during World War II to demonstrate to American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war. Later on they were also shown to the general U.S. public to persuade them to support American intervention.
Most of the documentaries were directed by Frank Capra, who was daunted and terrified by Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda film Triumph of the Will, and worked in direct response to it. The series faced a tough challenge: convincing an isolationist nation of the need to become involved in the war, desegregate the troops, and ally with the Soviets, among other things. In many of the films, Capra and other directors spliced in Axis powers propaganda footage--recontextualizing it so it promoted the cause of the Allies instead. The films were edited mostly by William Hornbeck, and are some of the best examples of found-footage montage ever produced. The animated portions of the films were produced by the Disney studios – with the animated maps following a convention of depicting Axis-occupied territory in black.
All of the films are one hour in length, except the Battle of Russia, which is two hours. All are available on DVD.
At the end of each film, the quotation from Army Chief of Staff George Marshall that "...the victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the war machines of Germany and Japan." is shown on screen, followed by a ringing Liberty Bell over which is superimposed a large letter "V" zooming into the screen.
The seven documentaries are:
- Prelude to War (1942) (Academy award as Documentary Feature) - this examines the difference between democratic and fascist states, and covers the Japanese conquest of Manchuria and the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. [1]
- The Nazis Strike (1942) - covers Nazi geopolitics and the conquest of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. [2]
- Divide and Conquer (1943) [3] - chiefly about the Fall of France
- Battle of Britain (1943) [4]
- The Battle of Russia (1943) part 1, part 2
- The Battle of China (1944) [5]
- War Comes to America (1945) [6] - shows how the pattern of Axis aggression turned the American people against isolationism.
Prelude to War and The Battle of China refer several times to the Tanaka Memorial – Its authenticity is still a matter of dispute, – portraying it as "Japan's Mein Kampf" to raise American morale for a protracted war against Japan.
In 2000 the United States Library of Congress deemed the films "culturally significant" and selected them for preservation in the National Film Registry. Created by the U.S. Army Pictorial Services, the films are in the public domain; many of them are available for download at the Internet Archive.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Why we fight: The Battle of Britain at the Internet Movie Database
- Why we fight: Divide and Conquer at the Internet Movie Database
- Why we fight: The Nazis Strike at the Internet Movie Database
- Why we fight: Prelude to War at the Internet Movie Database
- Why we fight: The Battle of China at the Internet Movie Database
- Why we fight: War Comes to America at the Internet Movie Database
- Why we fight: The Battle of Russia at the Internet Movie Database
- USAAF First Motion Picture Unit at Magic Lantern
- Divide and Conquer on Google Video
| Frank Capra's Why We Fight series |
|---|
| Prelude to War - The Nazis Strike - Divide and Conquer - Battle of Britain - The Battle of Russia - The Battle of China - War Comes to America |
