France Televisions - The Hollywood War: 1939-1945 (2013)

While the world is about to be thrown into the Second World War, the American studios are going to put in place a unique mobilization in the history of cinema. At the end of the 1930s, Hollywood was indeed experiencing its golden age: an average of eighty-five million Americans went to theaters each week. It is therefore through the cinema that the American government will address the entire nation to ask it to participate in the war effort.

Part 1: United Under The Flag
In the 1930s, American cinema was an industry that depended heavily on foreign markets. So when Hitler took power in Germany in 1933, the major studios took care of making films that did not displease the Nazis. But little by little, personalities like filmmaker John Ford or producer Jack Warner broke the law of silence and made feature films glorifying the army. In 1933, when Hitler came to power in Germany and Roosevelt in the United States, Hollywood was already an economic giant, the eighth largest industry in the country. Within it, voices are already heard against the rise of fascism – Confession of a Nazi Spy is the first major anti-Nazi film. From December 11, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, all the professions of the cinema will be put at the service of propaganda, from the creation of battalions of combat cameramen to the promotion of war bonds from the Treasury through mass enlistment and training new recruits.

Part 2: Confronting the Dictators
When the USA joined World War II, it wasnt just ordinary citizens who enlisted. The biggest names in Hollywood - from producers, stars, artists, technicians - joined the war effort. From making shows commercials to get people to buy war bonds to creating films that demonized Hitler Nazism, to actually fighting in the war - thereby blurring the boundaries of reality and fiction. From its entry into the war, America must celebrate its allies: many films praise the power of the Russian nation, the resistance of Great Britain and denounce the invasion of China by Japan. By contrast, Japan is set up as a sworn enemy of the United States: Pearl Harbor must be avenged, through propaganda bordering on racial hatred.

Part 3: On Every Front
During World War II, Hollywood's efforts gave an unprecedented boost to the morale and recruitment levels of the American armed forces, making cinema the most important form of popular media produced during the war. This importance is demonstrated by the extensive use of films in propaganda, recruitment, training, and morale-boosting. The stars are also involved. Some stars shoot educational films while others, like Clark Gable, James Stewart or Tyrone Power placed themselves in harm's way. At the end of the conflict, Hollywood cameras witness the liberation of the camps, providing so much evidence of the enemy's war crimes and crimes against humanity. But after the German capitulation, the public still had to be convinced of the need to put an end to Japan's resistance.

– AKA: La guerre d'Hollywood: 1939-1945