From Hitler to Hollywood: Transnational Cinema in World War Ii
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FROM HITLER TO HOLLYWOOD: TRANSNATIONAL CINEMA IN WORLD WAR II Joy L. Bennett A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2011 Committee: Dr. Beth Griech-Polelle, Advisor Dr. Rebecca Mancuso ABSTRACT Dr. Beth Griech-Polelle, Advisor This is a comparative study between the film industries of Nazi Germany and the United States in World War II. I examine the governmental influence on the cinematic industries and how that affected the people. I also show that the Nazi government had more influence than is generally thought over the United States and the film industry in Hollywood. The émigrés that had to flee the Nazis brought new ideas to Hollywood, creating new genres of film. The use of Government documents, diaries, memoirs, films as well as secondary sources are the major sources. The government documents were obtained from the Motion Picture Artists Association Archive, and deal specifically with the Office of War Information. The OWI created rules for filmmaking in the war years and oversaw many productions, including Army training films. The diaries are those of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, and I include an appendix of statements he made regarding films. In looking at certain émigrés and stars in both Hollywood and Germany, I use autobiographies and biographies detailing the lives of the famous in the pertinent years. Many of the secondary sources are previously written works about the creation of cinema, Hollywood history and the German cinematic industry. I use many films to illustrate the ideas that were being expressed to the public, as well as entertaining the people. I specifically use the film Casablanca to illustrate the importance of the fleeing émigrés from Europe to the United States, and how so many of these actual émigrés being cast in the film made it stronger. The results of my study include that both governments were heavily involved in the cinema in the time of war, creating guidelines that must be followed, and heavily censoring everything. The Nazis copied Hollywood films and ideas after Germanizing them, and the ii Hollywood took exiled cinematic workers from Europe. The exiled actors, directors and writers brought a new creativity with them that gave birth to Film Noir and many other classic films. The addition of cinema’s exiles helped to sustain and magnify the greatness of Hollywood cinema for many years. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Beth Griech-Polelle, my advisor for helping me through the whole process, Kim Rewinkel, Danielle Winters, Justin Pfeifer, Katie Brown, Sam Greene and April Manalang for reading over my thesis and helping me to do all my edits and revisions, Dr. Dwayne Beggs for always encouraging me and Dr. Becky Mancuso for being on my committee. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ........ ........................................................................................... ……………...1 Dawn of Cinema and Censorship………………………………………………….4 Hollywood and the US Film Industry……………………………………………..5 The German Cinematic Industry…………………………………………………..9 Nazi Germany, 1933-1943………………………………………………………..11 CHAPTER1: THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS? NAZI GERMANY AND HOLLYWOOD ……………………………………………………………………….…………………...14 The Decadence of Weimar Cinema, 1919-1933………………………………….14 The Nazis Conquer the Film Industry……………………………………………18 Office of War Information……………………………………………………….26 The Women of Nazi Cinema……………………………………………………..38 Women of Hollywood Cinema…………………………………………………...45 Famous Names and Faces Fighting for America…………………………………48 Hollywood Victory Committee…………………………………………………..51 The Nazis Envy of Hollywood………………………………………………...…55 Plagiarism: Nazi Style……………………………………………………………60 Propaganda in Nazi Film…………………………………………………………62 What About the Movies?........................................................................................64 Governmental Control of the Film Industry………………………… …………..71 The Hitler Youth Film Hour……………….……………………………………..73 Newsreels……………………………………………………………………...…75 CHAPTER 2: EVERYONE COMES TO RICK’S: EXAMINING CASABLANCA AS A MIGRATION CASE STUDY IN WORLD WAR II..………………………………….78 v American Response to Refugees.………………………………………………...80 Hollywood Anti-Nazi League….…………………………………………………82 European Film Fund………...…………………………………………………….83 Casablanca…………………………………………………………………………85 Madeline Le Beau…………………………………………………………………89 Helmut Dantine……………………………………………………………………90 Conrad Veidt………………………………………………………………………91 Paul Henreid……………………………………………………………………….94 Peter Lorre…………………………………………………………………………96 Fritz Lang………………………………………………………………………….98 Billy Wilder………………………………………………………………………100 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………….102 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………..105 APPENDIX A……………………………………………………………………………117 From Hitler to Hollywood: Transnational Cinema in World War II Hollywood history is a fascinating topic to many people, which explains why there are so many books written about actors, directors, the studio system and of course the overarching history of the industry. The film industry of Nazi Germany is also compelling with many books written about the propaganda of the Nazis. Most scholars dismiss many of the films made between 1933 and 1945 as merely propaganda with no other merit. There are also many works written about the artists in exile; those of Jewish ancestry that had to flee the Nazis for their own safety that were skilled in all forms of the arts including literature, painting, and all of the different cinematic arts. However, many of these works focus on specific people, such as the cinematic artists who traveled to Hollywood from their native Central European homeland out of fear and hatred for the Nazis in Germany. These studies mostly reflect on the hardships endured by the artists upon their arrival in the United States instead of fully tracing their path from their persecution in Germany to their struggles to make it in the United States. By looking at a few of these émigrés who starred in the film Casablanca (1942) –a film focusing on immigrants fleeing the Nazi Occupation—I create a bridge between the two cinematic industries in which the émigrés worked. The similarities and differences between the film industries would have been noticed acutely by those forced out of their homeland to another land with strange customs and laws. A few of the émigrés that I focus on include Billy Wilder, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt and Helmut Dantine. Another surprising factor that has been overlooked in this topic is that much of the secondary literature is focused entirely on either Nazi Germany or Hollywood.1 In addition to a 1 Secondary literature examples: Rentschler, Eric. The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998. Rentschler’s main argument is that the cinema of the Third Reich was brought about by a “Ministry of Illusion” rather than the common idea that it was from a “Ministry 2 lack of a combined study of the two countries, many books are looking at the war, or propaganda in general, and address the studio system and films in only one paragraph or chapter. There are 2 only a few works that address only the film industry of each individual country. The earlier of Fear.” Some of the films made are purely propagandistic and along the party lines, such as Hitler Youth Quex, and Jud Suss. He argues that most of the films created under the Nazi Regime were actually apolitical entertainment pictures, but admits that there is frequently a Nazi approved message within the entertainment package. Herr Goebbels used this illusion to cloak the party messages in the films to entertain the masses instead of making them afraid and have to endure 90 minutes of straight propaganda that they did not want to see. Rentschler uses a specific film per chapter to illustrate their effect within certain parameters in Germany. While his scope is different from mine, he examines certain films made in Nazi Germany within the time frame I have selected. The chapters on Emotional Engineering, Hollywood Made in Germany, Home Sweet Heimat, Astray in the New World, the Elective Other, and the Self-Reflexive Self-Destruction along with his epilogue of the Testament of Dr. Goebbels will be the best that will apply to my work. He also reflects more of a film analysis rather than historical manner, but the application of his analysis to the populace and the effect that these films had on them will be useful to my research. Koepnick, Lutz. 2002. The Dark Mirror: German Cinema between Hitler and Hollywood. Los Angeles: University of California Press. This work examines the relationship between Hollywood and Germany from 1930 through 1950. The author also looks at the way that Nazi filmmakers ‘borrowed’ ideas from Hollywood in both films and in their star system. This is partially what I would like to incorporate into my thesis in a transnational sense with the filmmakers fleeing Nazi Germany for Hollywood. Kremier, Klaus. 1996. The Ufa Story: A History of Germany’s Greatest Film Company 1918-1945, Los Angeles: The University of California Press. This is an overview of the history of the major film studio in Germany. It examines the Nazi takeover of the studios and the combining of the major film studios under the UFA umbrella. Kreimeier uses the stars of the films, the directors and the films themselves to tell the story of the Hollywood of the Nazis. This is helpful because it has a clear explanation