CATCH A CLASSIC
Hollywood Victory
TCM, beginning at 7 p.m.
On Nov. 2, the book Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars and Stories of World War II, from the Turner Classic Movies library, will be published. Written by Christian Blauvelt, it details Hollywood’s response during the events of the World War II era, relating the different ways in which the film industry enlisted in the war effort, from filmmakers such as Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock making recruitment films, to Bob Hope’s USO performances and how the industry made films to show the public why they were fighting. Tying in with this book release, tonight TCM will be hosting an evening of films made during the American involvement in the World War II era that are also featured in the book. First is the 1939 drama Confessions of a Nazi Spy (pictured), starring Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer and George Sanders, which was the first anti-Nazi film to be made by a major American studio
(not surprisingly, it was banned in Germany and Japan). Next, the Oscar-nominated
1941 romantic drama Hold Back the Dawn, which takes place largely in Mexico, made some alterations to its screenplay at the request of the Mexican government to show a better representation of the country and help promote a “Good Neighbor Policy” to America’s important ally to the south in the coming war that we would find ourselves in less than three months after the film’s release. Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland and Paulette Goddard star. Following that is the 1943 war film Edge of Darkness, starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan, which was one of the top five most requested films by the U.S. Army at the time. Also from 1943, Howard Hawks’ Oscar-winning war film Air Force, starring John Garfield and John Ridgely, offered special thanks at the end to the U.S. Army Air Force for their assistance in the creation of the film. Air Force also reflected some of the unfortunate aspects of the American psyche during the era, including distrust of Japanese Americans. Finally, in the 1946 adventure drama Courage of Lassie, a collie named Pal is credited as Lassie in the role of a collie named Bill, who finds himself shipped to the War Dog Training Center and eventually fights heroically alongside American troops during the Aleutian Islands Campaign. The film, also starring Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Morgan, ends with an onscreen written acknowledgment thanking the office of the Quartermaster General for their cooperation in the production of the film.