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Matson | World War I Subject of Two Quite Different Books Robert W. Matson University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Rmatson+@pitt.edu World War I Subject of Two Quite Different Books Leslie Midkiff DeBauche. Reel Patriotism: The Movies and World War I. University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. (ISBN: 0-299-15404-1, 244 pages. $15.95 paper) Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor. Hollywood's World War I: Motion Picture Images. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997. (ISBN: 0-87972-756-X1 304 pages. $19.95 paper) Leslie Midkiff DeBauche correctly asserts that "there is a dearth ofhistorical and critical writing linking World War I and the movies" (35). Apart from a few notable works, such as Michael Isenberg's War on Film: The American Cinema and World War I (1981) and Larry Wayne Ward's The Motion Picture Goes to War: The United States Government Film Effort During World War I (1985), the subject has mainly been dealt with as part of more general studies, such as histories of film or surveys ofAmerican culture. Certainly, there exists nothing comparable to the vast literature on the Second World War and film (on which one may consult Peter Rollins' extensive booklist in Film & History (vol. 27 [1997]: 96-107). One might be tempted to conclude that film was not an especially significant ingredient in the American experience ofWorld War I, nor the war an important influence on Hollywood. But these conclusions would be incorrect, as shown by these two, quite different books. Leslie Midkiff DeBauche carefully explores the impact of the First World War on the American film industry, while Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor view the subject from the opposite direction: the impact of film on our understanding of the war. DeBauche hopes to provide a more accurate impression by means of "melding perspectives on film production, distribution , and exhibition with those of cultural history" (xvii) and, in the process, to correct a number ofmisconceptions prevalent in previous works. The unifying theme ofher book is "practical patriotism," which means that leaders of all aspects of the film industry understood that, with the out of the war, "it was appropriate and reasonable to combine allegiance to country and to business. In fact, ... that enlisting in the war effort on the homefront would likely benefit the film industry's long term interests" (xvi). The First World War occurred at a time of great corporate and technological development in the film industry. In fact, during the war, many ofthe features that would characterize American film for several decades appeared, including the dominance of the great Hollywood studios, the star system , the national distribution agencies, and theater chains. DeBauche argues that Hollywood's response to the war was not a simple one and cannot be understood merely by examining the war films. The topicality of the war was one—but only one—influence on film production. The theme ofpractical patriotism reveals how the makers and distributors of film made decisions that took the war effort and morale into consideration along with artistic and corporate factors. They were bound by the capabilities of the actors and directors they had under contract and were obliged to assess the preferences of audiences and to guard their positions vis-a-vis competitors. DeBauche examines all of these factors as they operated during both the war and the following decade. DeBauche's careful and thorough research results in an instructive narrative which is bolstered in each chapter by a case study of a significant film or personage. She does not hesitate to take issue with previous writers, arguing that they-including Isenberg-were frequently guilty of "generalizing from incorrect historical premises" and consequently presented interpretations of the relationship of film and the war that were misleading or simplistic (especially, 35-44). This is solid, meaty fare, which is not merely intellectually nourishing but well-presented in clean, graceful prose from which jargon and muddled terminology are, mercifully, almost entirely absent. The feast continues in the fourteen essays edited and introduced by Peter Rollins andJohn O'Connor. The audiors, many of - article continues page 63 102 I Film & History Regular Feature | Film Reviews - "Postcolonial Culture...

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