World War II Films As Propaganda

discuss and respond to the proffered sensory experiences in the free atmosphere of a lighted classroom rather than in the darkened room demanded by cinema. Iftelevision presents any disadvantages they lie largely in the necessarily "lumpy" investment in capital equipment. As in railroad building, one may not lay only one track and expect to profit. The investor must build two tracks in addition to stations, shops, and rolling stock. The television producer cannot start small. He must have two cameras, two videotape recorders, and a studio as a minimal investment. Later on he may think of adding color and any one of several editing systems. As the system grows more sophisticated the services of a fulltime engineer add to the annual budget. Even so, the cost per production may be kept down simply by using the studio with greater frequency and imagination. Nevertheless, the historiantelevision producer may take heart in the relatively smaller operating expenses, editing and processing costs, and the security and comfort that comes with the knowledge that the final product may be pulled together, shaped, and timed and then rerun all in the studio, with no waiting for the results to come back from the lab. In a sense, the low operating costs encourage the historian-producer to consider every program as a work-tape to be modified and reshaped based on the feedback from successive groups ofstudents. All things considered, television provides a medium through which the historians most scholarlyjudgments may be refined and presented in a format that allows the widest range of sources, the most personal editorial control, and the most creative outreach to the student consumer. And it accomplishes its goals, not only without doing violence to other audio-visual expressions, but by giving them- a new editorial dimension through the use of electronic technology. Thomas Cripps is Professor ofHistory at Morgan State College; afrequent contributor to historicaljournals; and co-producer, host, or writer ofmore thanfifty television shows. HISTORY THROUGH FILM With this issue we are expanding our "History Through Film " section to include the archivist'spoint ofview as well as that ofthe teacher. Otherfilm archivists will contribute tofuture issues as well otherprofessionals who have insights to share The Teacher Printed below and on thefollowingpages is the second in a series ofsyllabi of "history throughfilm" courses currently bring offered in American universities. The professors have been asked to supply an introductory statement describing their approach, the goals they have in view and whatever insights they might already have into the "history throughfilm" experience. In subsequent issues ofFilm and History the series will be continued with attach historians and other schools contributing. Ifyou (each a similar course a, have similar experience thatyou would like to share with others, the editors invite you to contribute. 31 World War II Films As Propaganda By Taylor Stults Muskingum College New Concord, Ohio The last several years have seen a growing professional interest in film, both as a teaching device to supplement traditional curricula and especially as a subject ofanalysis in itself. The formation of the Historians Film Committee illustrates this trend. For the past two years I offered a film study course at Muskingum, utilizing the January interim term in our 4-1-4 calendar. In 1971, my interim was "Films of the Thirties," using thirty-five Hollywood feature films to illustrate how movies represent popular culture and to determine what value the films conveyed in Depression-age America. This article describes the structure ofmy January, 1972 interim, "Films ofWorld War II: Movies as Propaganda." Major goals were: first, to provide the student with a deeper appreciation ofthe cinema as an art form and an expression ofpopular culture; second, to isolate and analyze the values contained in the films we saw dealing with a wartime situation; third, to develop an understanding of the meaning and techniques of propaganda; fourth, to determine the extent to which propaganda existed in the films, to increase student comprehension ofWorld War II and its impact upon the American people. We used only motion pictures released between 1940 and the fall of 1945, to see only what war-time Americans were seeing in movie theaters. These twenty-five feature length movies plus a...