The Good, the Bad, and the Fatal: Ben Urwand on the Hollywood Moguls and Hitler

This review-essay examines Ben Urwand’s study of the film censorship and crediting policies applied by heads of the Hollywood film studios, as well as by the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) and its subsidiary office, the Production Code Administration (PCA), during the period immediately preceding Hitler’s accession to power in 1933 until shortly after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Urwand’s book is examined alongside Thomas Doherty’s similar study, Hollywood and Hitler: 1933–1939, and in the light of Doherty’s strong objections to Urwand’s concept of “collaboration.” Both books portray key decisions leading to the almost complete omission of Jews as film characters throughout the 1930s.