Books About Film and War

American response to totalitarianism specifically, see Robert Skotheim, Totalitarianism and American Social Thought (New York: Holt-Rinehart, 1971 ): on nationalism, see Charles Alexander, Nationalism in American Thought: 1930-1945 (Chicago: Rand-McNally, 1971); and on the Popular Front, see Lewis Coser and Irving Howe, The American Communist Party (Boston: Beacon Press, 1967), 319-386. 6."Hanging Together: Divergent Unities in American History," Journal of American History, LXI :1 (June 1974), 27. On the American consensus in the post-war era, see Geoffrey Hodgson, America in Our Time (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1976), 3-98. 7.See Capra's account of his desire to reaffirm American traditions in Name Above the Title. 185-86,240. 8.Adventure. Mystery, and Romance (Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1976), 27. 9.Melvin DeFleur and Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Theories of Mass Communication, 3rd ed. (New York: David McKay, 1975), FILMS OF SUSPICION - - 1 .These are all quotes from student papers on sex-role socialization, Spring 1977, SUNY-Binghamton. 2.Michael Wood, America in the Movies (New York: Basic, 1975), p. 97. 3.In Gaslight, the Scotland Yard detective provides support for Paula Alquist's faith in her own rationality; the debonair Bruce (Robert Cummings) in Sleep, My Love provides moral support, physical assistance (and, by implication, future romance) for Alison Courtland. 4.Marjorie Rosen, Popcorn Venus (New York: Avon, 1973), p. 240. 5.Joseph C. Goulden, The Best Years. 1945-50 (New York: Atheneum, 1976), p. 31 . 6.Ibid., p. 41. BOOKS ABOUT FILM AND WAR By Eugene P. Schleh Eugene Schleh teaches Histoiy at the University ofMaine at Portland-Gorham The treatment ofwar, its coming, its conduct, and its aftermath is probably the most extensive film subject available for use by historians. Hollywood alone has produced many hundreds offilms and poured tens ofmillions ofdollars into the subject. Yet as other genres began to acquire book-length studies, war remained relegated to a relatively few, if sometimes quite good, articles. Then in the mid-1970s published works 11 began to probe the vast subject. To make it manageable, recent authors have tacitly agreed that war film means films about twentieth century conflicts with only rare examples offilms about earlier wars ever being mentioned. This definitional restriction, however, still leaves considerable room for analysis because ofHollywood's prolificacy; at least 1,500 films dealing with war have appeared in the sound era, with new additions being made every year. The works considered here fall into three categories: reference works, general surveys, and analytical studies of a single conflict. Ken D. Jones and Arthur F. McClure, Hollywood at War: The American Motion Picture and World War II (South Brunswick and New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1973) is designed as a reference work, but is hard to use. An article-length introductory essay sets forth a case for film as evidence for "part ofthe American history ofthe inarticulate', and supports the premise "that movies do not change fundamental ideas but that they do encourage audiences to think." Ofparticular interest is a section on spy-espionage films, including an assortment of seldom considered B films such as Adventures of Smilin" Jack. The problems arise with the main body of the work. Films are arranged in chronological order by release date but there is no table of contents and no index making it difficult, at times, for the reader to find a particular film. The format for each film is an extensive cast list (with the name of the character played), the distributor, director, release date, and one still photo. The complete absence ofcommentary requires considerable imagination to figure out why some are listed as war films (e.g., Jealousy, Dangerously They Live, or Carolina Blues for which stills of decidedly civilian topics provide no clue as to the military connection). Joe Morella, Edward Z. Epstein, John Griggs, The Films ofWorld War II (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1973) is a much more useful reference work. For each of eighteen pre-war and eighty war year films the authors provide credits, a selective cast list and several photos, but fortunately they do not stop here. Each film has a brief commentary and supporting excerpts from two...