Hollywood History: World War II Propaganda

Many Americans would bristle at the idea that Hollywood films were as deliberately propagandistic as the films made in Germany during the Nazi era. While most of those films were, in fact, heavy-handed and leaden, there were exceptions, such as Leni Riefenstahl's pre-war Olympics documentary Olympia. Few would argue that Olympia has artistic merits well beyond its propagandistic merits. Yet Americans remain even today resistant to any suggestion that pro-American propaganda is in any way comparable to the propaganda made by whoever may be our enemy at the moment. And yet, one need only look to Sylvester Stallone's Rambo III for confirmation. That movie makes heroes of the "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan who are now the terrorists know as the Taliban.

Propaganda during World War II tended to be far less overbearing from Hollywood than it was from Berlin, but for only one reason. Even in the pursuit of a noble aim such as drumming up support for the war, Hollywood executives still have only one true goal: box office profit. It is a testament to the good old-fashioned greed of the studio bosses and to the talents of the writers, actors and directors in Hollywood that American movies weren't not mere propaganda. If the interlopers from the Office of War Information and the Bureau of Motion Pictures had had their way, it is highly doubtful that few war-related movies would be remembered today.