1940s USA
The 1940s were dominated by the most devastating and far-reaching war in man's history. It is estimated that at least fifty-five million were killed worldwide and many more left maimed starving or homeless. Much of Europe and parts of Asia lay in ruins with many densely populated and historic cities reduced to rubble (Castleden 1994). The conflict affected every corner of the globe and for those nations directly involved in the conflict the physical and psychological damage was immense. From studios and cinemas that survived the destruction, the view of the world that was now presented on the screen was to change profoundly. It was virtually impossible for nations that had witnessed the barbarism of the fighting fronts, concentration camps and indiscriminate bombings to make films that were not marked in some way by the experience.
Between 1939 and 1942 the Hollywood studios were obliged to
tread a careful path in preparing audiences for war whilst not overtly taking
sides in a conflict in which America
remained neutral. However, there was a considerable and influential Jewish and
European refugee presence in Hollywood
and many writers, directors and producers had experienced Nazi oppression
directly or were acutely aware of the lethal nature of Hitler's regime on the
Continent. As a result American audiences were introduced to their potential
enemies and future allies in films such as "Confessions of a Nazi Spy'
(1939), 'A Yank in the RAF' (1941) and Chaplin's 'The Great Dictator' (1940).
The studios remained wary, nevertheless, of provoking economic reprisals from
abroad or offending audiences at home, particularly in the strongly
isolationist Midwest. Their caution was also justified as more daringly
anti-fascist films, such as 'Confessions of a Nazi Spy', were being
investigated by the conservative House of Un-American Affairs as late as 1940.
Hollywood at War
The unprovoked and devastating bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941 changed all of that. From 1942 to 1945 Germans and Japanese were shown in hundreds of films as ruthless enemies. The Soviet Union, derided during the period of the Nazi-Soviet pact in films such as 'Ninotchka' (1939) and 'Comrade X' (1940) became America's ally and now the country was praised in 'North Star' (1943), 'Mission to Moscow' (1943) and other films. Almost a third of the films made during the war years were directly concerned with Fascism and war with six government-recommended themes predominating. According to Lewis Jacobs (1968) these themes were: 1) The Issue of the War: what we are fighting for, the American way of life; 2) The Nature of the Enemy, 3) The United States' allies 4) The Production Front: supplying materials for victory; 5) The Homefront: civilian responsibility; and 6) The Fighting Forces.
The American government created a Bureau of Motion Picture Affairs to co-ordinate the production of films supporting the war effort. Some actors, such as James Stewart, left Hollywood to fight in the war and several directors were hired by the Pentagon to make documentaries explaining the war and its aims to the nation. Frank Capra's seven-part series 'Why We Fight' (1942-44) was shown to military recruits, but some of his films, along with William Wyler's 'The Memphis Belle' (1944), John Ford's 'The Battle of Midway' (1942) and John Huston's 'The Battle of San Pietro' (1944) were also shown publicly.
Following the Pearl Harbour bombing Hollywood's early war films were jingoistic and far- fetched war adventures such as 'To the Shores of Tripoli' (1942) and 'The Devil With Hitler' (1942 ) which were rejected as 'phony' by GIs and public alike. Forced to match the authenticity of the popular and widely screened war documentaries, Hollywood 's feature films on the subject of the conflict became increasingly realistic and serious as the war dragged on. Sophisticated portrayal of the dangers of Fascism could be found in films like George Cukor's 'Keeper of the Flame' (1943), Edward Dmytryk's 'Hitler's Children' (1943), Fritz Lang's 'Ministry of Fear' and Jean Renoir's 'This Land is Mine' (1943). Cook (1996) suggests that by 1944 filmmakers were bringing 'the true horror and anguish of warfare' home to Americans in films like 'Bataan' (1943) and ' Guadalcanal ' (1944). War films often featured fighting units composed of different ethnic groups from American society: Jews, Italians, Irish, Poles, WASP farm boys and African-Americans all working together to win a battle.
The war, therefore, was represented as one of democracy and diversity versus the totalitarian conformity offered by the Axis powers. Interestingly, there were several features of war films that could be found in films in the post-war era. Bigotry and intolerance remained under attack from Hollywood for a short time until 1947 when the investigations into 'Communist' viewpoints in the entertainment world virtually put an end to such liberal perspectives. The portrayal of violence remained comparatively realistic, even outside the war genre. Sadism, physical and psychological torture was also more commonplace, especially in crime films. Another feature of later war films - such as Zoltan Korda's 'Sahara' (1944), John Ford's 'They Were Expendable' (1945) and William Wellman's 'The Story of GI Joe' (1945) was 'the deep emotional crisis and individual agony of the average Joe, anxiously examining his own conscience' (Cook 1996). This theme was echoed in the soul searching, disillusioned films of the immediate post-war period, most obviously characterised by 'Film Noir' (see chapter Film Noir).
The Second World War had been very good for many US industries, including Hollywood . Cinemas offered either escapism or, alternatively, imaginative contact with, and (particularly in documentaries) information about, the experiences of loved ones in the services. A government war tax on tickets made attendance at the movies a patriotic act and cinemas remained open 24 hours a day to accommodate shift workers. The virtual elimination of competition from a shattered European continent and continued economic prosperity in America meant that the industry's confidence and profits were at an all-time peak in 1946 when two-thirds of the population (one hundred million people) were attending the cinema weekly.
Post-War Decline
This confidence ended abruptly in the following two years, 1947-48. A damaging studio strike, increased labour and production costs and protectionist measures in Britain and other European countries sharply reduced profits. The real blow came in 1948 when the US Supreme Court declared that the five major studios and three minor ones had been guilty of monopolistic practices. In what became known as 'The Paramount Decrees' the Court ordered the Majors to sell off their theatre chains, thus ending 'block booking' and other aspects of 'vertical integration' on which the Studio System depended (see chapter Hollywood Studios).
The Paramount case and changing leisure habits amongst the American public resulted in a swift decline for the motionpicture industry. Cost-cutting and the nation's general postwar disillusionment generated several new types of films in the late 1940s. Although the studios continued to make musicals and other traditional genre pictures, the industry's financial restrictions and the influence of Italian Neorealism encouraged location shooting with small casts and crew, rather than lavish spectacles. For directors who had spent the war working on army documentaries the transition was a welcome one. They had brought back from the front a feeling for the dramatic value of natural locations and non-professional actors, as well as an appreciation of the new lightweight cameras and filmmaking equipment used in battle. The new lower-budget films took on thought provoking stories that reflected the social and psychological problems of a nation traumatised by war.
The short-lived 'social consciousness' cycle dealt with national problems such as racism, political corruption, prison injustice, juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, mental illness and the experience of returning GIs. 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946) is typical, following an army sergeant, a young pilot and a sailor who has lost both hands (played by non-professional Harold Russell). The director William Wyler wrote, 'The picture came out of its period, and was the result of the social forces at work when the war ended. In a sense, the picture was written by events and imposed a responsibility on us to be true to these events.' (Finlar 1977). The picture was the only film with a 'war' theme in 1946 to be a box office success and it won seven Oscars. Several of the 'social consciousness' films were based on true stories and, shot on location with small budgets, had a semi-documentary quality to them. After 1948, as the effects of the HUAC witchhunts were felt, the incisive social commentary of the social-consciousness films was dulled and descended into the patronising stereotypes and melodramas of the 1950s, some of which retained a pseudo-documentary gloss.
Hollywood productions in several genres in the 1940s are generally regarded as much 'darker' than other decades. The cycle of period romanticism that had been growing in the thirties (of which 'Gone with the Wind' was the most famous example) was extinguished by this bitter mood which seemed to infect so many features. As Scheuer (1974) observes:
'The dramas, romances, adventure films, and even comedies of the thirties were twisted around and examined from a darker perspective. Instead of dealing with the building of relationships, dramas of the forties dealt with their failure. There were often vague psychological undercurrents at work, and neurosis, as a plot device became a favourite tool of screenwriters.'
The preoccupation with mental disturbance and psychoanalysis could be found in romances, such as 'Spellbound' or 'The Seventh Veil' and in crime and gangster films. Freudian overtones are never more apparent than in James Cagney's relationship with his mother in 'White Heat'. He curls up on her lap to cure his migraines, and shouts just before he is blown up at the chemical works, 'Made it, Ma. Top of the world !'
In the immediate post-war period women were often portrayed as powerful, frequently dominating relationships, sometimes with murderous intent and almost always with tragic consequences. This was a characteristic feature of film noir, which emerged as the major style by the mid-forties (see chapter). It is interesting, in considering these features, to take into account the various ideological challenges posed for Hollywood by the war's end. Women, who had become economically, and in some cases sexually, independent during the war years were required to surrender their jobs, independence and status to make way for men returning from the war. Furthermore, soldiers (many of whom had been maimed) had survived horrors abroad because they believed, as they were told, that they were fighting for democracy, equality and 'the American way of life'. These soldiers came home to discover that they couldn't get jobs, obtain loans or even continue their education. Several had grown apart from girlfriends and wives, or lost them altogether to other men. It is little wonder therefore that a general sense of cynicism, fatigue, corruption, sexual mistrust and self-doubt mark the cinema of this period.