Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
Between 1933 and 1939, representations of the Nazis and the full meaning of Nazism came slowly to Hollywood, growing more ominous and distinct only as the decade wore on. Recapturing what ordinary Americans saw on the screen during the emerging Nazi threat, Thomas Doherty reclaims forgotten films, such as Hitler's Reign of Terror (1934), a pioneering anti-Nazi docudrama by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.; I Was a Captive of Nazi Germany (1936), a sensational true tale of "a Hollywood girl in Naziland!"; and Professor Mamlock (1938), an anti-Nazi film made by German refugees living in the Soviet Union.
Doherty also recounts how the disproportionately Jewish backgrounds of the executives of the studios and the workers on the payroll shaded reactions to what was never simply a business decision. As Europe hurtled toward war, a proxy battle waged in Hollywood over how to conduct business with the Nazis, how to cover Hitler and his victims in the newsreels, and whether to address or ignore Nazism in Hollywood feature films. Should Hollywood lie low, or stand tall and sound the alarm?
Doherty's history features a cast of charismatic personalities: Carl Laemmle, the German Jewish founder of Universal Pictures, whose production of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) enraged the nascent Nazi movement; Georg Gyssling, the Nazi consul in Los Angeles, who read the Hollywood trade press as avidly as any studio mogul; Vittorio Mussolini, son of the fascist dictator and aspiring motion picture impresario; Leni Riefenstahl, the Valkyrie goddess of the Third Reich who came to America to peddle distribution rights for Olympia (1938); screenwriters Donald Ogden Stewart and Dorothy Parker, founders of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League; and Harry and Jack Warner of Warner Bros., who yoked anti-Nazism to patriotic Americanism and finally broke the embargo against anti-Nazi cinema with Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939).
About the Author:
Thomas Doherty is professor of American studies at Brandeis University. His previous books include Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930–1934; Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture; and Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration.
Press Reviews:
With a rich blend of art and politics, Doherty brings to light the story of how Hollywood handled Nazism during Hitler's reign. Recommended. Library Journal (starred review)
Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 tracks the advance of fascism, and the movie industry's reaction on screen and in private.... [A] fascinating work. Kate Muir, The Times (London)
A lively study of Hollywood's relationship to Nazism. Emily Greenhouse, Culture Desk blog, The New Yorker
Wide-ranging and brightly written. Dave Kehr, The New York Times Book Review
A lively, detailed account and a worthy successor to his books Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934 and Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration. Philip Kemp, Times Higher Education
A remarkable and stimulating account of an important part of movie history and American history. Rob Hardy, The Commercial Dispatch
[Doherty's] books on American cinema from the 1930s to the 1950s are essential reading: Pre-Code Hollywood and Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen & the Production Code Administration.... No one has told this story in as comprehensive or convincing a fashion. As always, Doherty's work is well researched. Clayton Koppes, Cineaste
A witty writer familiar with Hollywood history and manners, Doherty places the studios' craven behavior within a general account of the political culture of the movies in the thirties and forties. David Denby, The New Yorker
[A] riveting read. Merve Emre, The Millions
Mr. Doherty fully understands the studio system and how it juggled interference from its own internal agency, the Production Code Administration. He doesn't deny the greed and fear that motivated studios, but he puts the behavior in context. Jeanine Basinger, Wall Street Journal
Meticulously researched and captivating. Noah Isenberg, Times Literary Supplement
Doherty masterfully describes how the movie industry, mostly headed by Jews, ultimately came together at a time when the nation needed unity.... The book is crisply written, well documented. Burton Boxerman, St. Louis Jewish Light
Doherty's well researched Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 throws fascinating new light on America and the rise of Nazism. Philip French, The Observer
[A] wide-ranging, scrupulously researched and highly entertaining study. Philip French, Sight and Sound
[A] judicious and comprehensive history of the period. Mark Horowitz, Tablet
Doherty provides a more nuanced and accurate account of Hollywood's relationship with Hitler, and his book should be considered the authority on the subject. M. Todd Bennett, American Historical Review
Hollywood and Hitler is an excellent addition to Doherty's impressive oeuvre, well worth reading for its important insights, strong narrative, and mastery of the period. David Welky, Journal of American Studies
Doherty's book is well documented and brings together a corpus made of lesser-known, yet signifying feature films. Yves Laberge, Journal of American Culture
Thorough and elegantly written. Saverio Giovacchini, Journal of American History
Doherty brings fresh eyes and a witty pen to re-examine the business of US cinema production and distribution in the turbulent pre-war years.... A valuable contribution to scholarship on the subject. Vincent O'Donnell, Media International Australia
An important contribution to the history of Hollywood's response to the Nazi efforts to censor US films targeted for export to Germany.... Highly recommended. Choice
Vividly written, academically unpretentious, and indispensable for historians and students of film. Bernard F. Dick, American Studies
[Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939] is painstakingly researched and offers film historians, as well as historians of World War II, a rich, insightful, and engaging portrait of an industry and a world in turmoil. Brian Faucette, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television
Meticulously researched.... [Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939] provides an informed backdrop to scholars looking to contextualize and analyze individual films from the era. Rochelle Miller, Film & History
A tour de force of film history, deftly weaving together many strands of Hollywood and world history to explain Hollywood's vexed and often vexing relationship to the rise of Nazism. Leslie Fishbein, American Jewish History
Doherty offers a compelling prequel to his own Projections of War: Hollywood,American Culture,and World War II and an indispensible contribution to the emerging body of work on the relationships between Hollywood and Berlin in the 1930s. Hannah Graves, Film Quarterly
Top notch, exhaustively researched film history book by a superb historian. Hollywood Progressive
The best book on Hollywood's reaction to fascism. Leslie Epstein, The Weekly Standard
See the publisher website: Columbia University Press
> From the same author:
Hollywood's Censor (2007)
Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration
Projections of War (1999)
Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II, revised and updated edition
Subject: Sociology
Pre-Code Hollywood (1999)
Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934
> On a related topic:
The Dark Mirror (2002)
German Cinema Between Hitler and Hollywood
The Golden Hour (2025)
A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood
Hollywood Boozers, Brawlers and Hard-Luck Cases (2025)
Fifteen Ill-Fated Actors of the Golden Age
by Laura Wagner
Performing Chinatown (2024)
Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community
by William Gow
Back
