Armed with one of Hollywood’s most powerful studios, Harry and Jack Warner fought a personal crusade against Hitler. Warners’ War brings to light treasures from the USC Warner Bros. Archives, including previously unpublished correspondence, caricatures, animation art, photographs and advertising materials from the 1930s and 40s. Combined with six original essays by American film and culture scholars, this volume explores one studio’s profound commitment to the battle against anti-Semitism and fascism in the U.S. and abroad. The book was funded by a USC Arts Initiative grant.
The entire book is available for download in PDFs below.
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
E X H I B I T I O N
Obligations Above and Beyond : Remembering Harry Warner, by Betty Warner Sheinbaum
Waging Warners’ War, by Randi Hokett
E S S A Y S & R E F L E C T I O N S
Entertainment or Propaganda? by Leo Braudy
Stylistic Regularities (and Peculiarities) of the Hollywood World War II Propaganda Film, by Dana Polan
Confessions of a Nazi Spy : Warner Bros., Anti – Fascism and the Politicization of Hollywood, by Steven J. Ross
Confessions of a Hollywood Propagandist : Harry Warner, FDR and Celluloid Persuasion, by Nancy Snow
Propaganda, Pop Culture & Public Diplomacy, by Johanna Blakley
R E S O U R C E S
Timeline
Biographies
Selective Bibliography & Filmography
Exhibition Checklist
Index
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
| “Warner Bros. was by far the most interesting studio of Hollywood’s classic era. This intriguing book probes, in great critical and historical detail, the studio’s often controversial attempts to satisfy the conflicting demands of ideology, entertainment and profitability. It is particularly illuminating about Harry Warner’s courageous role in guiding the studio to its strong (and unique) anti-Nazi position in the pre-war years, but in general this volume is a major contribution to the scholarship of a fascinating era in American film history.” RICHARD SCHICKEL
TIME MAGAZINE FILM CRITIC AND AUTHOR OF GOOD MORNING, MR. ZIP
ZIP ZIP: MOVIES, MEMORY, AND WORLD WAR II ________________________________________________ “Imagine a studio head insisting on movies that combined ‘good citizenship with good filmmaking!’ Warners’ War tells this true tale of not just one movie, but a string of them warning of the dangers of fascism to American values, and of violent anti-Semitism in Germany, at a time when most people didn’t want to hear about it.” FRANK PIERSON
PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
AND THREE-TIME OSCAR NOMINEE ______________________________________________ “Warners’ War is a major contribution to the study of Hollywood before and during World War II. The essays in this rich and kaleidoscopic book go far beyond the typical historical judgments to provide analysis of how Warner Bros. films expressed the tension within America about war and how Warners’ films were often at war with themselves over values and narrative forms. It is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding Hollywood’s response to Nazism and wartime America’s response to Hollywood.” NEAL GABLER
AUTHOR OF AN EMPIRE OF THEIR OWN: HOW THE JEWS INVENTED
HOLLYWOOD AND LIFE THE MOVIE: HOW ENTERTAINMENT CONQUERED
REALITY
_____________________________________________ |
| |
Armed with one of Hollywood’s most powerful studios, Harry and Jack Warner fought a personal crusade against Hitler. Warners’ War brings to light treasures from the USC Warner Bros. Archives, including previously unpublished correspondence, caricatures, animation art, photographs and advertising materials from the 1930s and 40s. Combined with six original essays by American film and culture scholars, this volume explores one studio’s profound commitment to the battle against anti-Semitism and fascism in the U.S. and abroad. The book was funded by a USC Arts Initiative grant.
R E S O U R C E S