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Prelude to War by Frank Capra

Prelude to War

by Frank Capra

Title Details

Author
Publisher
Running Time
52 Min.
Watch this historic first documentary in Frank Capra's Why We Fight series produced by the US Department of War from 1942 to 1945. The 50-minute film is an effective piece of war propaganda directed by Capra that was initially meant to be shown to American soldiers to explain why we were heading to war. President Franklin Roosevelt liked the film so much that he pushed for it to be viewed publicly, and it was eventually seen by over 50 million Americans.


In the film, Capra uses propaganda footage from the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan, and re-contextualizes it to contrast it with the American way of life. Capra had watched Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1935) and wanted to make a counterpart to that piece of Nazi propaganda. He sets the stage for the film by contrasting the world of freedom and the world of slavery. Using animations drawn by Walt Disney Productions, he shows maps of the spreading of fascism in Europe and Asia. And he shows the leaders Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Hirohito in a villainous light.


The documentary does show Americans arguing for isolationism which was popular at the time, but the movie argues that totalitarian militarism was spreading fast and would soon reach American shores if not countered. In the end, the movie quotes Army Chief of Staff George Marshall: "The victory of the democracies can only be complete with the utter defeat of the war machines of Germany and Japan". This documentary was the very first film to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.


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