Description
During the 1930s many Americans avoided thinking about war erupting in Europe, believing it of little relevance to their own lives. Yet, the Warner Bros. film studio embarked on a virtual crusade to alert Americans to the growing menace of Nazism.
Polish-Jewish immigrants Harry and Jack Warner risked both reputation and fortune to inform the American public of the insidious threat Hitler's regime posed throughout the world. Through a score of films produced during the 1930s and early 1940s-including the pivotal Sergeant York-the Warner Bros. studio marshaled its forces to influence the American conscience and push toward intervention in World War II.
Celluloid Soldiers offers a compelling historical look at Warner Bros.'s efforts as the only major studio to promote anti-Nazi activity before the outbreak of the Second World War.
About the Author
Michael E. Birdwell is an Assistant Professor in History at Tennessee Tech and Curator of Alvin C. York's Papers. His work has been published in Film History, Literature/Film Quarterly, The Columbia Companion to Film, and several other journals.
Reviews
Contributes significantly to our understanding of how Warner Bros. crusaded against fascism from the middle 1930s to Pearl Harbor. Drawing on extensive archival research, Birdwell provides particularly lively discussions of Alvin York's conversion to interventionism during the making of Sergeant York and of the 1941 Nye-Clark Committee investigations of 'premature anti-fascism' in Hollywood. -- Charles Maland,University of Tennessee
This study of the Warner Bros. Studio in relation to the coming of World War II will be a lasting contribution, not only on the impact of media on our nation's policiesa topic of concern for most thoughtful peoplebut also for academics in popular culture studies. -- Peter Rollins,Editor-in-Chief, Film & History:An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies
Celluloid Soldiers contributes significantly to our understanding of how Warner Bros. crusaded against fascism from the middle 1930s to Pearl Harbor. Drawing on extensive archival research, Birdwell provides particularly lively discussions of Alvin York's conversion to interventionism during the making of Sergeant York and of the 1941 Nye-Clark Committee investigations of 'premature anti-fascism' in Hollywood. -- Charles Maland,University of Tennessee
A compact, compelling, and controversial as a Warner Bros. classic. . . . A strongly executed tour de force. * Journal of American History *
Birdwell fruitfully charts the film company's laudable and outspoken stance against Nazism amid the politically charged yet divided loyalties of 1930s' Hollywood. * History (The Journal of the Historical Association),Oct. 2001 *
Book Information
ISBN 9780814713389
Author Michael E. Birdwell
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint New York University Press
Publisher New York University Press
