Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany World War II Cinema [Hardcover]

Propaganda--so crucial to winning the battle of hearts and minds in warfare--witnessed a transformation during World War II, when film was fast becoming the most popular form of entertainment. In Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany, Jo Fox compares how each country exploited their national cinema for political purposes. Through an investigation of shorts and feature films, the author looks at how both political propaganda films and escapist cinema were critical in maintaining the morale of both civilians and the military and how this changed throughout the war. While both countries shared certain similarities in their wartime propaganda films - a harking back to a glorious historic past, for example - the thematic differences reveal important distinctions between cultures.This book offers new insight into the shifting pattern of morale during World War II and highlights a key moment in propaganda film history.Jo Fox is Senior Lecturer of European History at the University of Durham.

* Introduction: Film and War in Britain and Germany, 1939-1945 * Film is also a Means of Conducting War: The Search for the Just War and Images of Battle * Millions Like Us: Images of the Home Front * The Changing Image of the Enemy: Opponents and Shifting Allegiances, 1939-1943 * The Same Old Battles? History as Contemporary Function in the Second World War * Entertainment as War Propaganda: The Care [Betreuung] of the Morale of the People Through Music, Comedy and FantasyImages of Victory and Defeat, 1944-1945 * Conclusion