The Nazis Strike

Frank Capra did a masterful job taking the propaganda tool of the Nazis and turning it against them. He devised the simple but effective means of taking captured Nazi propaganda newsreels and showing them with new narration and with music. The result -- showing the Nazi horror for what it was.

The WHY WE FIGHT series of 7 films is still very powerful and moving. We can only imagine how rousing the material was in the dark days of World War II when it was shown to the US troops in battle zones.

The difference between Capra's propaganda and Hitler's is that Capra used the tool to teach ideals rather than to seduce and entrance the minds of people. Capra's films were just as strong ammunition as and tanks and planes, and they are remarkably durable after all these years. They still stand for the ideals of democracy. Such is the art of a master moviemaker.

Sorry but this is way too one-sided, as the talker stated how Germany wanted to take over their neighbour's land and were willing to kill for it, and not once mention the British doing it in Ireland for 800 years and elsewhere for 100s, as seems to forget to mention his good guys the UK claimed ownership of NINE countries at the outbreak of WW2 and WW2 was also known as the "Death of the British Empire", France laid claim to Indo China and other parts of Asia and naturally not a word about USA refusal to enter the war till it was attacked at Pearl Harbour and even then it be 3 years before they went into Europe, at least give the real history as its out there.

Colonel Frank Capra of the United States Army is better known for his classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life!," but here is an American fighting for his country with the use of film. He compiled the actual German archival footage with Nazi newsreel propaganda to fool the German public and the world about the Nazis intentions. This documentary is told by narration over the stock and film footage. Please be aware that these films' quality may not be stellar or perfect. After all, time has taken a toll on the documentaries themselves. Without even talking about the Holocaust, Capra captures the Nazis Third Reich's true hidden agenda with their own footage. The propaganda footage fooled many into believing them. We all know the lies that was perpetrated among the world back then. Capra shows in this short documentary how the Nazis were really fooling the world.

Nazis Strike, The (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Part two of a seven film series taking a look at WW2. The film was produced by the American government so there's plenty of flag waving and the documentary is certainly one sided but that's to be expected since it's goal was to get people behind the war. It's a bit too over-dramatic for its own good but various executions and other deaths are quite disturbing to see. These real death scenes are something that were in a lot of this WW2 shorts. All of the Capra directed films are worth seeing as are the WW2 shorts by John Ford.

This great film is composed mostly of documentary footage is currently contained on a DVD along with Prelude to War. The great American filmmaker and story teller Frank Capra made these films which simply and clearly call attention to the main points that caused World War II and Hitler's rise.

Every school child, nay, every American should watch these films today because they are so apropos. History has been repeating itself over and over again! The Lord Chamberlains are still alive and kicking; the tactics used by the Nazis of infiltrating countries through sympathizers and then the Communists and now by Muslim terrorist groups, are still working to these evil group's advantage.

By sitting back and letting Hitler as early as 1935 be aggressive - France, America and England caused over 50 million people's deaths. Americans, French and British today would happily let Hitler do exactly the same thing despite the fact that we should have learned from history what happens when you let dictators break treaties.

These great films may be too simplistic for World War II history buffs. They don't tell the horrors that the Soviet Union caused simply because at the time America was teamed up with them, fighting Hitler. This film does tell the plain facts and motives that led to the terrible war.