War Comes to America

This is the seventh and final documentary in director Frank Capra's wartime series, "Why We Fight". The films in general are skilfully directed, using footage from a wide variety of sources, plus animation and some subtle recreations.

The early films in the series focus on specific time periods or theatres of operation. This film is a little different. It is in two unequal parts, the first showing American soldiers what they are fighting for -- a look at America in the years up to 1945 -- while the second gives an overview of the war beginning with Manchuria in 1931 and ending with Pearl Harbor.

The first part is interesting for its contemporary portrait of America. It presents a view of US society which tries to be liberal and inclusive. It does show some conventional imagery, Coke bottles, drum majorettes, and the like, but it is more provocative than that at times. Trade unions are acknowledged. Prohibition is forcefully declared to have been "a mistake".

The film strives to enfold all ethnic, cultural, and social groups within the Stars and Stripes. There is a long sequence showing different nationalities -- Hungarian, Portuguese -- and this sequence ultimately includes the American Negro and the Chinaman, to use the terms current at the time. By my count, there are seven brief scenes showing the former, two the latter. The liberality of the filmmakers required that blacks and Asians by shown; the context of the time required that they be shown to this limited extent. This makes an illuminating "inclusivity benchmark" for anyone who is keeping track of such matters. The images of blacks are mostly stereotypical -- picking cotton, fishing, racing, sitting in church -- but at least the final one shows a black man firing back at Pearl Harbor.

The parade of national groups in the US makes another point which could be noted. The list does include Italians and Germans, but the Japanese are omitted. (The Japanese of course were receiving special treatment in internment camps, as they were here in Canada.)

Social groups are shown, one face at a time, partly to the rhythm of the rhyme "Rich man, poor man, ... doctor, lawyer, ...". The first half of the actual rhyme, "beggarman, thief", is left out for obvious reasons, but the second is also avoided: "Indian chief". In 1925, or even 1935, the temptation to cut to a shot of someone in a Sioux headdress would have been irresistible, but that does not happen here. Does this sensitivity presage the new approach to native issues in the post-war adult Western?

The second, larger portion of the film is a retrospective, dealing with the progress of the war throughout the world. The lead-up to 1939 is well summarized, and includes footage of Ethiopia (Haile Selassie) and Spain (Der Führer shaking hands with El Caudillo). American legislative changes in response to the evolving world situation are covered in detail, with attention given to Gallup poll results. The war in its different campaigns is then reiterated.

Some of the political assumptions in the latter part of the film caught my notice. The Unholy Trinity of the Axis Powers ("Death, Inc.") consists, as it does throughout the "Why We Fight" series, of Mussolini, Hitler, ... and Emperor Hirohito, NOT Gen. Tojo, or any other member of the army clique. (After the war, the decision was made to preserve the Japanese monarchy, so the God-Emperor was falsely exonerated and blame passed to the military.)

The section on subversion shows quite a lot of the German-American Bund, including footage of American Nazi goons beating a heckler in Madison Square Garden. We also see a little of isolationist Lindbergh, Hitler's chum. Great attention is given to the threat to South America, where sinister German immigrants are shown conspiring in Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil (side by side with Japanese immigrants there). This is still a propaganda film so hemispheric solidarity is absolute and unimpugnable. There is no admission made at all of open Latin American sympathy for Fascism or of coercive American arm-twisting to get governments to toe the US policy line.

The film ends with the "day that shall live in infamy", but a modern viewer is left thinking of the hopeful vision shown of America still to come -- hydroelectric projects (to the tune of Rhapsody in Blue), that tribute to US "inventiveness and enterprise", the "television", and especially what the film calls "the future", the cloverleaf highway interchange -- the goals attained through so much sacrifice. How prescient.

This is the seventh and last entry in the celebrated documentary series WHY WE FIGHT, dealing with the main events of WWII while it was still raging; ironically, it was the only one I had not watched until now since, when the cycle was broadcast on Italian TV (around 23:00) back in the early 1990s, this episode was never proposed! In retrospect, I wonder whether the station thought it was a two-part film and aborted the screening after they failed to track down its alleged continuation – because, as a matter of fact, the copy I now watched myself actually bore the tell-tale "Part One" on the opening title-card and "End Of Part One" on the concluding one!; the thing is that no source that I know of ever mentions a follow-up to it and, indeed, there exist on "You Tube" prints which omit this bit of misinformation entirely!

Anyway, back then, I recall enjoying this incredibly informative yet highly entertaining franchise and, having caught up with its final segment, I can safely consider this – collectively – as perhaps the greatest documentary ever made. Many efforts of its ilk and era date because they tend to treat the authentic footage with extra reverence and a certain amount of detachment – so that you feel no different than if you had read about it in a history book! Here, however, all the resources of the medium (including animation) are put at the disposal of the film-makers to provide a comprehensive look at the birth of America all the way up to the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor – taking care to explain what it was really up to during its curious period of neutrality – yet one is never bothered by its being a lecture, because the images and the commentary (spoken by Walter Huston and Lloyd Nolan) balance the necessary gravity with an infectious wryness, not to mention an evident passion.

The latter would seem misplaced, i.e. an attempt to sell the idea of America as the greatest nation on Earth, if it were not acknowledged early on that, after all, the country was basically composed of virtually every ethnic group imaginable! Ultimately, one has to admit that Frank Capra – forever the champion in his films of the little guy facing apparently insurmountable odds – was the ideal director to tackle this documentary series and make an enduring classic of it.

This is the final installment of the "Why We Fight" series--a group of seven films made by Frank Capra in order to bolster the war effort. Some of these films have held up well, though I think "War Comes to America" hasn't--and is a weak entry to the series. Most of this is because the narration is very heavy-handed. Subtle, its message isn't and it came out just before the war in the Pacific ended.

The film begins with a brief history of the United States. Then, what follows is a long litany of reasons the US is the bestest place to live on the planet. While much of this is true, it's message goes on way too long and is like a long and boring civics lesson. Even back in 1945, I am pretty sure a lot of folks in the audience felt similarly. Then, tons of documentary footage follows about the war and our reasons for becoming involved in it.

The film probably did a lot to help the war effort but, frankly, there are much better documentaries about the same subjects. The film lacks subtlety and comes across like a pep rally as opposed to a documentary. This one just hasn't held up very well.

The "Why We Fight" series is now 60 years old, but documentary film-making still doesn't come any better. I've got all 7 on DVD and although the sound quality is weak on a couple they remain the finest "propaganda" films I've ever seen. Apart from that, since being made they've now assumed another role as 'primary source' history. Wonderful snapshots on a vanished America. President Coolidge once said "The main business of the American people IS business" and i think that's why the series was made. While 'we' in Europe were squabbling and scheming and tearing ourselves apart the American people simply got on with their lives and built up a beautiful country, not to mention an economy that dwarfed the rest of the world. Most Americans had little knowledge of European affairs and we can't blame them for feeling a little p****d that just 20 years after they rescued us from a world war, we went and did it again! Of course, Hitler & the Nazis were very different to the German imperialism of WW1. They wanted the whole world and it WAS in America's interest to stop them. "War Comes To America" paints a portrait of Amrican history right from the beginning and gradually shows how all the achievements and work and struggle of the people have to be honoured by defeating this new and most terrible threat. The narrators (Walter Huston & Lloyd Nolan) both have wonderful voices and always seem to be talking directly to the viewer as an individual. A staggering amount of care went into the editing and selection of film and sound clips and it shows throughout. This is my favourite of the Why We Fight films and although the portrayal of America is sometimes a little "rose-tinted" (the Civil War is COMPLETELY left out) I found myself wishing I could've lived through that time. The comparison between the USA in the 30s and 40s and Britain today is quite striking. There's a tremendous optimism and energy and 'drive' in America that I simply don't see over here, then or now. I'm absolutely certain that if I'd watched this movie as a 19 year old GI back in the 40s I'd have left the cinema feeling 10 feet tall and ready to kick Hitler's ass! It really does show the sense of outrage of a free people attacked by barbarians, and the certainty that good will triumph over evil. In another of the series they show a clip from one of Winston Churchill's speeches that sums up the whole message of Why We Fight. Churchill's mother was American, so it's worth repeating again: "Every trace of Hitler's footsteps, every stain of his infected and corroding fingers, must be sponged and purged and if necessary BLASTED from the surface of the Earth. Lift up your hearts. All will come right." So. "War Comes To America" remains the finest documentary I've ever seen and it's a worthy end to an utterly outstanding series. As no film is 'perfect' I'll give it 9 out of 10 and I'd advise anyone to get hold of the entire series. You won't regret it.

PS - I recently discovered something that anyone familiar with this film will find quite hilarious. Several clips show Secretary of State Cordell Hull speaking. I now learn that (for whatever reason) Walt Disney based the Donald Duck character on Hull, and boy is it a striking resemblance. Very funny.

Today is November 10. That's Veteran's Day for this year since the usual 11th fell on a Saturday. It's for this occasion that I chose to watch the last of Frank Capra's Why We Fight series: War Comes to America. Walter Huston serves as the elder statesman narrator giving the history of our country from Plymoth Rock to Pearl Harbor. He tells how people of most nationalities have helped to make our country great and how we suffered and triumphed. Through a combination of news footage and recreations we also see what actions from Germany and Japan led us to battle with them. There's also some wonderful use of songs like Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Kern and Hammerstein's The Last Time I Saw Paris (with vocals that sound like Judy Garland), and Berlin's This is the Army. So to anyone who wants to watch what it was like in the mid-20th century, I highly recommend War Comes to America. Oh, and if you happen to meet a veteran, by all means thank him or her!