Hollywood's Second World War

Hollywood's Second World War (2019) blends Documentary, War, and History elements. Top cast includes Volker Schlöndorff, George Stevens Jr., and Catherine Wyler. The narrative builds around escalating stakes, urgent decisions, and action-driven momentum.

Actor: Volker Schlöndorff

For the USA, World War 2 was an all-out war - to mobilize the masses, the US government launched a huge propaganda campaign and cinema, the medium of the masses, was quite simply their most important weapon. Government authorities monitored the production of feature films and the military itself produced documentaries aimed at rallying the American people to support the troops. This film tells the story of four Hollywood directors of European origin, who returned to the "Old World" during the Second World War to make propaganda documentaries for the US Army at the front: William Wyler from Alsace, Frank Capra from Italy, Anatole Litvak from Ukraine and - in post-war Germany - Billy Wilder from Austria.