Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema

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Description

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.

Reviews

"There is much of interest in Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany. Well-written and comprehensively researched this book has much to offer the student of British and German wartime propaganda." Michael Paris, University of Central Lancashire 'At first blush, this book promises to be only a typical doctoral thesis, thick with expressions of academic gratitude and an obligatory essay on theory. But it soon reveals itself as an accessible, readable book of topically organized chapters.' Choice Magazine, Vol 45, No 02, October 2007 'Fox offers the first comparative study to examine the propaganda concepts of the two belligerent nations, in particular with regard to the reciprocal reactions of each country's propagandists to one another's efforts. ...[An] innovative contribution ... to the study of film propaganda.' Historical Journal of film, radio and television, 2008 'It would be worth making this informative, clear, jargon-free study available to German readers in a translation as a thought-provoking impulse.' Filmblatt 36, 2008

Author Bio

Jo Fox is Senior Lecturer of European History at the University of Durham.