The Third Reich on Screen, 1929-2015

by Bob Herzberg

Overview

For more than 80 years, images of the Third Reich have appeared in newsreels, documentaries, and fictional stories—from comedies and musicals to war, horror and science fiction films. Many of these representations say as much about the filmmakers as they do about Nazism itself. Hollywood often used the brutal Nazi as an all-purpose villain in escapist adventures set during and after the war, but just as often used him to attack the evil he symbolized.

Drawing on studio files, correspondence of the Production Code office and the writings of noted historians and critics, this book describes the making of many such films produced in Hollywood, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc nations. Biographies of several military and political figures who served as the basis for Nazi characters compare the cinematic and real-life versions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476664262
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	11/23/2016
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 17.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Writer, actor and comedian Bob Herzberg is the author of scholarly books and Western novels. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
I Infection (1929–1937): ­Weimar-era filmmaking and the disease taking root in Germany
II Rage (1938–1941): As Nazi aggression spreads across Europe, voices of defiance are finally heard
III Inferno (1942–1945): America enters World War II as the combatants attack each other ­on-screen as well as off
IV Final Solutions (1946–1954): Postwar Hollywood and Washington continue to ignore the Holocaust even as Nazi war criminals are hunted down ­on-screen
V Airbrush (1955–1962): Both Hollywood and Germany rewrite history as it condemns Nazism while praising “good Germans” in ­war-themed films
VI Meshugannah (1963–1980): Mad doctors, Nazi zombies, attempts to revive Hitler, death camp perverts and Ships of Fools
VII Ghosts (1981–2015): Concentration camp children
appear as ­next-door neighbors, we find out what it’s like to be Hitler’s secretary, and Nazi zombies return (with a vengeance!)
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

a thoughtful, occasionally subversive look how the Nazi regime portrayed itself and was portrayed by others from the rise of the movement to the present. A good book for the film student or anyone interested in World War II”—The NYMAS Review.

From the Publisher