We may have a
hard time understanding the way that Americans approached World War Two. Everyone was involved in some way. If you were not in service or did not have a
loved one in the military, you probably knew someone who was. The average citizen was also impacted by
rationing and the repurposing of various public services in order to support
the war effort.
We also might not
to understand why men who were, if not at the top of their careers, at least
heading in that direction would be willing to give up their livelihoods in
order to serve in the military. In his
book Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, Mark Harris writes about five men who were not only willing
to serve but actually sought the opportunity.
Directors John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and
George Stevens were considered among the top directors in Hollywood prior to
the war. All offered their services to
the military and found themselves involved in various projects.
They were a varied group. Frank Capra, born in Sicily, was the ideologue
and propagandist. He had the most
visible role as he worked in Washington to create films to inform servicemen
and civilians and to shape public opinion.
John Ford, an Irish-American Catholic, seems to have
been motivated to serve out his own sense of machismo. He sought to build his image as a man’s man,
even if it meant recreating key elements of the war films he produced and
exaggerating the risks he undertook.
Likewise, John Houston was seeking to prove his manhood. The son of actor Walter Houston, he was
Hollywood royalty. The war years were an
opportunity for him to pursue his role as a raconteur and ladies’ man and build
his reputation in Hollywood.
William Wyler, the only Jew in the group, was perhaps
the most heroic, flying bomber missions over Europe to obtain footage for the
acclaimed documentary The Memphis Belle.
As a result of his wartime exploits, he lost his hearing and almost
sacrificed his postwar career.
George Stevens, who had built his reputation as a
filmmaker with romantic comedies and light-hearted adventure films, became the
chronicler of the inhumanity of the Dachau concentration camps. The emotional impact was initially a burden
but became a source of creativity in his postwar films.
What drove them? In the words of Ford, they were ashamed to sit out the war “in mockie-land while the good people are fighting.” In their own way, each was basically a patriot.
What drove them? In the words of Ford, they were ashamed to sit out the war “in mockie-land while the good people are fighting.” In their own way, each was basically a patriot.
They
returned to find that, for the most part, Hollywood had little regard for their
service. They all fought personal demons
as they returned to the film industry.
All but Capra did their best work after the way, drawing on their
wartime experiences to provide films marked by honesty, complexity, and social
consciousness. Capra’s big film after
the war, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” was a dud and he never returned to his prewar
stature.
Harris provides
an interesting story of these men as individuals as well as the role of
Hollywood during the war. Although they
were scattered around the world during their military service, they tried to stay
in touch with an industry that often seemed more interested in the box office
than in the war.
Five Came Back helps us to understand not only these
creative men but the cultural impact of World War Two. The film industry played a key role not only
in entertaining but informing both civilians and serviceman and women. For the first time, a new form of mass media was
important in the war effort and these men played a key role.
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