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Fiendish Thingy

(19,023 posts)
8. WB was making anti-fascist and anti-Nazi movies in the 30's
Mon Feb 19, 2024, 04:02 PM
Feb 2024

Including Black Legion (1937) and Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939).

There was a concerted effort to shut down production of any anti-fascist or anti-Nazi films. Anti-Semite Joseph Breen, who enforced the Hayes code in Hollywood, was a major force in this effort, at the request of Joseph Goebbels. All the major studios did significant business in Germany, but only WB closed operations in 1934, the rest continuing until war broke out in 1939.

Much has been written about how Hollywood (except for WB) succumbed to the pressure to cancel production of Anti-Nazi films during the thirties.

https://www.openculture.com/2018/07/warner-brothers-resisted-hollywood-ban-anti-nazi-films-1930s-warned-americans-dangers-fascism.html

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/when-hollywood-was-punished-for-its-anti-nazism-1235225578/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/16/hitler-in-hollywood

https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/notebook-primer-hollywood-anti-fascism-during-world-war-ii



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