Going Hollywood: The War Years (1988)

A documentary about how Hollywood kept up morale during the years of World War II.

Director:

Julian Schlossberg

Writer:

Charles Badaracco

Stars:

Van Johnson, Vivian Blaine, Humphrey Bogart

Cast

Credited cast:
Van Johnson	...	Himself - Host
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vivian Blaine	...	Herself
Humphrey Bogart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dane Clark	...	Himself
Jackie Cooper	...	Himself
Gloria DeHaven	...	Herself
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Himself
Evelyn Keyes	...	Herself
Hedy Lamarr	...	Herself (archive footage)
Joan Leslie	...	Herself
Roddy McDowall
Tony Randall	...	Himself
Sylvia Sidney	...	Herself

Storyline

Hollywood's dramatic contribution to the war effort including clips from Bataan, Pride of the Marines and Cover Girl, as well as newsreel footage and interviews with the day's biggest stars.

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Plot Keywords:

1940s | film making | world war two | war filmmaking | hollywood california | 

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Genres:

Documentary | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Hollywoodin sotavuodet

Filming Locations:

Cine Studios, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Hill Productions, Castle Hill Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (archive footage) Black and White (archive footage) Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This documentary shows many clips from Hollywood World War II movies, as the DVD / video sleeves for it state, its a "lively compilation" of vintage feature-film clips and "original wartime footage". But virtually all of them are not annotated with a movie's title (only with actors' and/or actresses' names), nor is a list of the titles shown during the closing credits, making it possibly difficult for the viewer to know which film is which unless they know the movie.

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Quotes

Himself - Host: There were so many stars. So much talent. So many beautiful women. They just don't make wars like that anymore.

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Connections

Features To Be or Not to Be (1942)

User Reviews

A decent overview but not a film for serious film buffs

Van Johnson narrates this documentary about Hollywood during WWII. It's a decent overview of the period for the average viewer, however, for the serious film buff the film is severely lacking and COULD have been a lot better. First, although many of the stars in the MANY clips used were identified, many more were not. It was, at times, inexplicable--such as where Dane Clark (a relatively minor star but a very good actor) is identified but John Garfield (a HUGE star) isn't identified! Second, NONE of the movies shown are identified...NONE! So, clip after clip are shown but you might have no idea which movies they are! And, if you like a clip and want to see the entire film, you probably have no idea where to start!! Third, and I think this is a much lesser problem, some of the prints used were pretty poor. Also, as a history teacher I took great exception to Johnson saying that the first victor of the war for the US was Guadalcanal in 1943. What about the Battle of Midway in 1942? It was a HUGE victory--one of the most lopsided and important of the war! So, as a rabid film buff, I was not thrilled by the film at all. But, for most folks, it will be educational and reasonably enjoyable.