Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)

Director:

Daniel Anker

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | History

Plot Keywords:

Holocaust | WWII | Atrocity | Mass Murder | Remembrance

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Norma Barzman	...	Herself
Jack Benny	...	(archive footage)
Michael Berenbaum	...	Himself
Robert Berger	...	Himself
Humphrey Bogart	...	(archive footage)
Tom Brokaw	...	Himself (voice) (archive footage)
LeVar Burton	...	(archive footage)
James Cagney	...	(archive footage)
Charles Chaplin	...	(archive footage)
Robert Clary	...	Himself
Montgomery Clift	...	(archive footage)
Bud Cort	...	(archive footage)
Dan Curtis	...	Himself
Michael Dunn	...	(archive footage)
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Fiennes
Eva Herzberg Florsheim
Stanley Frazen	...	Himself
Neal Gabler	...	Himself
John Garfield	...	(archive footage)
Ruth Gordon	...	(archive footage)
Oliver Hardy	...	(archive footage)
Rosemary Harris	...	(archive footage)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Annette Insdorf	...	Herself
Martin Luther King	...	(archive footage)
Ben Kingsley
Kevin Kline	...	(archive footage)
Hanna Bloch Kohner	...	(archive footage)
Carl Laemmle	...	(archive footage)
Stan Laurel	...	(archive footage)
Carole Lombard	...	(archive footage)
Sidney Lumet	...	Himself
Branko Lustig	...	Himself
Peter MacNicol	...	(archive footage)
Abby Mann	...	Himself
Liam Neeson
Gerald P. Nye	...	(archive footage)
Jack Oakie	...	(archive footage)
Moyshe Oysher	...	(archive footage)
Gregory Peck	...	(archive footage)
Millie Perkins	...	(archive footage)
Gene Reynolds	...	Himself
Sharon Rivo	...	Herself
Heinz Rühmann	...	(archive footage)
Irene Sachs
Maximilian Schell	...	(archive footage)
Vincent Sherman	...	Himself
Steven Spielberg	...	Himself
Martin Starger	...	Himself
Rod Steiger	...	Himself
George Stevens Jr.	...	Himself
James Stewart	...	(archive footage)
Meryl Streep	...	(archive footage)
Margaret Sullavan	...	(archive footage)
Hannah Taylor-Gordon	...	Anne Frank (archive footage)
Spencer Tracy	...	(archive footage)
Malvin Wald	...	Himself
Harry M. Warner	...	Himself (archive footage)
Fritz Weaver	...	Himself
Richard Widmark	...	(archive footage)
Jade Williams	...	Hannah Goslar (archive footage)
James Woods	...	(archive footage)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Anker Productions Inc.

Movie Connections:

Features "Anne Frank: The Whole Story" (2001)

Maybe if we don't notice, it will go away

"Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust" (2004) was directed by Daniel Anker and narrated by Gene Hackman. The film is a serious, in-depth exploration of Hollywood's and television's portrayal of the Holocaust. The director presents film clips--both newsreels and commercial films--about Hollywood's response to the Holocaust before, during, and after World War II.

Hollywood is an industry, of course, not a force for or against social justice. Both before and after the war, Hollywood's decisions about portraying the Holocaust hinged on the possibility of profits, or loss of profits, from depicting the Nazi horrors.

Seventy-five years after the rise of Naziism, we forget how much support Fascism then had in the U.S. and in western Europe. Producers, even though many were Jews, feared losing potential markets if they portrayed the true nature of the situation in Germany.

During the war, many filmmakers worked for the Army Signal Corps, and they accomplished great things. However, most American leaders were more interested in defeating the Germans than in saving the Jews and other minorities being shipped to concentration camps.

After the war, an unwritten code of silence arose. Possibly producers believed that an honest portrayal of the Holocaust would alienate audiences. Also, of course, postwar Germany was considered an important ally in the struggle against Communism, and politicians quietly urged that Hollywood turn its attention elsewhere. Another factor in downplaying the Holocaust was the wish to prevent people from asking, "Why didn't we do something?"

It wasn't until the 1970's that television producers realized that people would watch dramas about the Holocaust. Once the unspoken taboo was broken, Hollywood struggled to catch up. However, it's interesting to consider how long it took for films like "The Pawnbroker," "Sophie's Choice," and "Schindler's List" to make it to the screen.

All in all, an excellent, but discouraging film. Worth seeing, but definitely not a feel-good movie. We saw "Imaginary Witness" at the outstanding Rochester Jewish Film Festival. However, it should work well on a small screen