War Comes to America (1945)

Part VII of the "Why We Fight" series of wartime documentaries. This entry attempts to describe the factors leading up to America's entry into the Second World War.

Directors:

Frank Capra (uncredited), Anatole Litvak (uncredited)

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein

Stars:

Dean Acheson, General Bergeret, A.A. Berle

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Dean Acheson	...	Himself (archive footage)
General Bergeret	...	Himself (archive footage)
A.A. Berle	...	Himself (archive footage)
Arno Breker	...	Himself (archive footage)
Neville Chamberlain	...	Himself (archive footage)
Winston Churchill	...	Himself (archive footage)
Galeazzo Ciano	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Galleazzo Ciano)
Édouard Daladier	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charles Edison	...	Himself (archive footage)
Francisco Franco	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joseph Goebbels	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Josef Goebbels)
Hermann Göring	...	Himself (archive footage)
Rudolf Hess	...	Himself (archive footage)
Heinrich Himmler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Hirohito	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

In this final installment of the "Why We Fight" propaganda series, the subject focuses on the United States of America. We learn of its good qualities and the things worth fighting for. With that established, we learn of the history of the United States' population shifting opinion towards siding with the Allies against the Axis until the attack on Pearl Harbour which brought America into full scale involvement in the war.

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Plot Keywords:

propaganda | why we fight documentary series | claim in title | world war two | based on book | 

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Genres:

Documentary | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 June 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Why We Fight, 7

Company Credits

Production Co:

U.S. Army Pictorial Services

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the year 2000, the United States Library of Congress mandated that this film (and the other six documentaries in the 'Why We Fight' series)were "culturally significant" and selected them for preservation in the National Film Registry.

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Goofs

Twice there appears an animated clip showing about a dozen fully-equipped US troops in gray silhouette marching briskly left to right over a background graphic; however, a close look shows the "soldiers" actually wearing narrow-brimmed office-worker-style civilian hats rather than army helmets.

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Quotes

[the film explains the dire consequences for the United States of an Axis victory in Eurasia]
Narrator: German conquest of Europe and Africa would bring all their raw materials, plus their entire industrial development, under one control. Of the two billion people in the world, the Nazis would rule roughly one quarter, the 500 million people of Europe and Africa, forced into slavery to labor for Germany. German conquest of Russia would add the vast raw materials and the production facilities of another of...

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Connections

Features Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)

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Soundtracks

Rhapsody in Blue
(uncredited)
Music by George Gershwin
Played during the Modern America montage

User Reviews

Why We Fight

War Comes to America (1945)

*** (out of 4)

Seventh and final entry in Capra's "Why We Fight" series centers in on America, their reasons for wanting to stay out of the way and their eventual slide to knowing that the war was the only way out. As usual Capra, or how much he actually had to do with it, fills the screen with all sorts of stock footage of various battles and even more shots of Hitler and his various rants. This time out there's even more polls showing how Americans were viewing the stuff overseas and it's no shock that the majority wanted nothing to do with what was going on in Europe. Looking at the various poll numbers was one of the most fascinating things about this film and especially how the numbers changed over the years. Also worth mentioning are the various turning points that the government finally realized that they were going to have to power up the various military forces here. Again, as with many of the entries in this series, there's a lot of stuff that would probably be called incorrect today but we must remember when this thing was made. One could also roll their eyes when the film talks about freedom of people here yet we know that wasn't really the case in this era. With that said, there's enough here to make it worth watching and the overall feel of patriotism is quite high and works very well. The movie doesn't pull many punches as we get some rather graphic photos of injured children and it certainly hammer home its point of why America should enter the war.