Editing War film (section)

=== Propaganda ===
{{further|Propaganda film|World War I film propaganda}}
[[File:Nevsky2.jpg|thumb|[[Teutonic Order]] (German) monks prepare the hanging of a Russian resistance leader. Still from ''[[Alexander Nevsky (film)|Alexander Nevsky]]'' (1938)]]

[[Sergei Eisenstein]]'s 1938 historical drama ''[[Alexander Nevsky (film)|Alexander Nevsky]]'' depicts [[Alexander Nevsky|Prince Alexander]]'s defeat of the attempted invasion of the Russian city of [[Novgorod]] by the [[Teutonic Knights]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hoberman |first1=J. |title=Alexander Nevsky |url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8-alexander-nevsky |publisher=Criterion |access-date=4 March 2015}}</ref> By April 1939 the film had been seen by 23,000,000 people.<ref>{{Cite book | author=Anderson, Kyril |title=Kremlevskij Kinoteatr. 1928–1953: Dokumenty | publisher=Rospen Press |year=2005 | isbn=978-5-8243-0532-6 | page=539}}</ref> In 1941 the director and three others were awarded the [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]] for their contributions. The film features a musical score by the classical composer [[Sergei Prokofiev]], considered by artists such as the composer [[André Previn]] the best ever written for cinema.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lysy |first1=Craig |title=Alexander Nevsky – Sergei Prokofiev {{!}} 100 Greatest Scores of All Time |url=https://moviemusicuk.us/2015/11/09/alexander-nevsky-sergei-prokofiev/ |publisher=Movie Music UK |date=9 November 2015 |quote=Composer André Previn once remarked that Prokofiev's music for Alexander Nevsky was 'the greatest film score ever written, trapped inside the worst soundtrack ever recorded.'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Watch It for the Soundtrack: 'Alexander Nevsky' |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18860465&t=1544433041639 |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=10 February 2008 |quote=SEABROOK: The most exciting film music of all, Prokofiev.  KORNBLUTH: Because it's so completely matches sound to image that you'll only have to hear that to know what you're seeing.}}</ref> Russell Merritt, writing in ''Film Quarterly'', describes it as a "war [[propaganda film]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Merritt |first1=Russell |title=Recharging "Alexander Nevsky": Tracking the Eisenstein-Prokofiev War Horse |journal=Film Quarterly |date=1994 |volume=48 |issue=2|pages=34–47 |jstor=1213094 |doi=10.1525/fq.1994.48.2.04a00050}}</ref> A 1978 [[Arnoldo Mondadori Editore|Mondadori]] poll placed ''Alexander Nevsky'' among the world's 100 best motion pictures.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ruscico.com/catalog/cataloguedvd/catalogue_106.html |title=mindupper.com |publisher=Ruscico.com |access-date=4 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419073546/http://www.ruscico.com/catalog/cataloguedvd/catalogue_106.html |archive-date=2017-04-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Transmitlies.jpeg|thumb|left|Screenshot from [[Frank Capra]]'s wartime ''[[Why We Fight]]'' series,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Silver |first1=Charles |title=Why We Fight: Frank Capra's WWII Propaganda Films |url=http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2011/06/07/why-we-fight-frank-capras-wwii-propaganda-films/ |publisher=Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) |date=7 June 2011}}</ref> depicting lies being broadcast by the [[Nazi propaganda]] machine]]

During the Second World War, [[propaganda film|film propaganda]] was widely used. [[Kenneth Clark]] advised the British government that "If we renounced interest in entertainment as such, we might be deprived of a valuable weapon for getting across our propaganda"; he suggested using documentaries about the war and the war effort; celebrations of Britishness; and films about British life and character. [[Michael Powell]] and Clark agreed on a story about survivors of a [[U-boat]] crew, imbued with brutal Nazi ideology, travelling across Canada and meeting various kind, tolerant and intelligent Canadians, to encourage America into the war. The resulting film, ''[[49th Parallel (film)|49th Parallel]]'' (1941), became the top film at British offices that year.{{sfn|Murphy|2005|pp=61–62}} Entertaining films could carry messages about the need for vigilance, too, as in ''[[Went the Day Well?]]'' (1942) or the avoidance of "careless talk", as in ''[[The Next of Kin]]'' (1942).<ref name="Swann1989" />

[[File:CasablancaPoster-Gold.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The romantic drama ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1943) vilified Nazism.]]

In America, [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' (1940) clearly satirised [[fascism]].<ref name=HMM>{{Cite web |title=World War II Movies – Propaganda and Patriotism |url=http://www.hollywoodmoviememories.com/articles/war-articles/world-war-ii-movies-propaganda.php |access-date=8 March 2015 |archive-date=21 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221193251/http://www.hollywoodmoviememories.com/articles/war-articles/world-war-ii-movies-propaganda.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Michael Curtiz]]'s ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1943) was not simply a romance between the characters played by [[Humphrey Bogart]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]], but vilified the [[Nazi]]s and glorified resistance to them.<ref name=HMM /> Frank Capra's ''[[Why We Fight]]'' series (1942–1945) won the 1942 Academy Award for best documentary, though it was designed to "influence opinion in the U.S. military".<ref name="Manning2004" /><ref>{{Cite journal | last=German | first=Kathleen | title=Frank Capra's Why We Fight Series and the American Audience | journal=Western Journal of Speech Communication | volume=54 | issue=2 | year=1990 | pages=237–48 | doi=10.1080/10570319009374338}}</ref>

During the [[Cold War]], "propaganda played as much of a role in the United States' struggle with the Soviet Union as did the billions of dollars spent on weaponry."<ref name="Fort Devens 2015" /> ''[[Face to Face with Communism]]'' (1951) dramatised an imagined invasion of the United States; other films portrayed threats such as communist indoctrination.<ref name="Fort Devens 2015">{{Cite web |title=The Fort Devens Collection |url=http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/collections/fort_devens.html |publisher=Harvard Film Archive |access-date=12 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307060650/http://www.hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/collections/fort_devens.html |archive-date=2015-03-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>