Editing Fifth column (section)

==In popular culture==
The title of [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s only play "[[The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories|The Fifth Column]]" (1938) is a translation of General Mola's phrase {{lang|es|la quinta columna}}. In early 1937, Hemingway had been in Madrid, reporting the war from the loyalist side, and helping make the film ''[[The Spanish Earth]]''. He returned to the US to publicize the film and wrote the play, in the [[Hotel Florida (Madrid)|Hotel Florida]] in Madrid, on his next visit to Spain later that year.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meyers|first=Jeffrey|title=Hemingway|publisher=Paladin. Grafton Books|year=1987|isbn=0-586-08631-5|location=London|pages=316–7}}</ref>

In the US, an Australian radio play, ''[[The Enemy Within (radio show)|The Enemy Within]]'', proved to be very popular, though this popularity was due to the belief that the stories of fifth column activities were based on real events. In December 1940, the Australian censors had the series banned.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Loeffel |title=The Fifth Column in World War II: Suspected Subversives in the Pacific War and Australia |publisher=Palgrave |year=2015 |pages=85}}</ref>

British reviewers of [[Agatha Christie]]'s 1941 novel ''[[N or M?]]'' used the term to describe the plot's depiction of two British turncoats working on behalf the German government in Britain during World War II.<ref>''The Times Literary Supplement,'' November 29, 1941 (p. 589); ''The Observer,'' December 7, 1941 (p. 3)</ref>

In [[Frank Capra]]'s film ''[[Meet John Doe]]'' (1941), newspaper editor Henry Connell warns the politically naïve protagonist, John Doe, about a businessman's plans to promote his own political ambitions using the apolitical John Doe Clubs. Connell says to John: "Listen, pal, this fifth-column stuff is pretty rotten, isn't it?", identifying the businessman with anti-democratic interests in the United States. When Doe agrees, he adds: "And you'd feel like an awful sucker if you found yourself marching right in the middle of it, wouldn't you?"<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=McGilligan | editor-first=Patrick |last=Riskin |first=Robert |title=Six Screenplays |url=https://archive.org/details/sixscreenplaysby00robe |url-access=registration |date=1997|publisher=University of California Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sixscreenplaysby00robe/page/664 664], 696}}</ref>

In the film ''[[All Through the Night (film)|All Through the Night]]'' (1942), "Gloves" Donahue ([[Humphrey Bogart]]) tries to stop a secret nazi fifth column trying to sink a battleship in New York.

[[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Saboteur (film)|Saboteur]]'' (1942) features [[Robert Cummings]] asking for help against "fifth columnists" conspiring to sabotage the American war effort.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} The film was also released under the name ''Fifth Column'' in Dutch ({{lang|nl|Die van de 5de kolom}}), Finnish ({{lang|fi|Viidennen kolonnan mies}}) and French ({{lang|fr|Cinquième colonne}}). Soon the term was being used in popular entertainment.

Several World War II–era animated shorts include the term. Cartoons of [[Porky Pig]] asked any "fifth columnists" in the audience to leave the theater immediately.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q56300401|title=Meet John Doughboy}}</ref> In [[Looney Tunes]]' ''Foney Fables'', the narrator of a comic fairy tale described a wolf in sheep's clothing as a "fifth columnist". There was a [[Merrie Melodies]] cartoon released in 1943 titled ''[[The Fifth-Column Mouse]].''{{primary source inline|date=June 2020}} Comic books also contained references to the fifth column.<ref>{{cite book |last= Goodnow |first= Trischa |title= The 10 Cent War: Comic Books, Propaganda, and World War II |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dbnPDQAAQBAJ&q=comic+book+references+to+fifth+column&pg=PT127|isbn= 9781496810311 |date= January 20, 2017 |publisher= Univ. Press of Mississippi}}</ref>

Graham Greene, in ''[[The Quiet American]]'' (1955), uses the phrase "Fifth Column, Third Force, Seventh Day" in the second chapter.{{primary source inline|date=June 2020}}

In the 1959 British action film ''[[Operation Amsterdam]]'', the term "fifth columnists" is used repeatedly to refer to Nazi-sympathizing members of the [[Royal Netherlands Army|Dutch Army]].

The [[V (franchise)|''V'' franchise]] is a set of TV shows, novels and comics about an [[Alien invasion|alien invasion of Earth]]. A group of aliens opposed to the invasion and assist the human Resistance Movement is called The Fifth Column.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog/2019/08/29/the-enduring-legacy-and-ongoing-relevance-of-kenneth-johnsons-v/ | title=The enduring legacy, and ongoing relevance of Kenneth Johnson's "V"... | date=August 29, 2019}}</ref>

In the episode "Flight Into the Future" from the 1960s TV show ''[[Lost In Space]]'', Dr. Smith is referred to as the fifth columnist of the Jupiter 2 expedition. In the first episode, he was a secret agent sent to sabotage the mission who got caught on board at liftoff.{{primary source inline|date=June 2020}}

There is an American weekly news podcast called "The Fifth Column",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wethefifth.com/|title=The Fifth Column / Podcast|website=The Fifth Column / Podcast|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-27}}</ref> hosted by [[Kmele Foster]], [[Matt Welch]], [[Michael C. Moynihan]], and Anthony Fisher.{{primary source inline|date=June 2020}}

[[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s 1941 story "The Day After Tomorrow", originally titled "[[Sixth Column]]", refers to a fictional fifth column that 
{{cquote|destroyed the European democracies from within in the tragic days that led up to the final blackout of European civilization. But this would not be a fifth column of traitors, but a sixth column of patriots whose privilege it would be to destroy the morale of invaders, make them afraid, unsure of themselves.
|author=Robert A. Heinlein
|title="The Day after Tomorrow (original title: Sixth Column)"
|source=Signet Paperback #T4227, Chapter 3, page 37
}}

In ''[[Foyle's War]]'', series 2 episode 3, "War Games", one line reads: "It's the Second salvage collection I've missed, they've got me down as a fifth columnist."{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In ''[[Fallout: London]]'', a [[Mod (computer gaming)#Total conversion|total conversion mod]] for the 2015 [[Bethesda Softworks]] [[action role-playing game]] ''[[Fallout 4]]'', there is a populist faction known as the "5th Column" whose declared aim is to tear down the existing government and rebuild it.  Their propaganda style and black uniforms are a likely reference to the [[British Union of Fascists]], which was founded in 1932 by [[Oswald Mosley|Sir Oswald Mosley]] and banned by the British government in 1940 after the start of [[World War II]] amid suspicion that its supporters might form a pro-[[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] "fifth column".

An Infamous [[Minecraft]] griefing group active on the anarchy server [[2b2t]] is known as The Fifth Column.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-02-19 |title=Fifth Column |url=https://2b2t.miraheze.org/wiki/Fifth_Column |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=2b2t Wiki |language=en}}</ref>