Victory Theater: Hollywood And World War II

Beyond All Boundaries

2009-11-07T13:42:00.003-06:00

Tom Hanks 42-minute WWII epic Beyond All Boundaries premiered at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans this weekend. The first reviews of this 4D cinematic experience are very positive, and we look forward to hearing more reactions.

A National Socialist Fred & Ginger

2009-10-23T05:45:00.004-06:00

Sometimes we forget the Nazis had movies, too. This musical clip, taken from a 1944 German musical Frau meiner Träume (The Woman Of My Dreams) shows the escapist fare the Germans watched. The film, which stars Hungarian actress Marika Rökk, appears no worse - nor better - than similar Hollywood films of the era.

The Rat Patrol

2009-09-23T14:02:00.001-06:00

This 1966-1968 ABC-TV series was set in North Africa. The Rat Patrol were Allied soldiers who tracked and sabotaged Rommels Afrika Korps and Nazi war aims. Rat Patrol as inspired by the British Commonwealth's Long Range Desert Group made up of troops from New Zealand, the UK, and Rhodesia.

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Tom Hanks on His New WWII Project

2009-09-04T08:11:00.005-06:00

Hanks, executive producer of Beyond All Boundaries, on his new WWII project. Sounds awesome. More here. And here.

Stars Enlist For National WWII Museum Epic

2009-09-03T06:15:00.009-06:00

Wow. From the NY Post today -- The National World War II Museum in New Orleans and Tom Hanks have announced the roster for voicing their new WWII epic Beyond All Boundaries premiering at The Museum on November 6. It seems like Hanks must have drafted the help of half of Hollywood as the cast list reads like a who's who of A-Listers including Hanks, its narrator and executive producer, joined by Kevin Bacon, Corbin Bleu, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Connolly, James Cromwell, Blythe Danner, Viola Davis, Jessie Eisenberg, John Goodman, Neil Patrick Harris, Kevin Jonas, Justin Long, Tobey Maguire, Daran Norris, Wendell Pierce, Chris Pine, Brad Pitt, Bill Sadler, Gary Sinise and Elijah Wood, among others. Are there more? Keep coming back to Hollywood at War for more information about this special cinematic experience opening in New Orleans.

To Be or Not To Be

2009-09-02T11:56:00.008-06:00

On the 70th anniversary of the Nazi's invasion of Poland here is the opening gag of the 1942 comedy To Be or Not to Be directed by Ernst Lubitsch. This clip shows you the lunacy that runs through the film that stars Jack Benny and Carole Lombard as a husband-wife team of actors in Warsaw at the start of WWII. This was the last movie Lombard made before her death in a plane crash in January 1942 selling war bonds. The film was remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks as a vehicle for his wife the late Anne Bancroft.

Is "Inglorious" Glorious? The Critics Respond

2009-08-20T09:42:00.010-06:00

Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds is hitting theaters this weekend and the reviews are rolling in. A play on the many cinematic conventions that WWII movies have taken in the past, the movie starring Brad Pitt is both controversial and shoot-em-up entertainment. We're not taking sides, but we are providing links to thoughtful reviews both pro and con.

Wall Street Journal
LA Times
The New York Times
The Washington Post
The New Yorker
Time Out: New York
Boston Phoenix
Orlando Sentinel

Great WWII suggestions from Twitter

2009-08-12T08:09:00.006-06:00

On Twitter @WWIIToday posted a link to Time Out London's "50 Best WWII Films" only to see a big response from followers mentioning a host of WWII films they felt deserved more recognition, or higher ranking. Follower Petrov Dempski @petrovdempski kindly compiled the list below. What do you think? You can follow the conversation @WWIIToday, search Twitter #WWIIflix or just note them here. I'll add more as they come in.

12 O'clock HIgh
633 Squadron
Battleground
Best Years of Our Lives
Casablanca
Cross of Iron
Das Boot
Enemy at the Gates
Europa Europa
Germany Year Zero
GI Joe
Grave of the Fireflies
Guadalcanal Diary
Hell in the Pacific
Heroes of Telemark
Judgement at Nuremberg
Kelly's Heroes
Memphis Belle
Mrs Miniver
Night & Fog
Objective Burma
Operation Daybreak
Patton
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Plate
Rats of Tobruk
Sahara
Saints and Sinners
Saving Private Ryan
Since You Went Away
So Proudly We Hail!
Stalingrad (1992)
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the River
The Big Red One
The Longest Day
Tora Tora Tora
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Cruel Sea
The Dambusters
The Glenn Miller Story
The Great Escape
The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp
The Train
Too Late The Hero
When Trumpets Fade
Where Eagles Dare
Windtalkers

Are These WWII's 50 Best?

2009-08-08T09:26:00.007-06:00

Magazine editors love these stories. This one is right up this blog's alley. “The 50 Greatest WWII Movies” published recently in the London edition of Time Out magazine with commentary by Inglorious Basterds director Quentin Tarantino, features some surprises – Casablanca is not even in the Top 10. As for their Number One choice, the film is unknown to me (but now in my NetFlix queue). To make it easy for you, I’ve hot linked the pages. Take a look. What do you think of the rankings?

Numbers 2-10
Numbers 11-20
Numbers 21-30
Numbers 31-40
Numbers 41-50

"All the Stars are Here"

2009-07-28T13:16:00.004-06:00

Here's the trailer for Hollywood Canteen, a 1944 GI-pleaser that featured a host of silver screen greats in cameo appearances. The National World War II Museum in New Orleans is opening a reincarnation of WWII's Stage Door Canteen in November. Wonder who they'll be bringing in from the West Coast?

Kudos for A Woman

2009-07-23T13:33:00.003-06:00

Technically a film about the aftermath of WWII in the Nazi capital, A Woman in Berlin begins with the destruction of the German city and its occupation by Soviet soldiers. The desperate struggle for survival is portrayed as a harrowing ordeal as Berlin's women endure rape and assault by their conquerors. A well-acted and gripping film.

Cinema, Scandinavia and WWII

2009-07-15T11:15:00.007-06:00

World War II seems to have preoccupied Scandinavians recently. Two WWII movies new to Americans are showing up here. Both works are edgey and suspenseful, and use the War as a major theme, but they are very different. The first, Flame + Citron, concerns two Danish resistance fighters who battle the Nazi occupiers. It's based on true events.

The second film, Dead Snow, is a gore fest. Flesh-eating Nazis, remnants of the army that invaded Norway, rise up in modern day to prey on attractive young Norwegians. You know what they say: "Ein, zwei, DIE!" Or something like that.

Both countries were occupied by Germany in WWII, and both nations are mining their wartime past for compelling cinematic stories.

The New "Inglorious" Trailer

2009-06-30T06:26:00.004-06:00

Quentin Tarantino's most recent trailer for Inglorious Basterds is here - with lots of hints of spectacular action and a femme fatale to boot.

And there's news the director's thinking of making a prequel to the movie.

Some Specifics on "The Pacific"

2009-06-22T13:52:00.007-06:00

It's here. Almost. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's new $200 million mini-series The Pacific had its first trailer available on You Tube before HBO yanked it off there and put it up here. According to the various reports the series is scheduled to air on HBO in March of 2010. Meanwhile Tom Hanks has been doing double duty of a sort, he is also the executive producer for the new National World War II Museum cinematic experience Beyond All Boundaries that will have an exclusive premiere this November at the Museum's new theater in New Orleans.

Here's to You, Mrs. Miniver

2009-06-18T09:12:00.006-06:00

Mrs. Miniver (1942) is propaganda of a particularly effective kind, a film "worth a hundred battleships" said Winston Churchill. Influenced by the Office of War Information, director William Wyler depicted an England democratic and plucky and far different from the snobs and toffs that dominated pre-War Hollywood's imagination. Clem and Kay Miniver, (Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson) portray a middle-class family facing down the Germans in their own garden. The ending speech, in which the Minivers and their neighbors vow to defend their way of life influenced an FDR speech and a portion of it was reprinted and dropped over occupied Europe. Here's the speech scene:

Since You Went Away

2009-06-08T08:03:00.003-06:00

In 1944 Gone With the Wind's David O Selznick was looking to produce a seminal picture about life on the American Home Front during WWII. Since You Went Away was the fine result. The picture's stellar cast included Claudette Colbert, Shirley Temple, Joseph Cotten and Hattie McDaniel. In wide release shortly after D-Day, the movie resonated with Americans, who saw in the struggles of Ann Hilton (Colbert) and her teenage daughters some of what they themselves were experiencing. Nominated for a slew of Oscars, it won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Since then it's attracted a small but devoted group of fans. Here is one of their tributes -- a montage scored with country popster Carrie Underwood's Just A Dream.

The Longest Day

2009-06-03T12:25:00.004-06:00

June 6th is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, an epic moment in WWII and in history. The invasion of France has figured in many films since, but for recreating the agony, horror and ultimate triumph the Allied soldiers experienced nothing comes as close to the actual battle as 1998's Saving Private Ryan starring Tom Hanks. The star of this year's Angels and Demons is doing another cinematic project devoted to WWII with The National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Here are the opening scenes from Ryan for which Steven Spielberg won the Oscar as Best Director. WARNING: This clip contains violent scenes of battle.

Farewell Ashley

2009-05-31T05:27:00.004-06:00

On June 1, 1943 actor Leslie Howard, on a BOAC flight from England to Portugal, was killed when Nazi war planes shot his plane out of the sky over the Bay of Biscay killing all aboard. Enlisted by the British government, Howard, who will forever be known as Ashley Wilkes in the movie Gone With the Wind, had been evangelizing the Allied cause to Portuguese and Spanish audiences. Rumors persist that the Germans believed Winston Churchill on board and so attacked the pane. Evidence points to the contrary, and that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered the attack thinking Howard was a dangerous propagandist and a threat to the German Reich. More. Here Howard is as Ashley, meeting Scarlett in one of cinema's more famous encounters.

The Donna Next Door

2009-05-26T08:06:00.004-06:00

Donna Reed's (1921-1986) been in the news this week for saving the fan letters WWII GIs sent her during the War. A native Iowan, Reed epitomized a wholesome American grace evident in the role of Mary Bailey in the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. Here is the trailer from her most memorable hit from WWII, John Ford's They Were Expendable with Robert Montgomery and John Wayne. She plays a nurse who has a romance with Wayne during the Japanese attack on the Philippines.

Ball of Fire

2009-05-20T15:05:00.002-06:00

What was the country like right before Pearl Harbor? FDR stimulated the economy with a huge increase in defense spending, and the country sparked and popped with nervous energy. Barbara Stanwyck as a slang-spouting stripper who teams up with Gary Cooper, a befuddled linguist, to produce "Ball of Fire," one of the last peacetime Screwball Comedies. Here she does a little boogie woogie with Gene Krupa. The film released on Dec. 2, 1941 five days before the Japanese attack on Hawaii.

Rita Hayworth PR Princess

2009-05-16T09:08:00.003-06:00

The War offered studio publicists a never-ending array of "photo opportunities" to place their stars with servicemen and, in general, being shown helping the War Effort. This montage from WWII depicts Rita Hayworth smiling 'til her teeth hurt.

Going Hollywood from Ellen et7waage on Vimeo.

"You Know How to Whistle?"

2009-05-14T15:40:00.004-06:00

Yowser. Sharing one of the hotter Hollywood kisses is Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in 1944's To Have and Have Not. As with Casablanca the setting is a Vichy French territory. But this time it's Bacall, not Bergman, who wins Bogie - and in real life, too. The couple fell in love and eventually married, living together until Bogart died of lung cancer in 1957.

"We'll Always Have Paris"

2009-05-10T17:29:00.006-06:00

Today's the anniversary of the start of the Nazi Blitzkrieg and the Fall of France. Appropriate then, to include the farewell scene from Casablanca where Rick tells Ilsa: "We'll always have Paris." There was a while when we didn't. Glad we got it back.

Casablanca Excerpt from Ted von Bevern on Vimeo.

These Are the Voyages

2009-05-07T10:15:00.005-06:00

James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock got a chance to meet wartime-era Nazis in a 1968 episode from the original Star Trek, proving that Hitler's henchman can disrupt even the time-space continuum. The episode from the beloved TV show's second season has the usual crew beam down on the planet Ekos only to discover the inhabitants aping the Nazi social order. The idea came from one of Kirk's old professors, who introduced the National Socialists on the planet to help organize the planet's chaotic society.

Hanks, Hollywood and History

2009-05-06T06:45:00.005-06:00

News today that Tom Hanks (Saving Pvt. Ryan, could we forget?) has lent his talents to a new production debuting this November at The National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Beyond All Boundaries promises to be a cinematic experience using high tech wizardry and historical footage to tell the story of Americans involvement in World War II. Should be great. More from the AP. More from the museum.

Taking It Off At The Stage Door Canteen

2009-05-05T05:49:00.006-06:00

Gypsy Rose Lee (1911-1970), the famed burlesque stripper, charms her audience in 1943's Stage Door Canteen. Compared to today's tramp-stamped pole dancers, Lee is both more charming and more erudite - dropping allusions to Cezanne and Oscar Wilde while dropping her drawers. What's more, servicemen and women in the 1940s understood the humor and appreciated her act. We've come a long way, baby. And it might not be an improvement.

Star Tissue

2009-05-03T13:27:00.005-06:00

Brad Pitt looking less than pretty in this poster from Quentin Tarantino’s new WWII movie Inglorious Basterds. Pitt plays Aldo Raine, an Army Lieutenant with gristle for a soul and a previous pain in the neck, if his throat-spanning scar is any indication. Raine's task: recruit a squad of Nazi-killing soldiers and drop them in occupied France to wreak havoc. You can see what happens when the movie storms ashore this August. More pictures at the Vanity Fair site. As for Brad's hickey, take a poll: gross or no? Vote at right.

News Flash From the Front

2009-05-02T10:28:00.005-06:00

We've gotten a lot of questions about why we aren't covering contemporary WWII films. We did not, initially, preferring to limit our coverage exclusively to wartime Hollywood. But several of you made a good case for expanding our coverage to include modern productions (and TV) to broaden our appeal - and, importantly, expose new or younger people to the classic stars and movies. So we're retooling. Look for more contemporary coverage as well as clips from your favorite wartime stars.

Nurses Front and Center

2009-04-30T13:00:00.003-06:00

With a pandemic flu threatening the nursing profession is in the news these days. So Proudly We Hail celebrates the sacrifices of US nurses in the Philippines during the early days of WWII. The 1943 film stars Claudette Colbert, Veronica Lake and Paulette Goddard with Lake's character becoming a suicide bomber of sorts - holding a live grenade and walking into a group of Japanese soldiers so the rest of her colleagues can escape them.

"So They Bombed Pearl Harbor, Did They?"

2009-04-28T09:16:00.006-06:00

That question, uttered by taxi-driver-turned-Asian-adventurer Joe Tracey (Barry Nelson) in 1942's A Yank on the Burma Road, was the first mention of the attack in a Hollywood film. Today, with TV transmitted instantly from around the globe, we've forgotten how long images once took to reach audiences. There were weekly newsreels, but with long lead times, topical events made it into the movies much later. This utterance was recorded in post-production and the movie rushed into release in January, weeks after the Japanese assault on Hawaii. The New York Times panned the picture, calling it "a five-and-dime fiction." TCM has the trailer. Nelson's later claim to fame: the first James Bond. He played the agent in a 1954 made-for-TV version of Casino Royale.

Benny Goodman Swings

2009-04-27T14:33:00.002-06:00

The Gang's All Here is a Busby Berkeley Technicolor musical featuring fruit-bearing Brazilian sensation Carmen Miranda (who sparked a censorship fracas with the position of her bananas), and below, bandleader Benny Goodman surrounding himself with energetic jitterbuggers. America, protected by two vast oceans, would never experience the horror of war on the Home Front, which made some citizens a bit guilty. Most, however, were just grateful, and the country's undamaged, youthful exuberance is present in this clip.

Escape with the Ape Man

2009-04-25T07:42:00.006-06:00

On April 28, 1945, Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun wed beneath Berlin's ruins. In Hollywood RKO released Tarzan and the Amazons, a silly tale of Tarzan and a race of jungle beauties. The film, Johnny Weissmuller's ninth appearance of the ape man, also starred Jane (Brenda Joyce), returning from England where she was doing war-related work, Boy and, of course, Cheetah the chimp. It's an example of the escapist fare Hollywood churned out in good times and bad, in war and the fast-approaching peace.

The Three Stooges at War

2009-04-25T07:28:00.004-06:00

Larry, Curly and Moe marched to war along with the rest of America. In this 1943 short they've joined the Merchant Marine with the usual attendant slapstick and mayhem, some of which involves torpedoes and dastardly Nazis.

Der Fuehrer's Face

2009-04-22T15:08:00.002-06:00

Okay. We couldn't resist the pleas to run another Donald Duck cartoon from the War. Here you go. Wonderful propaganda.

Big-Hearted Bette

2009-04-19T10:43:00.003-06:00

Bette Davis' reputation is of a hard-charging Hollywood drama queen. Maybe that image is deserved on screen, but in reality Davis was a tireless volunteer and supporter of the US Armed Forces. In 1942 she and actor John Garfield founded the famous Hollywood Canteen at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Canteen was one of a series of canteens around the country where servicemen and women could find food, entertainment and maybe the chance to meet a celebrity before shipping out to the War. Like Bette herself. She's pictured here serving food to the troops.

Hollywood Awakes

2009-04-16T07:59:00.004-06:00

Paramount's Wake Island was the first major Hollywood picture that dealt with a real battle against the Japanese on the Pacific outpost. Released in August of 1942 it started Brian Donlevy and Robert Preston. Though it got a number of facts wrong, and its production qualities are considered crude today, Wake Island communicates the urgency and immediacy of a nation at war.

"Let's Pay Our Taxes to Beat the Axis"

2009-04-11T08:53:00.005-06:00

April 15 draws night, and in 1942 the government enlisted the help of Walt Disney's Donald Duck to remind Americans it was their duty to pay up. Donald made $2051 in 1941 and paid $13 to the Feds. Americans responded. To see other WWII savings tips you can visit the blog "Of Course I Can!" that has some ideas useful today, too.

In an Empire Far, Far Away

2009-04-09T11:47:00.006-06:00

The 1955 British movie Dam Busters recounts the tale of RAF air raiders who wreaked havoc on German war production. A stirring tale made even more so by this familiar opening. A fun mash-up.

The Man Who Came To Dinner

2009-04-06T20:15:00.005-06:00

Not all movies made in WWII were about the fighting. Americans needed to laugh, too. Monty Woolley and Bette Davis starred in The Man Who Came to Dinner, a comedy about a New York celebrity stranded in a Ohio home after a fall physically disables all but his put downs, which are legend. Here is Wolley right after his character's accident gleefully spitting venom at anyone who comes near. Still funny, the movie surely provided a respite from dark days.

Superman's Japan Smack Down

2009-04-05T06:35:00.007-06:00

Disney and Warner Bros. weren't the only studios to turn their cartoon characters against the Axis. Paramount Pictures enlisted Superman to battle dastardly Japan. Here he is in 1942 Yokohama sabotaging their ship building effort. The Japanese are rendered as racial stereotypes - outrageous to us today - but accepted then in the heat of war. Lois Lane is, as usual, in the thick of things. Warner Brothers is releasing the Superman collection from the war years on DVD soon.

America's First Female Casualty of WWII?

2009-04-03T11:30:00.008-06:00

That's the claim for actress Carole Lombard, the blonde, wise-cracking wife of Clark Gable. She died the night of January 16, 1942 in an airplane crash near Las Vegas as she returned to LA from a War Bond rally, thus earning the title "first female casualty" of a war scarcely one month old. That may be disputed, but what's not is how well-liked Lombard was by her peers in Hollywood and her fans. People still make their way to Goodsprings, Nevada, to see the site where Lombard met her death. "Every single day of the week somebody will walk in from some part of the world and ask about the Carole Lombard story," said one resident. For more about this fascinating actress visit her excellent fan site and hear her thoughts on everything from sexism to Gable to paying taxes.

Pluto Goes to War

2009-04-02T16:07:00.004-06:00

Like the other studios, Walt Disney was front and center in their war effort making training films for the military while continuing to entertain moviegoers. The cartoon Private Pluto released in 1943 is noteworthy for the first appearance of two beloved Disney characters: the chipmunks Chip and Dale.

Somewhere I'll Find You

2009-04-01T20:49:00.003-06:00

This 1942 MGM film was Clark Gable's last before his enlistment. A standard-issue Hollywood love drama with the War as backdrop, Somewhere I'll Find You is notable for pairing Gable again with rising star Lana Turner. During the filming Gable's wife comic actress Carole Lombard died in an airplane crash. Gable was distraught. That August, still unhappy, he enlisted as an Air Force private. The cameras clicked as Gable shaved off his trademark mustache with the observation "I'll probably be cooler anyway." Gable's next picture would be after the War was over.

Saturday Morning Serial

2009-04-01T10:05:00.006-06:00

Fiendish enemy plotters vs. Uncle Sam's heroes. During WWII Saturday morning matinees served up serials pitting Axis spies against our own good guys. This trailer was for 1942's Secret Code, a 15-part serial that featured a masked crusader known as the Black Commando. Action was key, but each Secret Code episode featured a segment showing kids how to encrypt a message. With the Web things are easier now. The new educational site from the National World War II Museum will code and send your own top secret messages to anyone you chose.

Play it Again Sam?

2009-03-31T08:37:00.015-06:00

The Daily Mail's reporting that Madonna wants to remake the Bergman-Bogart 1942 classic Casablanca, setting the famous romance in modern-day Iraq. Should she tamper with a classic? Vote on it. We're running a poll at right.

Got Oomph?

2009-03-31T06:28:00.005-06:00

Responding to a request, we researched the actress Ann Sheridan (1915-1967). The Texas-born Sheridan was celebrated in WWII as the "Oomph Girl" for her sizzling sex appeal. She's pretty, and a competent singer, as this clip from 1943's war fundraiser Thank Your Lucky Stars shows. But her huge allure remains a mystery, unlike Rita Hayworth who looks very modern. If anyone cares to elaborate on the Sheridan mystique, be our guest.

Confessions of a Nazi Spy

2009-03-30T12:12:00.002-06:00

In 1939, two years before Pearl Harbor, Warner Brothers released Confessions of a Nazi Spy, which marked its first attempt to deal with the growing menace posed by Hitler. Previously, the studios had been reluctant to anger the lucrative German export market. Edward G. Robinson plays the an FBI agent tasked with breaking up a secret ring of German-American fascists. The film was received well in the U.S. but banned in Germany and Japan.

Patriot Act

2009-03-28T18:12:00.008-06:00

German-born Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) traveled the world during WWII to entertain the troops on the front line for the USO. She was devoted to the soldiers. When she died in Paris her coffin was draped with an American flag. For her work in the war, the U.S awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Here's a clip containing stills of her war work to the tune of the wartime song Lili Marlene.

Waterloo: A Bridge Beyond Abba

2009-03-27T22:10:00.007-06:00

Ask about Waterloo and most young audiences will identify the Swedish pop group's disco toe-tapper and not the 1940 MGM film. Waterloo Bridge was a big hit - one of the first films to portray the darkness enveloping Europe (the US would not fight for almost another two years). The tale of lost love and missed chances opens in London with the start of WWII the year before, yet most of the action takes place in WWI, and is told as flashbacks. Leigh campaigned hard to get her husband Laurence Olivier to star opposite her. She lost that battle but said the role was one of her favorites. Today the film is a cult hit among young Chinese. No one knows why.

John Wayne, War Hero or Not?

2009-03-27T12:17:00.006-06:00

Contrary to the movie poster for 1942's drama Flying Tigers (left), John Wayne (1907-1979) never saw real military service in WWII. There are many explanations as to why, but the one that seems likeliest was pressure from his studio, Republic Pictures, to keep him home making movies to cash in on his rising celebrity. He toured South Pacific bases and hospitals in 1943-44. Age 34 at the time of Pearl Harbor, Wayne was not the superstar he would later become. By many accounts his failure to serve during WWII was embarrassing to him. In later years Wayne became increasingly patriotic.

Here's the Duke jitterbugging - yes, dancing - in 1944's The Fighting Seabees (Republic Pictures). "Seabee" (CB) was short for Construction Battalions, work crews that built landing strips and pontoon bridges

"I am Joan Crawford"

2009-03-27T06:24:00.005-06:00

Almost 3 million servicemen and women visited the Hollywood Canteen where the stars mingled with the soldiers passing through Los Angeles. Sometimes the celebrities went unrecognized, until it dawned on the GI who asked for a dance that yes, that really was Joan Crawford. Their surprise was dramatized here in the wartime hit Hollywood Canteen.

Propaganda or Entertainment?

2009-03-25T21:03:00.005-06:00

Destination Tokyo starred a couple of square-jaws, Cary Grant (above) and John Garfield, as submariners piloting their ship right into Tokyo Bay with all the Yankee moxie Warner Bros could muster. Filmed in cooperation with the US Navy, the 1943 picture is more authentic than most. Even when watched through the a six-decade-long filter, the action still enthralls, despite the era's cruder special effects. It's the propaganda that's over-the-top. Jim McDevitt has a comprehensive review.

Whattup Doc?

2009-03-24T14:39:00.006-06:00

Bugs Bunny urges 1942 movie-goers to buy war bonds. Sixty-seven years later, age has not lessened the wise-cracking Warner Bros rabbit's appeal, nor his patriotism.

Falcon's Lair

2009-03-24T08:31:00.005-06:00

On October 19, 1941, less than two months before Pearl Harbor, Warner Brothers released Dashiell Hammett's the Maltese Falcon. The dark detective tale starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Peter Lorre dripped with foreboding. By then most of America feared getting involved in the growing conflict overseas. A.O. Scott of the New York Times offers a recent critique on the classic.

The Great Lake

2009-03-23T08:19:00.003-06:00

Broolyn-born blonde actress Veronica Lake (1922-1973) was known for her signature peek-a-boo hair cut (one tress over the eye). The much-imitated style created nightmares for safety officers at war plants where women could get their hair caught in machinery. In a gesture of patriotism Veronica cut her hair. The event created a sensation. Here it is on film:

Lake never saw the same fame she did in the war years. Find out what happened to her.

The Stars Do Their Part

2009-03-21T14:52:00.011-06:00

It's War and Hollywood enlists. This slideshow contains a delightful montage of photos showing the stars doing their part for the war effort.

Working Girls

2009-03-21T08:05:00.006-06:00

Do your part. Ginger Rogers (left) starred in the 1943 Home Front drama Tender Comrade. The plot has four diverse yet ordinary women moving into a big house to save money while working in a defense plant. The themes of share and share alike, making do and patriotism connected to wartime audiences who made the movie a hit. Its Soviet-sounding title came from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem. The script was penned by Dalton Trumbo, who would be blacklisted for his left-wing politics in the postwar Red Scare. Rogers said later some of the script's lines took a more "communistic turn" which she claimed upset her. Two other actors in the movie, Kim Hunter and Mady Christians, were also blacklisted.

Keen for the Canteen

2009-03-20T12:05:00.009-06:00

Built in an old barn at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard, the Hollywood Canteen operated from 1942 to 1945. It was staffed with the studio's A-list stars, who entertained the servicemen and women passing through Los Angeles. This 1944 clip has young Dinah Shore giving a tour of the club, introducing Lana Turner and Marlene Dietrich among others. The canteen concept is even making a comeback. The National World War II Museum is opening a Stage Door Canteen and Victory Theater on their premises in November 2009.

Hollywood on the Brink

2009-03-20T11:47:00.008-06:00

Leave it to Looney Tunes animators to capture a pantheon of stars dining at Ciro's, a famous nightclub, in 1941 on the eve of America's entrance into WWII. Jimmy Stewart, the Marx Brothers and Bing Crosby are a few of the stars caricatured. See how many you can identify.

You Must Remember This

2009-03-19T06:01:00.006-06:00

It's the trailer from Casablanca, the 1942 classic that almost cast Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan, not Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the starring roles. How the movie got made is a fascinating story of Hollywood at war. More to come.

The Stage Door Canteen is Re-imagined for Today ...

2009-03-18T20:40:00.006-06:00

News clip of the new Stage Door Canteen and Victory Theater, part of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Opening in November 2009 the Canteen revives the music and entertainment of the War Years.

... And One From the Past

2009-03-18T20:27:00.003-06:00

Benny Goodman plays and Peggy Lee sings in 1943's wartime hit Stage Door Canteen.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

2009-03-18T14:49:00.004-06:00

The movie trailer speaks for itself.

Chemistry Lessons

2009-03-18T14:15:00.010-06:00

Sometimes an old-fashioned soundtrack makes it hard to pick up on the mutual attraction generated by shrewd casting in WWII movies. This clip proves you don't have to be explicit to generate heat. Astaire and Hayworth set sparks flying dancing to an updated soundtrack from the 1980s movie Dirty Dancing.

Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in 1942's "You Were Never Lovelier"

2009-03-18T08:57:00.004-06:00

The plot involves Hayworth as a girl from Argentina (a US ally in the War) who falls for the Nebraskan Astaire. Both dance up a storm to 40s band leader Xavier Cugat's Latin rhythms.