Hollywood Awakes

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.

Superman's Japan Smack Down

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.