Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria University, Wellington Vol. 24, No. 6. 1961.

Of Glory and Infamy

Of Glory and Infamy

The peculiar phenomenon of war films is that they are consistent in their imagery of the feelings and prevalent policy of one particular country towards another— at any time. The genuine war dramatisation and its great popularity has only developed since the last war. Three main trends of development may be distinguished, (a) the pre-war movie; (b) the film made during the war, concerned chiefly with enlistment, and the glory of one's own country, and (c) the post-war film. The last-named is the most serious development, and has covered a quite remarkably lengthy period of time. Many films have been made, treating war as a necesary evil.

Back in 1939, when Germany was already at war with Britain, and each country pressing its propaganda output to the limit, America was still technically a neutral country. And so when Confessions of a Nazi Spy and films on related topics (this one dealt with the dangers of a Nazi "fifth column" in America) came out in that year, a shocked Congress set up a special House Un-American Activities Committee, to investigate rising amounts of anti-Fascist material in American films. Naturally, America was not alone in its "hate campaign," Britain, Russia, Germany and Japan, were all exploiting the medium to the full. American films like Hitler's Children (1943) or Days of Glory (1944) might show the Germans as being ignorant, cruel and militaristic, and the Russians as excellent friends and allies, but on the other side of the conflict a film such as Oom Paul (1939) would stir up as much hate against the British. A film like Sieg im Westen (1941) shows just as much glory in the Wehrmacht and Reich, as We Dive at Dawn (1944) could praise the R.A.F. and British fortitude.

The marked distinction is that in one case, the countries in question must accept material made only by their own people, whilst in the other, a certain amount is available from both sides. Thus, people will digest virtually any trash you give them—so long as it is patriotic—one would not expect a reasonably sober post-war audience to assimilate the incredibilities of the Days of Glory or Oom Paul. The post-war war film had to become realistic. Initially, this was undertaken with remarkable success by some countries. The Polish Ostatni Etap (1946) gave a very accurate account of life in a concentration camp, and showed the full horror of war. Ostatni Etap was the recipient of many awards. The documentary approach here, nas been distinguished by the disinterest shown in capitalising on such horror. Conversely, most American and British war productions dating from 1945 have been nothing but cheap and bloody excuses for making a few quick shekels. The postwar war film has taken on a new turn; and one attempts some evaluation of problems and causes — Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Paths of Glory (1956)—for the most part, they are sordid, pathological essays in men's baseness— Camp on Blood Island (1958), Young Lions (1958), etc.

The emphasis is on the subhuman, animal-like propensities of the enemy. The stereotype of the German; of the Japanese, all come out in the war film—the two mentioned immediately above, for instance. It is interesting to note the efforts of the Germans and Japanese themselves to correct some of this defamatory material. During the past six or seven years, there has been an ever increasing amount of films attempting to show that not all Germans were to brutal, that not all Japanese were malicious, e.g. Dew Teufelg General and Kinder, Mutter und ein General, from the former country and Ningen no Joken. No one is ever held responsible in these "white-washing movies"——it is always some other person. But foreign war films do tend to balance the scales somewhat — though people will still sooner believe a Hollywood "typed" German, than a German "typed" German. One would have supposed, 15 years after the war's end, America would have forgiven and forgotten the Japanese sufficiently, to put a stop to the making of trash like Hell to Eternity. Who would have thought that in 1961, Americans would still be bayonetting "Nips" and Germans killing Britishers?

The Polish Ostatni Etap, mentioned above was recently screened by the Film Society, here at Victoria University. Des Teufels General, is on the programme of the V.U.F.S. for the second term.