War on Film

Résumé du livre

"This monograph is a study in the use of film as historical evidence. It is based on films and film scripts as well as on more traditional forms of evidence. The subject comprises those motion pictures that concerned the American World War I experience, although the focus could be on any historical topic that has both accumulated a considerable historiography and has been extensively treated on celluloid. The study is divided into five sections, following an introductory chapter on the widespread popularity of film in the interwar period. Part one discusses in general the relationship between films and history. It provides a background for succeeding chapters by relegating aesthetic film criticism to s position of secondary importance and advocating traditional historical methodology as the most rewarding approach to the examination of history in films. Part two discusses 'factual' films of World War I, including documentaries, and newsreels. Part three is concerned with the nature of the war as it appeared on American screens. Included are treatments of democracy and war, war-as-adventure, and war as a promoter of pacifism. Part four is an analysis of the imagery of the war film as it concerned the enemy, the ally, and the American homefront. Part five treats other varieties of the war experience. In includes chapters on screen views of women in war and war humor"--Abstract