The Third Reich’s Celluloid War: Propaganda in Nazi Feature Films, Documentaries and Television

Garden, Ian. The Third Reich’s Celluloid War: Propaganda in Nazi Feature Films, Documentaries and Television. 2012. 288p. ISBN 978-0752464428. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

The power of images to speak louder than words was harnessed early on to communicate messages to populations. Films shown by the Allies during World War I were powerful and clearly cast the Germans in the role of the villains, wheea German film makers were unable to cast a clear picture of their side.

When the arrival of Hitler, the Nazis harnessed the levers of government to assert control over German society. They took effective control of radio and newspaper, and began propaganda campaigns designed to vilify the Jews and Germany's enemies while extolling the virtues of Home and of the Nazi party.

Master propagandists, the Nazis were not as successful exploiting the strengths and abilities of the movies to communicate effective messages through cinema. This came from the mixed messages of vilifying their enemies while at the same time avoiding to anger Britain and France, whom they hoped to remain at peace with. When war finally broke out, the messages remained muddled.

Garden presents in this book a study of several films in different genres that were produced for propaganda purposes. He explains the genesis of the film, the main actors, the impact it had at the time, how the movie was received, and what happened afterwards to the actors and directors, as well as the film's future in Germany.