During the Second World War there were two prominent canteens where the Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines could go to see and be seen with the glamorous actor types of their day: the Hollywood Canteen in Los Angeles and the Stage Door Canteen in New York City. It was in these two locales that the stars of both stage and screen could be found both waiting and busing tables, preparing food and cracking wise with the volunteers and draftees of the Allied Armies. We needn't tell you which of these two establishments Hollywood decided to celebrate on celluloid, but you should know that the film was extremely popular- attached is the review as it appeared in fashion magazine of the time.
STAGE MAGAZINE correspondent Katherine Best was not shy about giving credit where credit was due, as you will read in this article that stands as one big pat on the back for the producers at Warner Brother's for possessing the testicular fortitude needed to launch the first anti-Nazi movie in Hollywood: Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939).
In October of 1940, Charlie Chaplin released his anti-fascist masterpiece: The Great Dictator. Click here to read about that. This printable list of war-themed movies indicates that Hollywood studio heads were all earning their commission stripes in 1943; attached you will find a list of film titles, stars and a one sentence synopsis of the plots.
Which Hollywood actors received draft deferments? The post-World War II film The Best Years of our lives (1947) is attached herein, reviewed by the senior editor of Photoplay: "Of all the films released since August 1945 it best dramatizes the problems of men returning from war and of their families to whom they return...It eloquently preaches the need for veterans to do their share in the adjustment between home and soldier and between employer and returning worker. It eloquently preaches against the ugly attempts of the few to incite in these chaotic days race and religious hatreds. And it eloquently preaches the truth that physical disability need not cripple a man's soul or his opportunities." "The reason the Nazis banned The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse was that it was a political preachment against Hitler 'socialism,' by a man [Fritz Lang] whose films were appreciated by the Germans as true interpretations of the social trends of post-war Germany... Lang's intention in the film was, in his own words, 'to expose the masked Nazi theory of the necessity to deliberately destroy everything which is precious to a people so that they would lose all faith in the institutions and ideals of the State. Then, when everything collapsed, they would try to find help in the new order.' During the last month of 1944 the Yankee movie-goers had a choice of ten new releases to choose from, here are four titles:
• Laura, starring Clifton Webb,
• I'll Be Seeing You, starring Joseph Cotton and Ginger Rogers
• The Doughgirls, starring Jane Wyman and Ann Sheridan
• Mrs. Parkington, starring Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson
Each review is illustrated with thumbnail images of the ten films.
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