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Wednesday, March 23, 2022

CRISIS: THE NAZI WAY (1939) LIGHTS OUT IN EUROPE (1940)

First on the ground in Czechoslovakia with a documentary look at the coming Nazi invasion, Herbert Kline, partnered with cinematographer Alexander Hammid, followed with a warning from Britain & Poland on the fast-approaching war with Germany.  Depressingly timely in light of current events (Russia/Ukraine), history repeating itself rarely so obvious or ghastly.  The two films, each a bit over an hour, are solidly built from non-staged material in a traditional manner (not the time for Ruskie-styled Dziga Vertov constructivism), while the opening of the first film, CRISIS, using imaginative map graphics & animated political logos surely influenced Frank Capra in the WHY WE FIGHT? series.* And CRISIS must have made an impression with Hollywood movers & shakers as LIGHTS OUT adds star power bringing in Fredric March to read narration by James Hilton, plus Douglas Slocombe shooting alongside Hammid.  Much unique footage here, particularly in the complicated political situation in Czechoslovakia with German speaking Czechs taking sides as patriots or pro-Nazi sympathizers.  In the next film, the divide is focused between appeasers (an overwhelming majority at first) and those standing in the Winston Churchill camp.  And in Poland, a late response to events that now seem painfully obvious.  (Though would it have made a difference?)  Even knowing the outcome of all these events doesn’t lessen the tragic interest in this nearly lost footage, recently restored by MoMA.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: As mentioned, WHY WE FIGHT?  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/11/why-we-fight-1942-45.html

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