Why We Fight - The Nazis Strike (1943) - Video On Demand

Why We Fight - The Nazis Strike - Movie Review

The Nazis Strike (1943) was the second film of Frank Capras Why We Fight propaganda film series. The film introduces Germany as a nation whose aggressive ambitions began in 1863 with Otto von Bismarck and with the Nazis as their latest incarnation. Hitlers war machine sweeps into Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. A disturbing look at the relentless enslavement of a continent by the forces of fascism.

The Nazi Strike was the second of Col. Frank Capra's government-ordained Why We Fight series. This hard-hitting documentary artfully assembles existing stock footage to trace the rise of Adolf Hitler and his thirst for world conquest. Virtually wresting the German government from more moderate politicos, Hitler installs a dictatorship. Having subjugated the Jewish citizens in his own country, Der Fuhrer moves onto the Rhineland and Austria, and demands the annexation of Czechoslovakia. Despite his assurances of peace in our time, Hitler marches into Poland. World War II is the undesirable but inevitable end result. Like all the Why We Fight films, The Nazi Strike was designed to clarify the meaning and importance of the war effort to the average GI.

A considerable variety of visual and audio resources are used in these compiled documentaries—very nearly the full range conceivable. Visuals in The Nazis Strike, for instance, include, in addition to newsreel footage, excerpts from the Nazi's Triumph of the Will, Hitlerjunge Quex, and Baptism of Fire; bits of staged action (the victims of firing squads); still photos, drawings and maps; animated diagrams (animation by the Walt Disney Studio); and printed titles (Hitler's pronouncements). The sound track includes two narrators (Veiller for the factual, Huston for the emotional), quoted dialogue (Churchill, and an impersonation of Hitler), music (by one of Hollywood's best), and sound effects.

Why We Fight - The Nazis Strike - Cast & Crew

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