During World War II, Hollywood studios supported the war effort by making patriotic movies designed to raise the nation's morale. They often portrayed the combatants in very simple terms: Americans and their allies were heroes, and everyone else was a villain. Norway, France, Czechoslovakia, and England were all good because they had been invaded or victimized by Nazi Germany. Poland, however, was represented in a negative light in numerous movies. In Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945, M. B. B. Biskupski draws on a close study of prewar and wartime films such as To Be or Not to Be (1942), In Our Time (1944), and None Shall Escape (1944). He researched memoirs, letters, diaries, and memoranda written by screenwriters, directors, studio heads, and actors to explore the negative portrayal of Poland during World War II. Biskupski also examines the political climate that influenced Hollywood films.
Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945
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Review
"Winner of the Oscar Halecki Prize." --
"Named a 2010 Choice Outstanding Academic Title." --
""It will be the reference point from now on with respect to any treatment of Hollywood and Poland, but also of any work done on the OWI and American internal propaganda during WWII." --Frank Turaj, coauthor of The Modern Cinema of Poland" --
""[Hollywood's War with Poland] makes the case that dealing with the Soviet Union... required media spinning and a scapegoat. Biskupski writes that Poland had to be ignored or discredited to salve our American conscience." --New Britain Herald" --
""This book provides a wealth of information on the Roosevelt Administration and his attitude toward Poland." --Polish-American Journal" --
""Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945 is a thoroughly documented study of how Tinsel Town portrayed Poland in films made during World War II." --Polish American Journal" --
""This passionate, carefully researched, richly detailed, well-written study draws fair, persuasive, and important large conclusions from an extremely limited film corpus….Well-reproduced images, copious notes, and a first-rate bibliography provide excellent support and resources for further study. Highly recommended." --Choice" --
""Well-written and well-argued... [and] surprisingly amusing at times... [Hollywood's War With Poland] argues that there was a deliberatre attempt by Hollywood studios to show Poland in a negative light."--NEPCA Journal" --
""HWWP is an essential resource that proves, behond any question, that powerful people, prompted by geopolitical competition and deep hostility worked hard to sully the image of poles, Polish-Americans, and Poland." -- Writing the Polish Diaspora" --
""Biskupski digs deeply into one very important, indeed crucial, time and period of American life to investigate how the American film industry consistently ignored, belittled, and demonized Poland and the Poles, whether in Europe or America." -- Sarmatian Review" --
""Biskupski outlines in impressive detail Hollywood's one-sided, negative portrayal of Poland during this turbulent era." -- American Historical Review" --
""Biskupski meticulously examines the propagandist undertones of an extensive range of Hollywood films and scripts made during the war years, offering a mine of information based on thorough archival research."--Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television" --
About the Author
M. B. B. Biskupski, Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish History at Central Connecticut State University, is the author of many publications, including The Polish Diaspora, Heart of the Nation.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Jan Peczkis
Format:Hardcover
The author has examined numerous WWII-era Hollywood films, evaluated them for their content on Poland (usually absent, seldom neutral or positive, and frequently negative), compared them with portrayals of other Allied nationalities, and diagnosed the reasons for these developments. It all boiled down to how Poles were seen, who had an interest in belittling Poland, and what little capability the Poles had for getting the truth out.
One factor was racism, which was certainly not limited to blacks: "In general the new immigrants were not well received by American society, which regarded them as inferior to the older stock of Americans. In 1902, Woodrow Wilson described Poles, along with Hungarians and Italians, as `men of a meaner sort' possessing `neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence'. They were a `coarse crew', even less desirable than the Chinese. Such views were widespread in American society." (p. 170). Not surprisingly, films were stilted. Blacks, Hispanics, and Poles were virtually absent, Jews and Italians were present, and the Irish were ubiquitous. (p. 188).
Second, Poland's achievements and sufferings had never resonated with Americans: "There was no conspiracy against Poland in wartime America, in part because none was needed. America, in general, was not concerned with Poland. The Poles in America were insignificant." (p. 230).
Third, leading figures in Hollywood were Jews, especially Polish Jews. (pp. 213-on). Some of them nursed old grudges and, in effect, conducted a vendetta against Poland on film. This was notably true of the Warner Brothers, who had been born in Poland under a different name. (pp. 175-176, 218). When confronted, by Polish-American organizations, with the gross distortions of Poles in their films, the Warner Brothers brushed it off and resorted to lie-and-deny tactics. (pp. 101-104).
Fourth, Communists and other leftists had a strong influence in Hollywood. Their job was NOT to promote Communist ideology, but rather to defend Soviet conduct at all times, and to smear anyone who disagrees. (This led to the awkward situation of defending the Nazi-Soviet alliance of 1939-1941: p.63). The demonization of Poland was consistent with this strategy, as well as with the prevailing slavishly pro-USSR policy of FDR. Biskupski lists specific radical leftists who were leaders in the smearing of Poland. (p. 201).
In addition, the leftists were forward-looking in their Poland-defaming tactics. Biskupski writes: "The Russian war effort was not in any way dependent on Americans' thinking that the pre-1939 Polish government was a band of reactionary friends of fascism or that Polish Americans were an obscure community of misfits and incompetents requiring extended processing before becoming fit company for Irish, Italian, and Jewish Americans." (p. 209). Rather, this served to prepare American public opinion for the imposition of the post-WWII Soviet puppet government on Poland.
The fate of the Poles on film contrasts with that of the Irish. The latter successfully repudiated their earlier portrayals as hooligans and drunks, and forced Hollywood to consistently respect them. (pp. 20-21).
Biskupski provides corrective details for the distortions in war films. For instance, the number of Poles killed by 1939 German bombing of Warsaw, or even of the little town of Wielun, dwarfs that of much-mentioned 1940 Rotterdam. (p. 285). When it comes to aerial fighters, the real eagles were not Americans, but Poles. Polish fliers inflicting 3 times the German losses, at a cost of a quarter of the losses, of the Americans. (p. 280). As for secret agents under the German occupation, there were about 40,000 Polish ones against the much-featured 2,500 French agents. (p. 55). Lidice, an oft-featured village in Czechoslovakia, was destroyed by the Germans. In Poland, there were thousands of American-ignored Lidices. (p. 317). Total Polish losses in WWII are in the 4.5-7.5 million range. (p. 298).[Including 3 million Polish Jews.]
This book has disturbing implications for the present. Much has changed. The once poverty-stricken Polish immigrants have given way to a vibrant Polish-American community that is, economically speaking, among the five most successful ethnic groups in America. On the other hand, nothing has changed. The influence of Poles in politics, and popular culture, remains virtually nil. Poles and Poland continue to be defined by Poland's enemies. Americans form their opinions about Poles and Poland based on the pronouncements of anti-Polish Jews, notably in Holocaust materials. Will the Poles ever learn?
One factor was racism, which was certainly not limited to blacks: "In general the new immigrants were not well received by American society, which regarded them as inferior to the older stock of Americans. In 1902, Woodrow Wilson described Poles, along with Hungarians and Italians, as `men of a meaner sort' possessing `neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence'. They were a `coarse crew', even less desirable than the Chinese. Such views were widespread in American society." (p. 170). Not surprisingly, films were stilted. Blacks, Hispanics, and Poles were virtually absent, Jews and Italians were present, and the Irish were ubiquitous. (p. 188).
Second, Poland's achievements and sufferings had never resonated with Americans: "There was no conspiracy against Poland in wartime America, in part because none was needed. America, in general, was not concerned with Poland. The Poles in America were insignificant." (p. 230).
Third, leading figures in Hollywood were Jews, especially Polish Jews. (pp. 213-on). Some of them nursed old grudges and, in effect, conducted a vendetta against Poland on film. This was notably true of the Warner Brothers, who had been born in Poland under a different name. (pp. 175-176, 218). When confronted, by Polish-American organizations, with the gross distortions of Poles in their films, the Warner Brothers brushed it off and resorted to lie-and-deny tactics. (pp. 101-104).
Fourth, Communists and other leftists had a strong influence in Hollywood. Their job was NOT to promote Communist ideology, but rather to defend Soviet conduct at all times, and to smear anyone who disagrees. (This led to the awkward situation of defending the Nazi-Soviet alliance of 1939-1941: p.63). The demonization of Poland was consistent with this strategy, as well as with the prevailing slavishly pro-USSR policy of FDR. Biskupski lists specific radical leftists who were leaders in the smearing of Poland. (p. 201).
In addition, the leftists were forward-looking in their Poland-defaming tactics. Biskupski writes: "The Russian war effort was not in any way dependent on Americans' thinking that the pre-1939 Polish government was a band of reactionary friends of fascism or that Polish Americans were an obscure community of misfits and incompetents requiring extended processing before becoming fit company for Irish, Italian, and Jewish Americans." (p. 209). Rather, this served to prepare American public opinion for the imposition of the post-WWII Soviet puppet government on Poland.
The fate of the Poles on film contrasts with that of the Irish. The latter successfully repudiated their earlier portrayals as hooligans and drunks, and forced Hollywood to consistently respect them. (pp. 20-21).
Biskupski provides corrective details for the distortions in war films. For instance, the number of Poles killed by 1939 German bombing of Warsaw, or even of the little town of Wielun, dwarfs that of much-mentioned 1940 Rotterdam. (p. 285). When it comes to aerial fighters, the real eagles were not Americans, but Poles. Polish fliers inflicting 3 times the German losses, at a cost of a quarter of the losses, of the Americans. (p. 280). As for secret agents under the German occupation, there were about 40,000 Polish ones against the much-featured 2,500 French agents. (p. 55). Lidice, an oft-featured village in Czechoslovakia, was destroyed by the Germans. In Poland, there were thousands of American-ignored Lidices. (p. 317). Total Polish losses in WWII are in the 4.5-7.5 million range. (p. 298).[Including 3 million Polish Jews.]
This book has disturbing implications for the present. Much has changed. The once poverty-stricken Polish immigrants have given way to a vibrant Polish-American community that is, economically speaking, among the five most successful ethnic groups in America. On the other hand, nothing has changed. The influence of Poles in politics, and popular culture, remains virtually nil. Poles and Poland continue to be defined by Poland's enemies. Americans form their opinions about Poles and Poland based on the pronouncements of anti-Polish Jews, notably in Holocaust materials. Will the Poles ever learn?
27 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Darski
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Rest assured, Poland has learned. We were the motor in communism collapse. It was 21 years ago. It takes time to undo hurtful films, publications and stereotypes created by the Soviets.Poland does really care about our reputation, especially regarding our II war era heroism.
Another great publication, which explains soviet propaganda and attepts to discourage Americans from active help to Poland, right after II war is " I saw Poland Betrayed" book by the last US Ambassador, serving its post until 1947- Arthur Bliss-Lane. Russia knew US had influencial American-Jewish organizations, and one of the ways to alienate Poland from international help (especially US), was to smear Poland with antisemitism.
Bliss-Lane made a point, in which the widest known "antysemitic" events were orchestrated by soviet NKWD- same institution responsible for 20K executions style massacre of polish officers and intelligence in Katyn forest.
NKVD-invented "Polish antysemitism", was a fertile ground for Jews, due to their tromendous suffering and psychologcal demage.Unfortunetly, our Jewish friends were misled and fooled and our long friendship dating to XIV century thorn apart.
We will undue all lies and shove it right back to everyone responsible. Wait and see.
Another great publication, which explains soviet propaganda and attepts to discourage Americans from active help to Poland, right after II war is " I saw Poland Betrayed" book by the last US Ambassador, serving its post until 1947- Arthur Bliss-Lane. Russia knew US had influencial American-Jewish organizations, and one of the ways to alienate Poland from international help (especially US), was to smear Poland with antisemitism.
Bliss-Lane made a point, in which the widest known "antysemitic" events were orchestrated by soviet NKWD- same institution responsible for 20K executions style massacre of polish officers and intelligence in Katyn forest.
NKVD-invented "Polish antysemitism", was a fertile ground for Jews, due to their tromendous suffering and psychologcal demage.Unfortunetly, our Jewish friends were misled and fooled and our long friendship dating to XIV century thorn apart.
We will undue all lies and shove it right back to everyone responsible. Wait and see.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Bob Lamming
Format:Hardcover
I've been sensitive to the defamation of the Poles since my 1950s childhood in the Middle West. I've studied and engaged with this subject over decades as an adult.
For whatever it's worth - I am not an expert or a scholar - Hollywood's War is one of the most substantial and cogent works I've seen in this field.
It reminds me of Thomas Gladsky's Princes, Peasants and Other Polish Selves, which I read when it came out twenty years ago - a study of how Poles have been portrayed by non-Polish writers in America.
Both authors demonstrate an impressive command of their subject. However, some differences bear noting.
Biskupski focuses on a narrow period rather than the whole - that of arguably the most cataclysmic event in world history to date, which was nowhere more extreme or tragic than in Poland.
Biskupski addresses a clearly defined subgenre of what Dana Alvi has called "the Polish nation libel," while Gladsky (as I recall after many years) addresses it mostly or entirely in his chapter on post-WW II Jewish fiction.
The most significant difference stands out in the peculiarity of Biskupski's material - motion pictures in their golden age, and at a time of war, when "truth was the first casualty."
The efficiency of this medium in shaping public attitudes far exceeds that of the literary written word. Moreover, these effects are very hard to rectify.
Under such circumstances, the assassination of a national character is an especially repugnant moral transgression, a point which those who've been stung by this issue understand all too keenly.
Biskupski writes with a high degree of clarity and precision. Hollywood's War is rich in well-supported, pithy summations:
* "Hellman's script [of "The North Star," 1943] achieves a double obfuscation" (145-6);
* Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" provides an account that's "not just inaccurate; it is a purposeful effort to present a fraudulent version of the first campaign of the war" (149);
* "The Mask of Demetrios" (1944) "[i]ronically . . . represents exactly the kind of crude racial stereotyping of which the Nazis were guilty . . . . mak[ing] the whole enterprise an elaborate effort, tinged with race propaganda, to present the most repulsive image possible of the Poles" (133).
Many statements of this nature are logically ordered and skillfully turned.
Biskupski watched some 400 full-length movies and burrowed through Hollywood archives I wouldn't have imagined existed, by which means he has probed the minds of Hollywood producers at work - altering a script, adapting a novel, inserting or deleting characters and scenes.
At one point Biskupski presents the results of his survey of a collection of over 1200 cheaply made short films, very popular then with American youth (200). Out of some 3600 characters, not one was Polish.
A lie that's just a falsehood is relatively easy to call attention to and contradict. But a lie that's spun from innuendo and omission is harder to engage.
Furthermore, its ideological consequences are likely to have been subconsciously assimilated. Addressing convictions of this nature can be risky. It requires more explaining than most are willing to put up with, and most normal people will feel antagonized at having their (unexamined) opinions challenged.
Biskupski manages this difficult task comfortably (granted that none of his usual audience is likely to need much convincing). Despite the necessary breadth, complexity and nuance of Biskupski's exposition, the reader experiences no strain.
An overview of the historical context is necessary to determine the accuracy of what came out on film. The early chapter on Poland in WW II may be the best brief summary I've read of this epic - as contrasted with popular stereotypes. Chapter 3, on "Radical Hollywood and Poland," explaining the background of Hollywood's ideology, is superb.
The ever-volatile topic of Polish-Jewish relations is negotiated with competence and sensitivity. As far as I can tell, Biskupski avoids putting his foot into anything incendiary on either side of the line, while simultaneously telling it like it is.
The 98 pages of notes are full of interesting tidbits and revealing explanations. I didn't know that John Paul Jones served as a mercenary to Catherine II of Russia ("a principle architect in the [18th century] destruction of Poland") (309), or that FDR showed his contempt for Poland by appointing as ambassador in 1938 an "Irish political hack . . . who had been jailed twice for corruption" (258).
Two ambassadors appear in the important "Mission to Moscow" (1942). Warner Brothers depicts Davies as "the soul of probity," Grzybowski as "sarcastic . . . duplicitous . . . slippery . . . [and] arrogant" (138). In reality - Biskupski insists, based on his reading of the two diplomats' memoirs - the American was "self serving . . . . intellectually limited . . . [and] ignorant," whereas the Pole was "a man of unusual intelligence [and] discerning judgment . . . who knew Russia well" (291).
I am not a great fan of movies. Sometimes I really enjoy one, but more often I'm disappointed and feel that watching was waste of time, if not actually a degradation of spirit. More and more I sense that all forms of popular entertainment, of which movies are emblematic, have been fashioned to debauch and manipulate the public - a misgiving that's in no way contradicted by Biskupski's argument.
Being a veteran, though, I followed the major Vietnam movies with interest as they came out, one after another, in the 1970s and early 80s.
I happened to watch "The Deer Hunter" twice. It has a minor Polish character who's repugnant and subjected to verbal abuse. In my second viewing - as I recall - on a video cassette, I noted that the most extreme abusiveness against this character had been removed.
The usual complaints from an ever-sensitive Polonia, in this instance anyway, must have won a small concession.
But "Good Morning, Vietnam" really floored me. Well do I remember AFVN, and that cock's crow broadcast at six o'clock every morning. But I was unprepared for the sheer **nastiness** of the juxtaposition between two radio announcers - first an extremely obnoxious Polish-American, then his extremely charming Irish-American replacement.
Biskupski's lengthy analysis of how the Irish have been indulged by Hollywood, of the favored-nation status they long ago won for themselves among Hollywood's Jewish gatekeepers, was an eye-opener for me. It explained an awful lot, not just about the dynamic informing a plot device in one major movie, but also about a recurring, if frequently subtle flavor in the American melting pot.
This brings to mind how the book left me hanging - seemed just a bit incomplete - in one respect.
Why is no mention made of the fact that "Hollywood's War" did not end in 1945, or even change its tactics?
In one of the book's many fine-grained analyses, Biskupski puts his finger on "a particularly nasty gesture . . . . that would be lost on most viewers" (pertaining to a surname honored by Polish Americans, which a 1942 Columbia picture assigned to a "repulsive" character) (196).
Now, there's a scene in Schindler's List (1993) where a Polish cabaret slut performs tenderly before a room full of uniformed SS men. Biskupski describes exactly this same kind of relationship in a film that's set in occupied Norway ("Edge of Darkness," 1943).
In Spielberg's version, a Jewish woman is brutalized in a basement as the Polish camp follower caresses German officers upstairs. The camera moves back and forth, wordlessly conveying an extremely offensive impression.
The uninformed American viewer will accept this scene at its surface value, with nothing further to remark on or remember in it. However - and all the more so because of this - the mud that's been flung will stick.
Spielberg's Polish tramp sings the signature song of a Polish film star of the era - "Milosc ci wszystko wybaczy (Love will forgive you for everything).
This is a perfectly startling - and far more widely viewed -reincarnation of Columbia's "particularly nasty gesture . . . . that would be lost on . . . [all but a very few] viewers" today.
(For a moving account of the actress and vocalist Hanka Ordonowna, see Warsaw: The Cabaret Years, by Ron Nowicki.)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I wonder why Biskupski makes nothing of this seamless continuity. I wonder what his view would be on the feasibility of filling in this enormous blank, of accounting for the past six decades or so of a phenomenon that he dissected with such a sure hand in the 1930s and 40s.
There is another little nuance that didn't quite sit well with me.
After making his case, at the end of his book, Biskupski addresses the obvious question of why. What is the reason for this unmitigated hatchet job on the image of a particular nation?
Biskupski attributes it to a combination of factors.
Most compelling was the administration's need to present the Soviet Union sympathetically to the American public during the war against Nazi Germany. Since both the anti-Polish Soviet alliance with Germany in the first two years of the war and the Soviets' own ethnic cleansing of Poles had been barbaric in the extreme, this presented a problem - calling for an extreme solution.
Next, a very large number of the Hollywood caste were Jews, with family roots in the old Polish region of Eastern Europe. Read more ›
For whatever it's worth - I am not an expert or a scholar - Hollywood's War is one of the most substantial and cogent works I've seen in this field.
It reminds me of Thomas Gladsky's Princes, Peasants and Other Polish Selves, which I read when it came out twenty years ago - a study of how Poles have been portrayed by non-Polish writers in America.
Both authors demonstrate an impressive command of their subject. However, some differences bear noting.
Biskupski focuses on a narrow period rather than the whole - that of arguably the most cataclysmic event in world history to date, which was nowhere more extreme or tragic than in Poland.
Biskupski addresses a clearly defined subgenre of what Dana Alvi has called "the Polish nation libel," while Gladsky (as I recall after many years) addresses it mostly or entirely in his chapter on post-WW II Jewish fiction.
The most significant difference stands out in the peculiarity of Biskupski's material - motion pictures in their golden age, and at a time of war, when "truth was the first casualty."
The efficiency of this medium in shaping public attitudes far exceeds that of the literary written word. Moreover, these effects are very hard to rectify.
Under such circumstances, the assassination of a national character is an especially repugnant moral transgression, a point which those who've been stung by this issue understand all too keenly.
Biskupski writes with a high degree of clarity and precision. Hollywood's War is rich in well-supported, pithy summations:
* "Hellman's script [of "The North Star," 1943] achieves a double obfuscation" (145-6);
* Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" provides an account that's "not just inaccurate; it is a purposeful effort to present a fraudulent version of the first campaign of the war" (149);
* "The Mask of Demetrios" (1944) "[i]ronically . . . represents exactly the kind of crude racial stereotyping of which the Nazis were guilty . . . . mak[ing] the whole enterprise an elaborate effort, tinged with race propaganda, to present the most repulsive image possible of the Poles" (133).
Many statements of this nature are logically ordered and skillfully turned.
Biskupski watched some 400 full-length movies and burrowed through Hollywood archives I wouldn't have imagined existed, by which means he has probed the minds of Hollywood producers at work - altering a script, adapting a novel, inserting or deleting characters and scenes.
At one point Biskupski presents the results of his survey of a collection of over 1200 cheaply made short films, very popular then with American youth (200). Out of some 3600 characters, not one was Polish.
A lie that's just a falsehood is relatively easy to call attention to and contradict. But a lie that's spun from innuendo and omission is harder to engage.
Furthermore, its ideological consequences are likely to have been subconsciously assimilated. Addressing convictions of this nature can be risky. It requires more explaining than most are willing to put up with, and most normal people will feel antagonized at having their (unexamined) opinions challenged.
Biskupski manages this difficult task comfortably (granted that none of his usual audience is likely to need much convincing). Despite the necessary breadth, complexity and nuance of Biskupski's exposition, the reader experiences no strain.
An overview of the historical context is necessary to determine the accuracy of what came out on film. The early chapter on Poland in WW II may be the best brief summary I've read of this epic - as contrasted with popular stereotypes. Chapter 3, on "Radical Hollywood and Poland," explaining the background of Hollywood's ideology, is superb.
The ever-volatile topic of Polish-Jewish relations is negotiated with competence and sensitivity. As far as I can tell, Biskupski avoids putting his foot into anything incendiary on either side of the line, while simultaneously telling it like it is.
The 98 pages of notes are full of interesting tidbits and revealing explanations. I didn't know that John Paul Jones served as a mercenary to Catherine II of Russia ("a principle architect in the [18th century] destruction of Poland") (309), or that FDR showed his contempt for Poland by appointing as ambassador in 1938 an "Irish political hack . . . who had been jailed twice for corruption" (258).
Two ambassadors appear in the important "Mission to Moscow" (1942). Warner Brothers depicts Davies as "the soul of probity," Grzybowski as "sarcastic . . . duplicitous . . . slippery . . . [and] arrogant" (138). In reality - Biskupski insists, based on his reading of the two diplomats' memoirs - the American was "self serving . . . . intellectually limited . . . [and] ignorant," whereas the Pole was "a man of unusual intelligence [and] discerning judgment . . . who knew Russia well" (291).
I am not a great fan of movies. Sometimes I really enjoy one, but more often I'm disappointed and feel that watching was waste of time, if not actually a degradation of spirit. More and more I sense that all forms of popular entertainment, of which movies are emblematic, have been fashioned to debauch and manipulate the public - a misgiving that's in no way contradicted by Biskupski's argument.
Being a veteran, though, I followed the major Vietnam movies with interest as they came out, one after another, in the 1970s and early 80s.
I happened to watch "The Deer Hunter" twice. It has a minor Polish character who's repugnant and subjected to verbal abuse. In my second viewing - as I recall - on a video cassette, I noted that the most extreme abusiveness against this character had been removed.
The usual complaints from an ever-sensitive Polonia, in this instance anyway, must have won a small concession.
But "Good Morning, Vietnam" really floored me. Well do I remember AFVN, and that cock's crow broadcast at six o'clock every morning. But I was unprepared for the sheer **nastiness** of the juxtaposition between two radio announcers - first an extremely obnoxious Polish-American, then his extremely charming Irish-American replacement.
Biskupski's lengthy analysis of how the Irish have been indulged by Hollywood, of the favored-nation status they long ago won for themselves among Hollywood's Jewish gatekeepers, was an eye-opener for me. It explained an awful lot, not just about the dynamic informing a plot device in one major movie, but also about a recurring, if frequently subtle flavor in the American melting pot.
This brings to mind how the book left me hanging - seemed just a bit incomplete - in one respect.
Why is no mention made of the fact that "Hollywood's War" did not end in 1945, or even change its tactics?
In one of the book's many fine-grained analyses, Biskupski puts his finger on "a particularly nasty gesture . . . . that would be lost on most viewers" (pertaining to a surname honored by Polish Americans, which a 1942 Columbia picture assigned to a "repulsive" character) (196).
Now, there's a scene in Schindler's List (1993) where a Polish cabaret slut performs tenderly before a room full of uniformed SS men. Biskupski describes exactly this same kind of relationship in a film that's set in occupied Norway ("Edge of Darkness," 1943).
In Spielberg's version, a Jewish woman is brutalized in a basement as the Polish camp follower caresses German officers upstairs. The camera moves back and forth, wordlessly conveying an extremely offensive impression.
The uninformed American viewer will accept this scene at its surface value, with nothing further to remark on or remember in it. However - and all the more so because of this - the mud that's been flung will stick.
Spielberg's Polish tramp sings the signature song of a Polish film star of the era - "Milosc ci wszystko wybaczy (Love will forgive you for everything).
This is a perfectly startling - and far more widely viewed -reincarnation of Columbia's "particularly nasty gesture . . . . that would be lost on . . . [all but a very few] viewers" today.
(For a moving account of the actress and vocalist Hanka Ordonowna, see Warsaw: The Cabaret Years, by Ron Nowicki.)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I wonder why Biskupski makes nothing of this seamless continuity. I wonder what his view would be on the feasibility of filling in this enormous blank, of accounting for the past six decades or so of a phenomenon that he dissected with such a sure hand in the 1930s and 40s.
There is another little nuance that didn't quite sit well with me.
After making his case, at the end of his book, Biskupski addresses the obvious question of why. What is the reason for this unmitigated hatchet job on the image of a particular nation?
Biskupski attributes it to a combination of factors.
Most compelling was the administration's need to present the Soviet Union sympathetically to the American public during the war against Nazi Germany. Since both the anti-Polish Soviet alliance with Germany in the first two years of the war and the Soviets' own ethnic cleansing of Poles had been barbaric in the extreme, this presented a problem - calling for an extreme solution.
Next, a very large number of the Hollywood caste were Jews, with family roots in the old Polish region of Eastern Europe. Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Review of racist commentary in review #3.
Review # 3 seems to relish in utilizing anti-Polish racist slurs with
no attempt being made at civilized discourse. Read more
no attempt being made at civilized discourse. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Dr. Krzysztof Szymonik, Chairman, Soc. Studies
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read for Several Audiences
MBB Biskupski's "Hollywood's War with Poland: 1939-1945" is a must-buy, must-read and must-keep book for several audiences. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Danusha V. Goska
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