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IMAGINARY WITNESS:HOLLYWOOD AND THE H - DVD Movie
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Imaginary Witness ... Hollywood & the Holocaust ... KOCH Lorber Films (2008)",
This review is from: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (DVD)
Koch Lorber Films presents "IMAGINARY WITNESS: HOLLYWOOD AND THE HOLOCAUST" (25 December 2007) (92 mins/B&W/Color) (Dolby Digital) --- This is an expertly made documentary on Hollywood, not just how they handled one topic, but how they are embroiled in current politics --- There will be some surprises to some moviegoers and clips from some relatively unknown gems, some of which I have never seen and will now seek out! --- Otherwise, I have to give this documentary a big thumbs up --- Narrated by Gene Hackman and featuring a remarkable series of clips and interviews, IMAGINARY WITNESS is a revelation, not least for its large inclusion of material from BEFORE the Holocaust even happened, including American newsreel footage of Nazi book burning that treat it like a fraternity prank and pre-war Hollywood films in which characters refer to Jews as non Aryans --- This is one documentary not to be missed.
Under the production staff of: Daniel Anker Director, Producer Andrew Barrett Score Composer Ellin Baumel Producer Diana Holtzberg Executive Producer Tom Hurwitz Cinematographer Susan Kim Co-producer Jan Rofekamp Executive Producer Nancy Schreiber Cinematographer Brad Shaw Editor Story line and plot, This is what Hollywood needed to do -and what not- to expose Nazi Germany's intentions --- It is a well-documented film with great interviews and original footage to prove that cinema can be used to fight for the right and wrong of world events --- In my book this is a great film to illustrate how everyone turned their back on what Hitler was doing against the Judaism --- Nevermore, please --- Some of the raw footage is missing when American troops discovered the death camps --- However, the narration accomplished the feelings of those who were watching back then --- Produced for the cable television network American Movie Classics, Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust was premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. the cast includes: Gene Hackman ... Narrator Ben Kingsley Liam Neeson Norma Barzman ... Herself Michael Berenbaum ... Himself Robert Berger ... Himself Tom Brokaw ... Himself (voice) (archive footage) Robert Clary ... Himself Dan Curtis ... Himself Michael Dunn ... (archive footage) Stanley Frazen ... Himself Neal Gabler ... Himself Annette Insdorf ... Herself ) Sidney Lumet ... Himself Branko Lustig ... Himself Abby Mann ... Himself Gene Reynolds ... Himself Sharon Rivo ... Herself Irene Sachs Vincent Sherman ... Himself Steven Spielberg ... Himself Martin Starger ... Himself Rod Steiger ... Himself George Stevens Jr. ... Himself Malvin Wald ... Himself Fritz Weaver ... Himself Great job by Koch Lorber Films --- looking forward to more high quality titles from the International Collection Film Market --- order your copy now from Amazon or Koch Vision where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector. Total Time: 92 mins on DVD ~ KOCH Lorber Films ~ (01/13/2009)
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Traces the history of Holocaust portrayal in Hollywood movies,
This review is from: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (DVD)
I found this documentary to be a compelling watch. It begins with an explanation for the lack of portrayal in Hollywood movies about the rising Nazi threat back in the early 1940s. The reason for this was due to the fact that Germany accounted for 10% of Hollywood's foreign market. But economics wasn't the only reason for the dearth of anti-Nazi depictions in movies made by Hollywood. There was quite a bit of anti-semitism within the US itself - e.g. the Ku Klux Klan and the German Bunde [sic], an organization that was based in the US and represented the interests of the sizable German population in the States did not want to see attacks on Hitler or the Nazis.
Yet, there were some compelling portrayal of life under the Nazis and how it affected the Jews. Movies like The Mortal Storm with Jimmy Stewart told the story of a respectable, upper middle class Jewish family in Germany and how the anti-semitic movement in Germany under Hitler and the Nazis affects them. There are also movies like The great Dictator starring Charlie Chaplin [who funded the movie himself], playing dual roles of a Jewish barber and a parody of Hitler. It was in the Great Dictator that the word "Jew" is first referenced in a Hollywoood production [even in the Mortal Storm, the phrase "non-Aryan" is used when referencing Jews]. This is a well-researched documentary and for someone like me who is keen on anything to do with the Holocaust and WW II history, I found it to be a minefield of interesting historical facts and trivia. I made a list of classic movies that I plan to look up and add to my library - movies like "To Be or Not to Be", starring Carole Lombard [a comedic attack on Nazi ideology], None Shall Escape [1944], The Search [1948], and Singing in the Dark [1956]. Besides covering the classic movies dealing with the Holocaust, there are also references to more contemporary productions such as Schindler's List, Sophie's Choice, War and Remembrance [1988 mini-series], and of course Holocaust [1978 mini-series]. A must-watch documentary for those interested in the Holocaust and Hollywood's depiction of it through the years.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How we view the Holocaust,
By
This review is from: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (DVD)
"Imaginary Witness" is an interesting although somewhat slight documentary about how Hollywood films have dealt with the Holocaust. The documentary starts with the 1920s and discusses the uneasy relationship between Hollywood studios, which were run largely by Jewish Americans, and Germany, which was an eager consumer of films, contributing up to 10% of American film studio's grosses. The Jewish-led studios were nervous about offending Germany while also wanting to avoid anti-semitism in the United States and accusations of bias, so negative depictions of Germany and later Hitler were rare in Hollywood films until the U.S. entered WWII.
Even during the war, films often avoided addressing issues of the Holocaust directly; for example, one of the most daring anti-Nazi films of the time, "The Mortal Storm," never used the term "Jew" at all! After the war, the studio heads toured Germany and filmed the death camps, playing the footage as newsreels before films. At that point, they really lead the way in terms of speaking of the Holocaust, yet it would be decades before Hollywood films tackled the topic fully. Using interviews with top Hollywood filmmakers such as Sidney Lumet and Steve Spielberg, "Imaginary Witness" explores the reasons for this lag. Although there have been dozens of documentaries in recent years that have explored seemingly more "important" aspects of the Holocaust, "Imaginary Witness" makes an intriguing argument. To wit, most American's understanding of the Holocaust is vis a vis films! How many of us think of "Schindler's List," for example, when we think of Nazi atrocities? For many of us, our personal connections to the Holocaust are through Hollywood films. The newsreel footage shows nameless thousands of victims, but our connection is stronger to someone like Meryl Streep's character in "Sophie's Choice" because we know her story. The specific is always more powerful than the general, and Hollywood films have, for better or worse, usually supplied our "specifics" with regard to the Holocaust. I ended up learning a great deal more from this documentary than I anticipated, even though I had seen most of the Hollywood films it discusses - "Imaginary Witness" is a well-crafted documentary.
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