“Cancel my rumba lessons!,” shouts George Sanders playing an English journalist as he and the hero, a U.S. reporter played by Joel McCrea, dash off to capture a Nazi agent headed for the United States in the 1940 thriller Foreign Correspondent. During World War II, the message that it was time to put aside civilian pursuits and team up against the Axis was delivered repeatedly by Hollywood in collaboration with the U.S. government and Allied governments. In One World, Big Screen: Hollywood, the Allies, and World War II, M. Todd Bennett argues that this “transnational cultural exchange” (p. 8) produced a misleading image of Allied unity intended to boost morale and pave the way for postwar cooperation. Wartime films projected the illusion of a global family of brothers, lovers, and paternalistic protectors who embraced U.S. priorities.
The motion picture industry was a natural ally in the projection of...