Hill of Beans, Etc.

Fishko Files | Aug 27, 2020

In the run-up to the election, we’re all listening to speeches - and many of them are grappling with the very idea of America: what do we want America to be? This episode of Fishko Files goes back to the World War II era, when, as WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, Hollywood movies were asking the same question - or rather, answering it.

Jeanine Basinger's The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre, David Welky's The Moguls and the Dictators, and Thomas Doherty's Projections of War are available online.

Some of the films mentioned are available to stream, including:

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Great Dictator (1941)
Casablanca (1943)
Watch on the Rhine (1943)

Fishko Files with Sara Fishko

Assistant Producer: Olivia Briley
Mix Engineer: Wayne Shulmister
Editor: Karen Frillmann

Be alert for scams. WNYC never asks for nor accepts money for coverage or interviews. Anyone making such a request does not represent WNYC.

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