Citation: Blair, John. "Nazi Cinema as Enchantment: The Politics of Entertainment in the Third Reich." German Quarterly. 78.2 (Spring 2005): pp. 258-259.

In this book review, Blair discusses the way in which O’Brien expresses the Nazi administration’s obligation to cinema as both entertainment and propaganda. O’Brien emphasizes how Nazi Film followed a similar model to that of classical Hollywood cinema through its promotion of identification. In addition, the book review explains that O’Brien presents the fact that “only 153 of the 1,094 feature films produced in Germany during the Third Reich are "generally considered outright propaganda;" (1) thus, the rest of the propaganda film depicted political agenda in a variety of different genres. Through the close scrutiny of thirteen Nazi films, from five different film dramas, O’Brien determines the impact of each genre on German society and the way in which each particular genre excels. When observing films created during wartime, O’Brien ventures to suggest that the state tried to promote different attitudes in correspondence with different periods of the war. In chapter three, O’Brien focuses on Wunschkonzert and its impact on German society. She explains that the film is full of confidence and optimism about the war and life back at home in addition to suggesting the idea of sacrifice and support of the war efforts on the home front.

The article is significant in understanding that Goebbels and the Nazi regime undeniably strove to provide audiences with a source of entertainment during a difficult time in Germany. However, it can not be overlooked that despite the fact that these films, including Wunschkonzert, centered on a story of love and light heartedness, the film proved to audiences that support o f the Nazis and the idea of warfare was crucial in obtaining success and maintaining the morale of Germany in this period and struggle and hardship.

I have always been intrigued by the period of Nazi power in Germany and the way in which Hitler and the Nazi hierarchy influenced the political, cultural, and leisure aspects of German society. Therefore, I choose to study in greater detail a film entitled Wunschkonzert, which was made in 1940 and directed by Borsody. After careful inspection I have concluded that Wunschkonzert can be defined as a Nazi propaganda film which uses the entertainment genre to instill in its audiences a positive sentiment about war in addition to promote a a unifying, optimistic environment back on the home-front.

Paramount
Loew's/MGM
Fox
Warner Bros
RKO and the Minors: Universal, Columbia and United Artists.

The second part goes on to cover ‘The Classic Studio Era 1931-51' when the studios were at their apogee producing hundreds of films every year before the threat of declining audiences (because of urbanisation and competition from TV etc). Although the ranking was virtually the same (except that Gomery couples Disney with its distributor RKO and to the minors, and he adds the B-film factories like Republic and Mongram [noted for churning out westerns and serials etc]), this period also saw the sorry demise of RKO- Radio, destroyed by the mismanagement and regrettable taste of the reclusive Howard Hughes who considered the studio to be his play toy.

The last section covers ‘The Modern Hollywood Studio System' and how the studios were taken over by big business including Rupert Murdoch (Twentieth Century Fox) and huge multi-media conglomerates such as Time Warner AOL (Warner Bros) - these businesses even embracing major TV networks. The ranking now being:

Universal
Paramount
Warners
Twentieth Century Fox
Disney
Columbia and Sony Pictures

There are also sections on the Hays Office and the Academy and unions and agents and a chapter on the rise of Lew Wasserman the Hollywood agent who took Universal into the major league of studios and reinvented the studio system.