Anatole Litvak

The third chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series picks up after Britain and France declare war on Germany. It follows the Nazi capture of Denmark and Norway, the conquest of Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and the collapse of France in just over a month. The film pays blunt attention to Nazi atrocities, including the bombing of Rotterdam, and explains the German tactic of flooding roads with refugees to slow Allied armies. Made for the U.S. War Department, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

The first chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series, made for the U.S. War Department to explain to soldiers and the public why the country was at war. The film frames World War II as a struggle between the "slave world" of the Axis dictatorships and the "free world" of American liberty, tracing the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, and Japanese militarism through archival footage and animated maps. Walter Huston narrates. The series was supervised by Capra, then a major in the Army Signal Corps, who drew on captured enemy footage and Hollywood editing techniques to make propaganda that played like a feature film. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

The fourth chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series is devoted to the British stand against Germany in 1940, from the fall of France through the Luftwaffe's campaign to destroy the Royal Air Force and the Blitz that followed. The film argues that the Royal Air Force's refusal to break saved Britain and, by extension, the possibility of a liberated Europe. It blends British combat footage with captured German material and animated maps. Made for the U.S. War Department. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

The sixth chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series explains Japan's long ambition to conquer China. It covers the invasion of Manchuria, the fall of Nanking, and the Chinese resistance that unified a fractured country against a foreign enemy. The film highlights the Burma Road, the seven-hundred-mile supply route the Allies built over the mountains to keep the Chinese army fed and armed, and argues that Japan's frustration in China drove it toward the Pacific and the United States. Made for the U.S. War Department. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

The fifth and longest chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series covers the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the Red Army's defense. Co-directed by the Russian-born Anatole Litvak, the film recounts seven hundred years of failed invasions of Russia, then traces the Nazi advance to the gates of Moscow and Leningrad and the turning point at Stalingrad. Released two years before the Cold War, it portrays the Soviet people sympathetically as allies. Walter Huston narrates, with a score by Dimitri Tiomkin drawing on Tchaikovsky and Russian folk song. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

The second chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series covers Adolf Hitler's plan for world conquest and Germany's march across Europe. From the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia through the invasion of Poland that triggered the British and French declarations of war, the film lays out the Nazi strategy of "softening up" future targets with political subversion before striking militarily. It uses captured German footage alongside Allied material. Made for the U.S. War Department, it was shown to troops heading overseas and then to the public. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary

The seventh and final chapter of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series tells the story of America's slide into the war it had spent years trying to avoid. It traces the rise of isolationism and the German-American Bund, the growth of American industry and the draft as war grew inevitable, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that ended the argument. The film is both a defense of American values and an argument that those values could not survive a world ruled by the Axis. Made for the U.S. War Department. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the film is in the public domain.

War · Documentary