Divide and Conquer

In the third installment of why we fight Hitler's army blitzkriegs through the Ardennes and routs allied forces. More criticism of the European response to rising Fascism is covered as fifth columnists (Quisling, Laval etc.) plot from within (even the US has local German Bunds) to soften the opposition and France capitulates when the Nazis circumnavigate the Marginot Line and enter Paris.

Try as it might in this propaganda effort to show a united front against Fascism, Why We Fight has to enlist the glory of France past invoking Marshall Foch's dictum J'attaque while it downplays its reticence in this conflict that could lead to the decimation of the vulnerable Allied force at Dunkirk. Taking the free French Army to North Africa Charles DeGaulle becomes the face of France while Marshall Petain oversees Vichy and allies with the Nazis.

There's more Fuhrer prevaricating ( what a perfect poster boy for propaganda ) as he invades Holland, Belgium and Norway in preparation for the invasion of Great Britain. The charts and maps displaying his well executed plan to overrun the lowlands of western Europe are both sobering and disturbing as the Germans well oiled war machine looks unstoppable.

For its time Divide and Conquer does an excellent job of explaining and presenting the war and the high stakes involved in clear and concise terms. There is no avoiding the bleakness of the situation but like all the series entries it ends on a note of hope and resolve, in this case provided by the incredible courage of non-combatants ferrying the retreating Allied Army across the English Channel to safety where they would live to fight another day.

It's hard to believe that Americans needed any propaganda in the Second World War to encourage them to support the fight against Nazism. However, up until Pearl Harbour, this was the case. Many Americans took an isolationist attitude, believing that events in Europe were none of their business. Some German-Americans and others formed Bund Societies, actively supporting the Nazi cause! Of course, all this changed on 7 December 1941...

'Divide and Conquer' is rather pale propaganda, intended to stir up American support for the fight against Hitler. While the cause is admirable, this is weak stuff. We see newsreel footage of Hitler making radio speeches in German, calmly assuring Denmark and Holland that they have nothing to fear from Germany. Then we see footage of German ships and tanks invading those nations.

Walter Huston, as the primary narrator, commendably avoids histrionics, but unfortunately reads his lines from a script which requires him to editorialise, telling us how evil and untrustworthy Hitler is. The events ought to speak for themselves. At one point, we are treated to a brief and utterly gratuitous snip of footage depicting bank-robber John Dillinger glowering at the camera, so that Huston can compare Dillinger to Hitler. That's a bad choice: in the 1940s, many Americans considered the late Dillinger a sort of folk hero.

The most interesting parts of this film are the clips of German battle footage, apparently captured by Allied forces. We also see footage of 'undesirables' in occupied France being loaded into tumbrels by their Nazi captors and driven hell-knows-where. What makes this footage powerful is the fact that we see the same faces in more than one shot, forcing us to realise that each of these faces is a specific human being with a real history and a past ... though perhaps not much future.

There are some extremely crude animation sequences, depicting arrows moving across Europe to indicate the Nazi advance. These animations were made very inexpensively, and look it, but perhaps that's a point in their favour. The Nazis spent a huge amount of money on 'Kolberg', a ridiculous propaganda film which required them to divert forces and materiel from the western and eastern fronts. By spending so very little money on 'Divide and Conquer', perhaps the U.S. government was able to spend a bit more on feeding the troops who had to win the war. Bless you all, band of brothers.

'Divide and Conquer' has very little to offer as cinema, and even less to offer as history: if you want to learn about the Second World War, this film is not remotely one of the best places to start. This film has outlived its usefulness ... but only because the Good Guys won that war: a victory which may have happened partially because of the G.I.s depicted in this film. God bless America, but I'm being generous when I rate this dull documentary. Just 4 out of 10, then.

Divide and Conquer (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Frank Capra directed this propaganda film about how Germany struck against the French and brought the country down to nothing more than slaves of Hitler. Out of the three "Why We Fight" films from Capra I'd say I enjoyed this one the most. The generic animated sequences showing Hitler's battle plans might not look the greatest but the information they show makes it easy to see why Germany was such a strong force. Walter Huston narrates.

All of the Capra WW2 films are worth watching as are the John Ford directed ones.