We don't really get out all that much. Just a few movies a year. But once we did get out to see the flicks, I noticed a theme that has spanned nearly 70 years. I think Hollywood owes a lot to Adolph Hitler and the Nazi's. Let me explain:
We joined the throngs at the downtown Plaza Theater for the free screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. The suspenseful plot focused on the infiltration of a remnant Nazi organization relocated to South America trying to build an atomic bomb in 1946. Miss Bergman's cover is blown and she nearly dies, but the American agent manages to rescue her at the last moment while foiling the Nazi sympathizer's diabolical plot.
The following week we pay real money to go see George Clooney's The Monuments Men, a Hollywood rendition of a US Army unit composed of art historians, architects and archivists assigned to save the great works of art from theft and destruction by the Nazis in the closing days of World War II - a true story (mostly).
Notorious was released in 1946, The Monuments Men was released in 2013. As a critic, I'd say Mr. Hitchcock did a better job that Mr. Clooney. But what I realy find somewhat fascinating is that 69 years after the surrender of Germany, Hollywood is still finding plenty of material from the Nazi's brief reign of terror to make movies (and profits) all thanks to Adolph Hitler. I got to wondering, and I have really no way of calculating it - but how many movies has Nazi Germany (and the war it started) inspired to be made and released by Hollywood? Just for starters we have everything from Casa Blanca to The Sound of Music, from The Great Escape to the Guns of Navarone. Not to mention Saving Private Ryan or Von Ryan's Express.
It just seems kind of amazing to me that so much cinematic drama came from the Nazis. I think it would be interesting to figure out how much money was made from all of the Nazi-themed films. I have to believe the Nazi party has done much to tangentially support the American movie industry. Weird but true.
We joined the throngs at the downtown Plaza Theater for the free screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. The suspenseful plot focused on the infiltration of a remnant Nazi organization relocated to South America trying to build an atomic bomb in 1946. Miss Bergman's cover is blown and she nearly dies, but the American agent manages to rescue her at the last moment while foiling the Nazi sympathizer's diabolical plot.
The following week we pay real money to go see George Clooney's The Monuments Men, a Hollywood rendition of a US Army unit composed of art historians, architects and archivists assigned to save the great works of art from theft and destruction by the Nazis in the closing days of World War II - a true story (mostly).
Notorious was released in 1946, The Monuments Men was released in 2013. As a critic, I'd say Mr. Hitchcock did a better job that Mr. Clooney. But what I realy find somewhat fascinating is that 69 years after the surrender of Germany, Hollywood is still finding plenty of material from the Nazi's brief reign of terror to make movies (and profits) all thanks to Adolph Hitler. I got to wondering, and I have really no way of calculating it - but how many movies has Nazi Germany (and the war it started) inspired to be made and released by Hollywood? Just for starters we have everything from Casa Blanca to The Sound of Music, from The Great Escape to the Guns of Navarone. Not to mention Saving Private Ryan or Von Ryan's Express.
It just seems kind of amazing to me that so much cinematic drama came from the Nazis. I think it would be interesting to figure out how much money was made from all of the Nazi-themed films. I have to believe the Nazi party has done much to tangentially support the American movie industry. Weird but true.
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