The Brothers Warner Page #7

and make their anti-Nazi film.

Because now they were making a film

about a real case. It was an FBI story.

They flew out one of their Writers...

...to watch the trial in New York.

They then signed up Leon Turrou...

...Who had been the FBI agent

Who broke the case.

And Turrou flew out to Los Angeles

as a consultant...

...Where he Wrote in a number of articles

how impressed he was...

...by the Warner brothers.

and by the real dedication of the studio...

...and everyone involved with

the production to make an anti-Nazi film.

That information concerned only

enemies of our party and our Fuhrer.

Your Fuhrer?

I thought you said

you were a loyal American?

I am.

They came under tremendous pressure

not to make this movie.

A number of actors turned down parts...

...because they feared

that there would be Nazi reprisals...

...against families that were still living

in Germany or Austria...

...or any of the occupied lands.

The German council came to the studios,

came to Will Hays...

...and threatened that Germany

would boycott all Hollywood films...

...if they allowed the Warner Bros. movie

to be released.

Warners got tremendous pressure

from other studio heads who said:

"Look, you're really endangering

our well-being by making this movie."

And perhaps the worst was,

Jack Warner came home one day...

...and there was a big envelope

that had come in the mail...

...and when he opened it up,

he found a blueprint of his home.

And inside was a letter saying,

"We know where you live."

And so the message was clear,

"Don't make the movie"...

...but they made it anyway.

Germany invades Poland

and the Free State of Danzig.

Efforts and hopes of diplomats

for peaceful settlement...

...are transformed into the roar of gunfire.

Warsaw is bombed, blasted and shelled.

Poland is in ruins.

People were isolationist

for the most part.

The polls that Were taken:

"We don't wanna have anything to do

with what was happening in Europe."

I don't Wanna be no corporal.

- What's that?

- I don't Wanna be no corporal.

- Why not?

- Wait a minute, captain, let him talk.

Well, you see, I--

Is it because of your religious convictions,

York?

Yes, sir, that's it.

- You're a religious man, York.

- Yes, sir.

- You Want to Worship God in your own Way.

- Yes sir.

- You're a farmer.

- Yes, sir.

You wanna plow your fields

as you see fit...

...and raise your family

according to your own rights.

And that's your heritage and mine.

Every American's.

But the cost of that heritage is high.

Sometimes it takes all we have

to preserve it.

Even our lives.

How you going to answer that, York?

Wow.

You done give me a powerful lot

to be a-thinking about.

Well, take your time.

We all know that the fight

against intolerance...

...did not end

with the armistice of 1 91 8.

It may never end.

It has been Well and truly said...

...that eternal vigilance

is the price of liberty.

In 1941, Harry was called

before a Senate subcommittee...

...to testify about using motion pictures

as propaganda...

...and charged with creating hysteria

by inciting Americans to go to war.

In defense of Warner Bros. films,

he responded:

"The only crime we are guilty of

is accurately portraying reality."

A week later,

the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor...

...and the charges were dropped.

The brothers dedicated all

the studio resources to the war effort...

...and made training films for soldiers.

It' s been a wonderful evening

and I' d like to stay some more.

But I gotta get a move on now.

I sail at half past 4.

Heil. That troop ship bound for Africa

pulls out at half past 4.

Good evening, Hollywood Canteen.

The brothers recruited

Hollywood's biggest stars...

...to support the troops and to raise

millions of dollars in war bonds.

The only way you can see the Canteen is

to join the Army, the Navy, the Marines.

Even Casablanca rallied

Americans to join the fight against fascism.

All right, major, you asked for it.

Bogart is the archetypal American

Who has to be persuaded...

...in one way or another that

you need to engage with the war.

That you need to engage in the fight

against fascism and Nazism.

You have any idea what

you'd look forward to if you stayed?

Nine chances out of 10,

We'd Wind up at a concentration camp.

- Isn't that true, Louie?

- Major Strasser Would insist.

You're saying this only....

Casablanca, of course, is the

greatest romantic melodrama ever made...

...and it has this character at the center...

...who is very bitter and very cynical

about everything...

...Who ultimately is redeemed...

...by love and by the noble effort

of the Second World War.

Although Casablanca reflected

Harry's convictions about fighting fascism...

...it was Jack who ultimately

took the Oscar for it.

Hal Wallis, the producer of Casablanca

and many other top Warner Bros. films...

...rose to accept his Best Picture Oscar...

...only to see Jack Warner

make a beeline to the stage...

...before he could even get to the aisle.

In Wallis' words,

"I couldn't believe it was happening.

Casablanca had been my creation.

Jack had absolutely

nothing to do with it."

Let me tell you about

Jack Warner's editing skills.

I knew one of his first editors,

and he said, "He was the kind of a guy...

...it's gotta be his way.

He's always right."

I said, "How did you get around that?"

He says, "I would cut the day's work...

...and I'd always have one obvious flub.

I mean, obvious, Eddie.

Anybody who didn't know

about the picture business would see it...

...and say, 'Hold it!

What the hell are you, crazy?

Didn't you see that?

Fix that, goddamn it.

And he wouldn't bother with anything else

and I loved that because it was my cut."

In Los Angeles,

vast crowds hail France's thanks...

...for America's Friendship Food Train.

Highlight of the ceremonies,

the presentation to Harry M. Warner...

...of a torch lighted from the eternal flame

at the tomb of France's unknown soldier.

National chairman of

the American Friendship Food Train...

...Mr. Warner expresses the hope...

...that these examples

of international brotherly love...

...may be the forerunners

of peace on earth...

...and goodwill toward all men

among all the peoples of the world.

In 1934, When people,

never mind What their faith is...

...that is immaterial, were persecuted

and executed, that we didn't rise.

Had we have risen at that time,

there would have been no war.

If 500 or 600,000 dogs

Were being executed in Germany...

...I'm positive that the World

Would have risen.

But, oh, no. We hear arguments

about isolationists...

...about everything under the sun...

...except making a home

for those that were persecuted.

When he heard that they were thinking...

...of taking all the Jews out of Germany

and bringing them to Israel...

...he said, "This is not a good idea.

This is a place that is now inhabited

by both Arabs and Jews...

...and this is not a place, really, that they

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