The Silents Go to War

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This book encourages the reader to travel back in time to experience the tumultuous era of silent First World War propaganda films that helped shape America's opinion of the dreaded "Huns." Covering a range of pro-preparedness films versus pacifist films, "Horrible Hun" films, "Kill-the-Kaiser" films, outrageous comedies, thought-provoking war trauma films as well as patriotic documentaries, it documents America's cinematic view of "the war to end all wars."

While a number of articles have been published on First World War propaganda films, few books have featured a comprehensive view of these films, including synopsis, cast, back stories and critical reviews and notes. Here are unusual stories and outrageous plots featuring serpentine Germans (Erich von Stroheim throwing a baby out of a window in 1918's The Heart of Humanity), noble French girls sacrificing their honor for the allied cause (Clara Kimball Young in 1918's The Road Through the Dark), as well as outrageous comedies (1919's Yankee Doodle in Berlin featuring a cross-dressing American flyer seducing the Kaiser and his high command).