Before America's entry into the war, Hollywood did not have a particularly distinguished record in the fight against fascism. Few films were made explicitly criticising the German or Italian regimes. There was one film, "Blockade", about the Spanish Civil War, but it nails its colours so firmly to the fence that it is impossible to tell whether it was made from a pro-Franco or anti-Franco viewpoint. After 1939 the British contingent in Hollywood- Chaplin in "The Great Dictator", Hitchcock in "Foreign Correspondent", Korda in "That Hamilton Woman"- took up the cause of their mother country, but their efforts were not appreciated by the influential isolationist movement. According to one story Korda was summoned to appear before an angry Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was only excused attendance when the attack on Pearl Harbour took place a few days before his scheduled appointment. (To be fair to America, in the years before 1939 the British film industry could be equally pusillanimous when it came to appeasing Hitler. Hitchcock wanted to set "The Lady Vanishes" from 1938 in Nazi Germany, but the on the insistence of the studio this became an unnamed Central European dictatorship).
Frank Borzage's "The Mortal Storm" is one of the few exceptions, and "Three Faces West" is another. Both films were made in 1940, after the outbreak of war but before America entered it. Karl Braun, a Viennese doctor, and his daughter Leni arrive in America as refugees after the Nazi takeover of Austria. They move to a small Western farming town to provide much-needed medical services. Exactly where the town is situated seems to be a matter of debate, with some reviewers on here stating that it is in North Dakota and others plumping for Oklahoma. It probably doesn't matter; Hollywood scriptwriters often had a rather hazy idea of the geography of anywhere east of the Sierra Nevada.
The town has been badly hit by drought, soil erosion and dust storms, phenomena which affected many areas in the Plains states during the 1930s. The Department of Agriculture persuade the townspeople to move en masse to make a new start in Oregon. The film then becomes essentially a modern-day Western, a 20th century version of all those old wagon train stories with cars taking the place of covered wagons, as it follows the townsfolk on their journey. (John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath", another tale of climate refugees from the Dust Bowl making their way west, also came out in 1940).
Another strand in the plot deals with the romance that grows up between Leni and John Phillips, the leader of the townspeople on their great trek. At first it appears that their is an obstacle to their love. Leni is already engaged to Eric, a young man she knew in her days in Austria. Although she loves John, she believes that she owes Eric a debt of honour because he risked his life to help her and her father escape to America. Her dilemma, however, is quickly resolved; when she meets Eric again, he reveals that he has (rather improbably) renounced his former liberal ideals and enthusiastically embraced Nazism. It becomes clear that he and Leni are not for one another, and Eric is sent on his way with the Doctor's prophetic words foretelling the downfall of the Nazi Reich ringing in his ears.
I was rather surprised to discover that a film with a liberal political message starred that great Hollywood conservative, John Wayne, who appears here as Phillips. Of course, not all conservatives in 1940 were necessarily isolationists or pro-German- another famously right-wing actor, James Stewart, starred in "The Mortal Storm"- but I doubt if Wayne relished being directed by Bernard Vorhaus, who was known for his communist sympathies, for which he was later to be blacklisted. Perhaps in 1940 Wayne was not yet a big enough star to pick and choose who he would work with.
"Three Faces West" is not a film in the same class as either "The Mortal Storm"or "The Grapes of Wrath", both of which have more gripping plots and more detailed characterisation. It is mostly interesting today as an example of a film which it bucked the isolationist trend which was so widespread in Hollywood in the days before Pearl Harbour. 6/10/ (5/10 for the movie, with a bonus point for political courage).
Frank Borzage's "The Mortal Storm" is one of the few exceptions, and "Three Faces West" is another. Both films were made in 1940, after the outbreak of war but before America entered it. Karl Braun, a Viennese doctor, and his daughter Leni arrive in America as refugees after the Nazi takeover of Austria. They move to a small Western farming town to provide much-needed medical services. Exactly where the town is situated seems to be a matter of debate, with some reviewers on here stating that it is in North Dakota and others plumping for Oklahoma. It probably doesn't matter; Hollywood scriptwriters often had a rather hazy idea of the geography of anywhere east of the Sierra Nevada.
The town has been badly hit by drought, soil erosion and dust storms, phenomena which affected many areas in the Plains states during the 1930s. The Department of Agriculture persuade the townspeople to move en masse to make a new start in Oregon. The film then becomes essentially a modern-day Western, a 20th century version of all those old wagon train stories with cars taking the place of covered wagons, as it follows the townsfolk on their journey. (John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath", another tale of climate refugees from the Dust Bowl making their way west, also came out in 1940).
Another strand in the plot deals with the romance that grows up between Leni and John Phillips, the leader of the townspeople on their great trek. At first it appears that their is an obstacle to their love. Leni is already engaged to Eric, a young man she knew in her days in Austria. Although she loves John, she believes that she owes Eric a debt of honour because he risked his life to help her and her father escape to America. Her dilemma, however, is quickly resolved; when she meets Eric again, he reveals that he has (rather improbably) renounced his former liberal ideals and enthusiastically embraced Nazism. It becomes clear that he and Leni are not for one another, and Eric is sent on his way with the Doctor's prophetic words foretelling the downfall of the Nazi Reich ringing in his ears.
I was rather surprised to discover that a film with a liberal political message starred that great Hollywood conservative, John Wayne, who appears here as Phillips. Of course, not all conservatives in 1940 were necessarily isolationists or pro-German- another famously right-wing actor, James Stewart, starred in "The Mortal Storm"- but I doubt if Wayne relished being directed by Bernard Vorhaus, who was known for his communist sympathies, for which he was later to be blacklisted. Perhaps in 1940 Wayne was not yet a big enough star to pick and choose who he would work with.
"Three Faces West" is not a film in the same class as either "The Mortal Storm"or "The Grapes of Wrath", both of which have more gripping plots and more detailed characterisation. It is mostly interesting today as an example of a film which it bucked the isolationist trend which was so widespread in Hollywood in the days before Pearl Harbour. 6/10/ (5/10 for the movie, with a bonus point for political courage).