The genre of film that dominated production during World War II was short documentaries called Bugle-call films. These bugler films were so named because they represented a kind of call to arms and rallied support. Bugles are a brass instrument which is used in the military to both “relay messages from the officers to the camps and to assemble leaders and give marching orders.” Metaphorically, Bugler films serve the same purpose. These films were made in order to garner support for the war, inspire others to serve, and educate their respective audiences about the enemy. In many ways the bugler films are propaganda films (like Triumph of the Will) which revere the country and condemn the enemy by using rhetoric, misleading history, and footage found from other films. Stylistically bugler films differ from country to country depending on their stance in the war, their position of power, and their geographical proximity to war zones.
German bugle-call films of this time showed both reverence for Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich but also attempted to garner support by films that show the moral condemnation of Jews. In Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will the tone was of awe of Hitler and of Germany. She used the juxtaposition of Hitler speaking or waving to images of adoring crowds to portray him as a saint like leader who would bring Germany out of the economical downside of World War I and into their rightful position of power. This is done by showing Hitler from high angles and cutting together impassioned speeches. Conversely, Hippler’s The Eternal Jew was a grossly anti-Semitic film that showed footage of the Warsaw ghetto with narrative that concluded that Jews were “an unclean, cheating, parasitic species” (Barnouw). In general, the tone of the documentaries in Germany was of confidant reverence that hoped to sway the people into believing in their cause.
The United States used bugler films much differently than the Germans. Capra’s Why we Fight series was very much geared toward the soldiers and was used for information purposes. He used footage from Triumph of the Will to show the dangers of a mob mentality and it was very Caprian in that it contained an air of hope that we would come out victorious. John Huston’s bugler films however were very different. I’m not sure that you can call The Battle of San Pietro and Let There Be Light bugler films because rather than show the military in this great light he observes the war as it actually is. By showing films that shows the toll of foot soldiers, both mentally and mortally, it allows the audience to see the price of the war in a way that they had never seen.
Bugler films in Britain differed greatly from those produced in Germany and the United States because, rather than showing scenes of war or of leaders, they depicted the struggles of the daily man. The films made by Humphrey Jennings during World War II were more like vignettes about how people were coping with living in a war zone. They contained a tone that felt very much like the “keep calm and carry on” and “Make due and mend” mindset of the time. Rather than showing the bombings or British soldiers fighting, He showed people dancing and soldiers drinking in a pub during their downtime. This was interesting because it attempted to retain a sense of humanity during war.
Overall, the bugle-call films from Germany, Britain, and the United States varied in content, tone, and stylistically. In general, the films made in Germany attempted to portray Hitler and Germany’s power using both a stylistic representation of the war and propaganda against Jews. The United States used history, footage from other bugler films, and a tone of “let’s go save the day” to rally people to support our effort in the war. Britain used a calm everyday observational style that showed how despite the war the people’s spirit would not be broken.