Why We Fight: Prelude to War

"The US government puts the finger on the United Nations' enemies"

1942 0h 53m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 74

DocumentaryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.

“The US government puts the finger on the United Nations' enemies”

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Cast

Walter Huston
Self - Narrator (voice)
Max Schmeling
Self - German paratrooper (archive footage)
Adolf Hitler
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Frank Capra
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 53-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

84 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Part of the "Why We Fight" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Frank Capra, shot by Robert Flaherty. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor William Hornbeck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Walter Huston and Max Schmeling and Adolf Hitler carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The US government puts the finger on the United Nations' enemies".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Frank Capra directs. Robert Flaherty behind the camera. William Hornbeck cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 53-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
284 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Part of the "Why We Fight" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by Frank Capra, shot by Robert Flaherty. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor William Hornbeck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Walter Huston and Max Schmeling and Adolf Hitler carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The US government puts the finger on the United Nations' enemies".
9IMDB entry: tt0035209 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 74 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Flaherty
Editing: William Hornbeck
Runtime: 53 min · 0h 53m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Why We Fight: Prelude to War (1942)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Why We Fight

Frank Capra's WWII Propaganda Films.

Also by

Frank Capra

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-10-26
★ 6/10
Crafted by Frank Capra at the instigation of General Marshall, this is a bit more sophisticated that the usual propaganda exercise Hollywood produced following the raid on Pearl Harbour. This time it uses an effective array of archive to not so much extol the virtues of the great American war machine as to chronologically vilify the axis powers. There’s not so much actual footage of the Emperor but they still manage to illustrate the processes of Japanese expansion through Korea, Manchuria and eventually Shanghai. Mussolini and Hitler provide much more fertile territory for the filmmakers as they use film and animated maps to demonstrate the salami tactics of the Italians in Ethiopia and the Nazis in Austria and Czechoslovakia. By 1942 the war in Europe was essentially the British against pretty much everyone else, there was little stopping the Japanese in the Far East and a grand design is presented here to show how a plan to conquer the world could easily emerge from these geographically unrelated theatres of war. It’s narration is more informative than jingoistic and after it’s all but one hour duration I actually felt more informed than indoctrinated, especially as some of the speechifying from Hitler showed us clearly just how megalomaniac the man really was. Much of the content isn’t especially new, but it’s still worth a watch, I’d say.

Production companies