A Divided World: Hollywood Cinema and Emigre Directors in the Era of Roosevelt and Hitler, 1933-1948

This book summarises the key social, political and cultural changes that took place in the USA during the New Deal era, and examines how the Hollywood film community responded. The book also provides a detailed analysis of how the major works of three European directors - Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch - related to those of their mainstream Hollywood colleagues. It explores how the liberal experiments of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal affected the Hollywood film industry and how the reactions of the European directors differed. The book also presents new interpretations of Hollywood's attitudes towards women' rights focusing on the deeply ingrained cultural denigration of women rather than strong female actresses of the time. Smedley presents new information and interpretations of this influential period in American film history that will redefine standard approaches to film history of this era and generate a significant amount of debate, controversy, challenge and further scholarship.