Abstract
In the Warner Bros. movie The Fighting 69th directed by William Keighley (1940), men arriving at Camp Mills discover army training akin to the assembly line. A montage sequence shows recruits sequentially receiving inspections, medicals, and uniforms. With a business-like efficiency, officers oversee the martial production line, charging tardy recruits with: “holding up the war!” The film’s model for preparing to go to war reflects Warner Bros.’ corporate and filmmaking factory identity within the studio system era. The movie’s all-male cast demonstrates that the difficulty of preparing women for war was testing the studio’s resourcefulness. Warner Bros.’ movies throughout the 1930s appropriated corporate philosophy to troubleshoot the widening range of problems America faced: The Great Depression, political turmoil, rising crime, and the growing strength of belligerent nations.1 Often these social problem films feature male and female characters together negotiating the issues of the day. Presenting women in war pictures though can pose more problems than it solves.2
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Films
The Fighting 69th. Directed by William Keighley. USA, 1940.
Kathleen Mavourneen. Directed by Charles Brabin. Perf. Theda Bara. USA, 1919.
Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry. Directed by Alfred E. Green. USA, 1937.
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© 2014 Karen A. Ritzenhoff and Jakub Kazecki
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Miller, R.S. (2014). No Women! Only Brothers. In: Ritzenhoff, K.A., Kazecki, J. (eds) Heroism and Gender in War Films. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137360724_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137360724_5
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