Russia on Their Mind: How Hollywood Pictured the Soviet Front

When the United States and the Soviet Union joined forces in World War II, Hollywood undertook an international mission of daunting complexity. Invaded by the Germans in June 1941, the Soviet Union ceased being the Third Reich’s willing partner under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and became the Allies’ most important, neediest ally, suffering the brunt of the Germans’ attack along the war’s lone European front. 1 Because this enemy-turned-ally remained suspect to the American public, the Roosevelt administration, through its new Office of War Information, appealed to the film industry to improve Russia’s image, “to humanize [its people] and whitewash Stalinism.” 2 After decades of caricaturing or demonizing the Soviet Union, Hollywood somehow had to sell American moviegoers a sympathetic and compelling Soviet experience.

Duke Scholars

Author Beth Holmgren Slavic & Eurasian Studies