About Film #3: My Italian Secret
Filmmaker Rüdiger Suchsland suggests that the Third Reich was essentially an immersive movie starring the German nation, produced and directed by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Hitler’s Hollywood collages key films from the more than 1000 features the Nazis produced from 1933-1945: musicals, melodramas, romances, costume dramas, war films – and when the real war got tough, insanely lavish, over-the-top fantasies. The German volk were portrayed as happy and sporty with lives of exaggerated cheerfulness or, conversely, full of morbid yearning for a death that would serve the Fatherland. Hannah Arendt gives perspective and context: “One of the chief characteristics of modern masses… (is) they do not trust their eyes and ears, but only their imaginations. What convinces masses are not facts, not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the illusion.” It’s a frightening insight that could just as easily apply to the American political landscape today. – Karen Cooper, Film Forum
“There’s a great deal to process and absorb here. We are the images we make of ourselves and our times, for better or worse.”
–Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“Hitler’s Hollywood” is a nightmare and a warning in the least expected package: a cinema studies crash-course. It’s up to us in the audience to learn from it.”
–Jordan Hoffman, Times of Israel
“A sad story all around.”
–Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“The most charged implication of “Hitler’s Hollywood” is that artistry enabled the Third Reich.”
–Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times
The Pizitz Parking Deck entrance is located on the corner of 1st Avenue North & 18th Street North.
Parking Rates (cash or credit card):
0-2 hours FREE
2-3 hours $5
3-4 hours $10
Metered parking is available throughout most of downtown. Paying the meter is only required between the hours of 8:00am and 6:00 pm, Monday-Friday, making street parking free in the evenings and on weekends.
Your Contribution
Preserves Their Legacy