Catching up with the very latest in the world of movies. . .
The Big Lift (1950)
 |
It's set against the background of the Berlin airlift. Interesting because it was made so close to the event, I think production began in 1949 just after the airlift ended. We get to see lots of US planes, ruined Berlin and Tempelhof airport feature in many scenes. Apparently all the US personnel in the film, bar the two main characters played by Montgomery Clift as Danny MacCullough and Paul Douglas as Hank Kowalski, were in the USAF and not actors. In a sense it's really a US propaganda film and something of a newsreel/documentary. Even the unit Clift is a member of was a real unit, literally representing itself in the film. The 19th Troop Carrier Squadron, based in Hawaii.
The airlift is the Big Story, ruined Berlin is the background and colour and the human angle is provided by USAF Sgt. Montgomery Clift with the hots for a German bird, Frederica. But *gasp* it turns out she is an eeevil naaazi only interested in Clift to get her to the US so she can reunite with her eeevil naaazi hubby who has somehow infiltrated the US. Don't worry, as soon as her eeevil past is revealed he wants nothing more to do with her. Good to know the US was so hot on resisting the influx of dangerous subversives with German names.
In Berlin we get to see a comic scene in Potsdamer Platz where British and US military police (like the USAF guys, playing themselves) squabble with Soviets over jurisdiction; because this was where the British/Soviet/US Berlin sectors converged. Remember - this was over a decade before the Berlin Wall went up, there were no physical barriers to movement within Berlin. As our characters can move all over the city we get to see other tourist sites - the ruins of the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, a destroyed flak tower are all seen.
Clift also has an interchange with a German spying for the Soviets, or 'Russians' as they both keep saying. The spy counts the number of military flights going into Tempelhof each day. Clift points out that USAF publishes these numbers itself. The spy says the Russians don't trust the USAF numbers which is where he comes in. Furthermore other spies are also counting to check up on him and the USAF in turn. He even mentions getting the numbers slightly wrong to make his data more plausible. If he and all the other spies agreed with each other and the US (by copying the US figures) they would look suspicious. Thus their collective dishonesty makes them look more honest I suppose. And this sort of thing is accurate from what we now know about the Stasi informer network, everyone spying on everyone to the point of absurdity. Of course the paranoia and fear were actually a feature, not a bug. But here it's a comic interlude, to remind us the Russians are really just bumbling fools. Not like the eeeevil naaazis with their cunning infiltration of the US.
Montgomery Clift's character has a buddy [Paul Douglas] who is actually based on the ground at Tempelhof and lives in the city and thus knows his way around Berlin while Clift normally flies in, drops off cargo, and flies out - all in a few minutes. This way we identify with him as the outsider, the visitor, while Douglas is the guide. At one point he gives what amounts to a public information presentation to a visiting journalist about how ground control radar can be used to bring in aircraft safely in fog and night. It's great stuff! Also helpfully reminding the viewer that this is an honest, realistic, depiction of Berlin at the time.
Then we come to what I think is the core moment of the film. This is the propaganda warhead for which the rest of the production is merely an interesting delivery system. It's the Paul Douglas character and his German girlfriend, Gerda, who actually articulate it:
Gerda: Ja, ja you hypocrites, you fought Hitler because he was against the Jews.
Hank: Now wait a minute, that's only one of the reasons.
Gerda: But still you hated him for it. And the Russians say in America Jews are kept out of certain hotels and schools and...
.
Hank: Yeah, you're right, it shouldn't be, it stinks. But where did you find out about it?
Gerda: I read it in a book
Hank: An American book?
Gerda: Ja.
Hank: Where'd you get it?
Gerda: From...a friend.
Hank: Where'd the soldier get it?
Gerda: The PX.
Hank: Look stupid, that's your answer. Here's a book that points out something pretty awful about America but it's written by an American, printed in America, it's a bestseller in America and sent here by the American government to be sold in the PXs.
Gerda: Ja.
Hank: Ja, ja. Look, the next time you're in the Russian sector do me a favour will you, get me a copy of an anti-Russian book, written by a Russian living in Russia, printed in Russia and sent here by the Russian government.
So what's happening here? Well, when they talk about an 'American' book they're talking about a Jewish written book from a Jewish publisher attacking America and of course they mean white America. But, by eliding the jews, the story being framed in this scene is an insidious lie. Then Hank proceeds to go on about the 'Russians' consistently failing to make any mention of the communists, Soviets or the USSR. So another lie is loose in the world. For all I know the USSR did publish anti-Russian books in furtherance of it's internal policy. Five years later the Soviet government would transfer Crimea from Russia to Ukraine. That totally sounds like something the Russian government would do.
Notice something else? The pretty German girl is implied to be a bit of a slut and there she stands in for German women and white women generally. While the other girl in the film is, as already noted, an eeevil naaazi. Sluts or nazis being the only available options it would seem with sluts being being preferable.
I wondered if this book referenced was real? The first thing I turned up was something called Gentleman's Agreement and this seems to fit the bill.
By a certain Laura Z. Hobson:
I can assure you that checking her Early Life, despite her Anglo name, is a pointless formality. But her book is a work of fiction, surely we don't allow ourselves to be swayed by made-up stuff? Published in 1946 in serial form and as a regular novel in 1947, it certainly fits the time frame of the film. Plus it was helpfully selected as a cheap Armed Services edition and thus available at the PX for slutty Gerda's army boyfriend to buy and give to her.
Furthermore it spawned a film itself, same title:
What an impressive turnaround, from magazine serial to bestseller to movie all within two years! No doubt a testament to her hard work, intelligence, and belief in education.
To round up, the film does the fairly obvious by using a cunning mix of near-documentary and emotional story telling. If it's a documentary it must be true. Plus an interesting fictional story to tell us what to feel, we then end up with the ideal propaganda vehicle.
We learn that big hearted Americans are selflessly feeding the surrounded West Berlin. We see that the USAF is highly capable. It is implied that German [white] girls are sluts. Or they are wily naaazis looking to exploit naïve Americans. I think there is another subtle element there as well. Frederica seems to have depth, is bright but dowdy and careworn working on a bombsite. But of course she's an eeevil naaazi who cannot possibly be trusted. While Gerda is seen as a sexy, dumb blonde slut in her leather jacket but not an eeevil naaazi.
We learn that the USA is an anti-semitic society but not afraid to face up to that and change.
We are also constantly reminded that the communists . . . simply do not exist. It's not just Hank in his speech; as far as I can tell the words 'communist', 'communism', 'USSR', 'Soviets', Soviet Union' are never used at any time by anyone. It's all just the 'Russians' who are merely inept fools, nothing to be really concerned about. It's interesting that this film is right in on the ground floor of the Cold War and it's pulling it's punches. As would appear to happen all the way up to 1990. A stark contrast with WW2 propaganda. And, in fact, that's still a feature of this movie with multiple references and concerns about 'nazis'. It's also a telling contrast with the Current Year where anti-Russian bile is perfectly acceptable in the MSM. But that was never a feature of the Cold War era, despite 'Russians' being the nominal baddies they were generally treated respectfully. Of course using 'Russian' as a shorthand for Soviets is one thing but in the context of the spying scene and the Hank/Gerda exchange it's blatant dishonesty.
Comments
Post a Comment