Many American films were sponsored and produced by government agencies . However , the Hollywood film industry turned out many war-related feature films without direct government involvement , such as Howard Hawks ’ s Sergeant York ( 1941 ), for which Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Oscar , Guadalcanal Diary ( 1943 ), and , of course , Casablanca ( 1942 ). Escapist entertainment films and screwball comedies , often depicting women torn between love and marriage or career , prevented the war from total domination of the industry . The war did demand attention , however .
The “ Why We Fight ” series of seven films , directed by Frank Capra , is doubtless the best-known of these government-sponsored American films . Capra defined the war as “ us ” versus “ them ” by reframing Axis films to make fascism seem dangerous and threatening rather than inviting and in line with human destiny . Defending American individual freedom raised the question of who “ we ” might be . Fighting fascist collectivism ( and , after the war , communist collectivism ) meant demonstrating that all individuals had a stake in the outcome of the war . Capra finessed this paradox of collective action to preserve individual liberty by focusing on choice ; that is , Americans would choose to fight by understanding the stakes rather than being forced to fight by oppressive dictatorships . The films were made for military personnel , but were popular enough for general audiences . By the end of the war , some 54 million Americans had seen some of the “ Why We Fight ” films . Capra ’ s much-beloved 1946 film , “ It ’ s A Wonderful Life ,” continued the wartime theme of the impact one individual could have on a town in contrast to
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