August – November

Film posters from 1936 to 1948, accompanied by in-depth text panels, present a little-known story: the American film industry's complicated history of placating Nazi Germany and the U.S. government's film censorship to maintain neutrality up until the time that war was declared. The show reveals the heroic role of the Warner Brothers Studio in alerting the world of the impending threat of Nazism, and the role of others, including Charlie Chaplin, in readying the US for war, maintaining morale, and supporting the war effort. The show concludes with films depicting the aftermath of the war, the plight of the DP's, the creation of the State of Israel, and anti-Semitism in America (as depicted in, for example, Gentleman's Agreement). The materials displayed are generously loaned by collector Ken Sutak.

Above: Spencer Tracy & Kaaren Verne, The Seventh Cross.