Review of Our Flags Lead Us Forward

Shortly after the Nazi take-over Joseph Göbbels ordered the German film industry to produce propaganda films. Generally they were not very popular and during the war the film industry turned to historical films like Friedrich The Great, spectacular fairy-tales like The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen, and romantic melodramas. Anti-semitic films did not fill the cinemas and few war films were released. The truth is that with few exceptions, like Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia and The Triumph of the Will, German cinema lost most of its international reputation during Nazi rule - many directors and stars like Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder, Marlene Dietrich and Peter Lorre, also emigrated to the US. An extra-ordinary good film though is Hitlerjunge Quex. Based on a true story it gives an idea of the chaotic political situation in Germany in the beginning of the 30-s, with bloody street fights between Nazis and Communists. It is touching with the fate of the young activist and it follows the same formula as the best Soviet and British propaganda films from the same period, like October and The Angel Wore Red.