Watch On The Rhine (1943)

Watch on the Rhine came out in 1943 is an example of Hollywood promoting the pro-American, anti-fascist agenda to combat the war against the Nazis. The film, based on the play by Lillian Hellman, stars Bette Davis as Sara Muller, the daughter of a wealthy Washington, DC family. Sara is married to Kurt Muller, played by Paul Lukas, and that marriage brought Sara to Kurt's home nation of Germany in the late 1920's. Over the years, they saw the spread of fascism and, along with their three children, had become leaders of an underground resistance in Europe against fascist forces.

After many years in hiding and on the run, Sara decides to return home so that Kurt can recover from injuries he suffered and for which have not completely healed. Their entrance into the high-society world of Sara's home is a shock to the family, especially her patriarchal mother. Soon, things get even more hectic when a friend of the family is actually working with the Nazis and threatens to expose Muller.

The screenplay is overly talky, which is understandable considering it was based on a play and for era in which the film was made. It is often overly melodramatic and almost schizophrenic in structure... the first half of the film is the high society family awaiting the arrival of their daughter while the second half quickly becomes an anti-fascism film once Bette Davis' character, family in tow, enter the house and brings their burdens, history and passions with them.

Despite all of this, the film is quite satisfying in many ways. Especially in today's climate... and probably any decade since Vietnam, it is refreshing to see a pro-American film that understands sacrifice and that America is good and based on wholesome ideals and that the U.S. is willing to do what is right over what is popular.

Today, where every opinion seems to be given equal weight, it is almost impossible for anyone to openly make a film that says "America Rocks and if you don't like it you can kiss our Patriotic booties." In Watch on the Rhine, you get a real sense of the differences and sheltered existence many American's had to the struggles of our European ancestors. The films own schizophrenic design illuminates these differences to great effect.

Now, instead of sheltering ourselves in excess and ignorance, we shelter ourselves with ideological or political viewpoints, so that the idea of "a truth" is almost impossible to define. Watch on the Rhine does not have such issues, it knows who is right and who is wrong, who are good and who are evil, and it attacks that evil with all of its creative force.