Thomas Doherty

When World War I began Hollywood initially embraced it. Many films produced during the war, especially in 1917 and 1918 when the United States officially entered the conflict, reflected official propaganda. The films portrayed Americans and the Allies as heroic, while Germans were depicted as "Huns"—monstrous enemies of civilization.

This wartime enthusiasm, however, soon gave way to disillusionment, and by the 1920s many Americans viewed the Great War as a mistake. This antiwar sentiment was captured in pacifist—themed film and literature. Perhaps the most famous of the latter is Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which depicts the horrors of trench warfare and questions the nationalism that led to the conflict. A film adaptation of Remarque's novel followed in 1930, and it was just one of many...