
Why We Fight: Prelude to War
May 27 1942
•1h 53m
•Documentary, War
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
Cast
See all
Walter Huston
Self - Narrator (voice)

Max Schmeling
Self - German paratrooper (archive footage)

Adolf Hitler
Self
Recommendations
See all
The Battle of Midway
The Japanese attack on Midway in June 1942, filmed as it happened. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, in 2006.

The Virgin Spring
Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer
The story of the investigation and trial of abortion provider Dr Kermit Gosnell.

The Kennel Murder Case
Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.