TRADITIONS IN AMERICAN CINEMA
Series Editors: Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer
This series explores a wide range of traditions in American cinema which are in need of introduction, investigation or critical reassessment. It emphasises the multiplicity rather than the supposed homogeneity of studio-era and independent filmmaking, making a case that the American cinema is more diverse than some accounts might suggest.
In Secrecy's Shadow
The OSS and CIA in Hollywood Cinema, 1941-1979 [please note that subtitle is different from the front file we have]
Simon Willmetts
During the Second World War hundreds of Hollywood filmmakers under the command of the legendary director John Ford enlisted in the Office of Strategic Services to produce training, reconnaissance and propaganda films. This wartime bond continued into the post-war period, when a number of studios produced films advocating the creation of a permanent peacetime successor to the Office of Strategic Services: what became the Central Intelligence Agency. By the 1960s, however, Hollywood's increasingly irreverent attitude towards the CIA reflected a growing public anxiety about excessive US government secrecy.
In Secrecy's Shadow provides the first comprehensive history of the birth and development of Hollywood's relationship with American intelligence. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, synthesising literatures and methodologies from diplomatic history, film studies and cultural theory, and it presents new perspectives on a number of major filmmakers including Darryl F. Zanuck, Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford.
Based on research conducted in over twenty archival repositories across the United States and the UK, In Secrecy's Shadow explores the revolution in the relationship between Hollywood and the secret state - from unwavering trust and cooperation to extreme scepticism and paranoia - and demonstrates the debilitating effects of secrecy upon public trust in government and the stability of national memory.
Simon Willmetts is a lecturer in American Studies at the University of Hull. His research falls broadly within the fields of film history, cultural theory and US foreign policy.
Cover image: Allen Dulles, Office of Strategic Services, CIA. Image design: Martin Lewsley
Design concept: RiverDesign
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Simon Willmetts is a lecturer in American Studies at the University of Hull. His research falls broadly within the fields of film history, cultural theory and US foreign policy.