I first had the privilege of watching The Hoaxters in 1974. My roommate in college actually had a 16mm print of this one reeler and I was captivated by it's effectiveness in propaganda. This is an interesting historical relic that is reflective of the era that it came out of. This film was produced during the height of the McCarthy "Red Scare" years and was a fitting example of Hollywood's fear of the House on Unamerican Committee "witch hunts". 1952 was a completely different world in contrast to how we live in this country today. People were more reverent then; their moral scruples were more intact and we must remember that we just emerged victorious from the Second World War and were then fighting the Korean War, so nationalism was more prevalent; respect for the flag and country was almost an anticipated action; no flag burning then! There is so much to comment on the mentality of the early 1950's.
If we were to become suddenly sucked into some time vortex and transported back to this era, we would probably go mad because of stricter standards demanded of us not only by government, be it local, State or Federal, but by our respective religious beliefs as well as the people around us who would demand that we conform to their thinking. Morals were stronger, religion had a firmer, influential hold and most people respected the authorities. This film demonstrates this and more. It also demonstrated fear; the fear of Communism was real; people felt that World War III would break out at any moment; the fear was valid; the fear was reflective in our leaders as well as the common man. And it was in this fear-driven time that Joseph McCarthy made a name for himself by using this fear to ruin many innocent lives.
MGM did a marvelous job producing this film. The voices of Walter Pidgeon and George Murphy are easily recognized; the animation is quite entertaining, especially when it showed the Swastika turning into a map of Germany or the dragon changing into the Japanese islands. Remember, these images were stronger in the minds of those who saw this film in 1952, because it was just seven years after these totalitarian regimes were defeated. Korea further exacerbated these feelings; it was the duty of every God-fearing American to struggle against those who wanted to enslave the free world.
The Hoaxters didn't just reflect the mentality of the times, but it also permitted those in Hollywood to pledge their allegiance (to a lesser degree compared to World War II) against a foe. This was partly due to nationalism, but mainly due to the fear of blacklisting by the HUAC. All in all, a great historical chestnut.
If we were to become suddenly sucked into some time vortex and transported back to this era, we would probably go mad because of stricter standards demanded of us not only by government, be it local, State or Federal, but by our respective religious beliefs as well as the people around us who would demand that we conform to their thinking. Morals were stronger, religion had a firmer, influential hold and most people respected the authorities. This film demonstrates this and more. It also demonstrated fear; the fear of Communism was real; people felt that World War III would break out at any moment; the fear was valid; the fear was reflective in our leaders as well as the common man. And it was in this fear-driven time that Joseph McCarthy made a name for himself by using this fear to ruin many innocent lives.
MGM did a marvelous job producing this film. The voices of Walter Pidgeon and George Murphy are easily recognized; the animation is quite entertaining, especially when it showed the Swastika turning into a map of Germany or the dragon changing into the Japanese islands. Remember, these images were stronger in the minds of those who saw this film in 1952, because it was just seven years after these totalitarian regimes were defeated. Korea further exacerbated these feelings; it was the duty of every God-fearing American to struggle against those who wanted to enslave the free world.
The Hoaxters didn't just reflect the mentality of the times, but it also permitted those in Hollywood to pledge their allegiance (to a lesser degree compared to World War II) against a foe. This was partly due to nationalism, but mainly due to the fear of blacklisting by the HUAC. All in all, a great historical chestnut.