Most reviews of this film are appreciative and respectful, recognizing the professional production qualities and creditable acting, including that of Joan Bennett and Lloyd Nolan. In fact, Nolan's portrayal of the tough, clear-sighted newsman may be one of his best.
The reviews and billing do a disservice, however, by using the term propaganda to describe the film and story line. My mid-20th Century dictionary describes propaganda as a movement to spread a particular kind of doctrine, or a system of information to help or injure a person or group. It also suggests, while not always including, bias and exaggeration. In other words, it is untrue. As a contemporary with the film's production, I offer hat there is no deception here.
Growing up when this film was made, I knew numerous refugees from the Nazi system, both before and after World War II. Their stories attested with little variation to the authenticity of the incidents portrayed in "The Man I Married." Nazi policies and actions were then common knowledge directly or indirectly known --not suspected. Children, as I was then, know. Accounts of survivors dispelled any idea that the film was one of propagandistic excess. Any excess was that of the Nazi system. "Schindler's Lit" and "Counterfeit Traitor" are no less accurate. If you are a reader "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" will prove enlightening.
Keep this in mind also when entertaining thoughts that time can soften every period of ugly reality.
The reviews and billing do a disservice, however, by using the term propaganda to describe the film and story line. My mid-20th Century dictionary describes propaganda as a movement to spread a particular kind of doctrine, or a system of information to help or injure a person or group. It also suggests, while not always including, bias and exaggeration. In other words, it is untrue. As a contemporary with the film's production, I offer hat there is no deception here.
Growing up when this film was made, I knew numerous refugees from the Nazi system, both before and after World War II. Their stories attested with little variation to the authenticity of the incidents portrayed in "The Man I Married." Nazi policies and actions were then common knowledge directly or indirectly known --not suspected. Children, as I was then, know. Accounts of survivors dispelled any idea that the film was one of propagandistic excess. Any excess was that of the Nazi system. "Schindler's Lit" and "Counterfeit Traitor" are no less accurate. If you are a reader "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" will prove enlightening.
Keep this in mind also when entertaining thoughts that time can soften every period of ugly reality.