Fritz Kuhn was a despicable man . But he and his fellow Nazi followers in the United States imagine he had a valuable report to protect . Which is why Kuhn sued Warner Bros. for libel in 1939 after the Hollywood studio liberate a film yell confession of a Nazi Spy .
If you bang Fritz Kuhn ’s name at all it ’s likely because he hosted an enormous Nazi rally at New York ’s Madison Square Garden onFebruary 20 , 1939 . formally call the German American Bund , the organisation serve spread Nazi ideology throughout the U.S. during the thirties by devise meeting and by distributing printed propaganda . And Kuhn , despite the fact that he was swindling money from the group , was in charge of it all .
Believe it or not , anti - Nazi motion picture were extremely controversial in Hollywood during the 1930s . There were a number of reasons , from fears of alienate a huge mart for movie in Germany to the fact that Will Hays , the manufacture ’s top censor , had to mind to German government officials who sound off anytime Germans were depict negatively on motion picture . But Warner Bros. was able to get Confessions of a Nazi Spy made in 1939 , largely because it was establish on a actual case of espionage brought by the FBI .
But none of that stopped Kuhn from filing a case , claiming that the celluloid had harmed his reputation and that of other Germans in America . The movie showed Nazis in America advocate the creed of racial innocence and hate , like inthis scenethat was a not - so - subtle jab at Kuhn ’s racist speeches .
confession of a Nazi Spy was controversial even before it opened , and some of the cast penis had their names alter in the credits out of concern that they ’d become target of Nazis in the U.S. Some in the American Jewish community were even worried that the film might evoke backlash by Nazis and thus argued that it should n’t be made at all . But Warner Bros. , at the insistence of the crusade anti - fascist Jack Warner ( one of the Warner brothers , of course ) , run ahead with the project anyway .
The film stars Edward G. Robinson , a Judaic - American actor who made his name in some of the most popular gangster motion picture of the 1930s , include the classics Little Caesar ( 1931 ) , Smart Money ( 1931 ) , The Little Giant ( 1932 ) , and Kid Galahad ( 1937 ) . Robinson headliner as an FBI factor who busts a Nazi spy ring in the U.S. , based on real events of 1938 .
But the movie did n’t execute well in America . There were riots in the streets , and German - Americans even burned down a Warner Bros.-owned field in Milwaukee , Wisconsin .
Even the New York Times intend that it was a bit too harsh on the Nazis in the room that they ’re presented ascartoonishly malefic :
The Warners had braveness in take a shit the icon , but we should have choose to see them pitch their battle on a high plane . found on the grounds present by the G - Isle of Man during last yr ’s spy trials and on paper gleanings , the film ’s quasi - objective character reference has been tolerate by its employment of newsreel shot of Hitler haranguing his Brownshirts , a observer ’s voice , maps and other actual pictorial matter . But its editorial bias , however justified , has sway it to several infantile extremes . rank in the National Socialist party can not be restricted entirely to the betrayer - face , the beast - browed , the sinister .
The Times even toy the “ this is nothing new ” bill of fare , claiming that everyone knew nazi were bad , something that should be familiar to multitude living through the rise of fascism here in the 21st hundred :
As melodrama , the film is n’t unsound at all . Anatole Litvak has paced it well , and the performances of Mr. Robinson as the Federal man , Mr. Lederer as the weak radio link in the Nazi undercover agent connection and Mr. Lukas as the propaganda factor are thoroughly satisfactory . But the celluloid ’s promised revelations have long been in the public domain , and we can not fight down the impression that the icon has cheapened its cause and sacrifice much of its dignity by making its villains swirl their long black mustaches .
But as chronicle has shown us , it ’s impossible to amplify just how vicious the Nazis were . Most Americans really had no estimation . But the Germans have it off how dangerous a movie qualify them as the villains could be . Some theatre owners in Poland were evenhangedfor riddle the plastic film in 1939 , and the movie was finally blackball in 18 unlike countries where the Germans exercise political power , like Norway , Japan , and Italy .
Variety ’s review article of Confessions of a Nazi Spy in May of 1939 stands in sharp demarcation to the New York Times review , take down that the world is presently at peace ( it would be four more month before Germany would invade Poland ) but that state of war was almost certainly on the horizon . And if Confessions of a Nazi Spy put us on the side of the near guy wire , that seemed crucial . To Variety the photographic film was n’t over the top anymore than it had to be so as to wake people up .
“ decennary from now what ’s materialize may be come across in perspective , ” the Variety recap reads . “ And the historians will certainly take eminence of this daringly straight-from-the-shoulder broadside from a picture company . ”
Kuhn , sure-footed that he could claim he ’d been libeled , jell out with his case after the film ’s American release on May 6 , 1939 . Kuhn sued for $ 5 million ( over $ 90 million adjust for pompousness ) but he did n’t want just money . He wanted Warner Bros. to be banned from distributing the pic on the whole .
The May 13 , 1939 edition of theVidette - Messengernewspaper in Indiana reported on Kuhn ’s lawsuit :
The Bund loss leader alleged that the film was “ full of false program line ” which traduce the Bund . The suit of clothes list 18 selection from the handwriting of the picture which , Kuhn shoot down , be libelous defamation of the organization . He sued both as an individual and as leader of the organization .
“ The Bund is a patriotic , patriotic and American organization , ” Kuhn ’s lawsuit extol , another hollow cry that should be familiar to those of us presently witnessing the burgeoning ashen supremacist drive take root around the ball .
White supremacist continue to endanger lawsuits leave and right here in the 21st century . Jason Kessler recently sued a woman for calling him a “ crybaby . ” Somehow , Kessler won , though he was award just a measly $ 5 . Kessler helped organize the infamous neo - Nazi exchange in Charlottesville during the summertime of 2017 that left a woman dead at the hands of a bloodless supremacist . Kessler called the woman ’s dying “ vengeance . ”
Baked Alaska , whose existent name is Tim Gionet , even threatened to sue after a word formation used a fake photo of him hold a gun . The only job ? He bring out the exposure first , presumptively thinking it waspretty coolheaded .
Despite the fact that Warner Bros. was able to get Confessions of a Nazi Spy made , other movie studio break to get approval for future anti - Nazi motion pictures . Will Hays , the official censor of the movie diligence ’s Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America ( MPPDA ) , now know as the Motion Picture Association of America ( MPAA ) , declare that studio could n’t make any more anti - Nazi movies and get the organization ’s stamp of approval .
As the 1999 bookCelluloid Soldiersby Michael E. Birdwell notes , U.S. politicians were threatening to impose their own sanctions against the movie industry if they kept up their anti - national socialist posture . American politician warn that the movie studios were trying to dabble in foreign insurance and would be treat raspingly for souring sexual intercourse with Germany .
Senator Elmer Thomas , a Democrat from Oklahoma , went so far as to propose a banning on all newsreels and movies depicting warfare in late 1939 , shortly after state of war was hold between Germany and the ally nations of the UK , France , and others in September of 1939 when Germany invaded Poland . newspaper publisher noted that the odds of passing the flyer were “ 500 - to-1 ” but the message was clear : Do n’t bring up the Nazis in any way .
Some racist Americans claimed that confession of a Nazi Spy was “ Jewish propaganda ” that should be banned from movie theaters around the U.S.
“ The Aryans , Americans , are not shoot by the Judaic propaganda today , ” one alphabetic character to Will Hays in 1939said . “ We know they want to play war with Germany and want us to fight for them . If they want to fight rent them go ahead , but not let in us . ”
In the conclusion , not only did Kuhn lose his suit , he was put away after the United States finally joined the warfare in previous 1941 . Kuhn was stripped of his American citizenship while in prison house and deported to Germany after the war terminate in 1945 . Kuhn died poor and dishonour in Germany in 1951 .
1930sHistoryWarner Bros.
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