It's easy to think of Hollywood as a firm opponent of all things Nazi, based on such icons as Indiana Jones, Captain America, and the Bear Jew. But in the years before World War II, things were a little less clear-cut. For instance, lots of prominent players in the film industry, while not necessarily being pro-Nazi, were still really eager to stay on Hitler's good side. That means there are a lot of stories from that era which Hollywood would prefer we forget. Like how ...

4 Hollywood Worked With The Third Reich To Censor Its Films

Hollywood was pretty big into censorship back in the 1930s. Starting in 1934, all productions had to adhere to the Hays Code, a list of standards that was most apparent in things like horror films. (In 1931, Dr. Frankenstein was allowed to compare himself to God. In 1935? Not so much.) The studios also had a policy of meeting with representatives from foreign markets to make sure nothing in their scripts appeared too objectionable. And these foreign markets included Germany -- which wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world, except for the small fact that Germany was being run by the Nazis.

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The first famous film edited to appease Nazis was All Quiet On The Western Front. The Nazis said it was anti-German, and had banned and publicly burned the original novel. It wasn't really anti-German, but antiwar, but to a fascist eye, opposition to war is opposition to the state. Nazis rioted at an early screening, and Germany banned the film for a year pending a new cut that would make them frown less. Universal Pictures dutifully created one. Germany then agreed to play it, but only if that censored version was the only cut ever screened in the future anywhere, including the U.S. Universal complied.