"We'll Always Have the Movies explores how movies made in Hollywood during World War II were vehicles for helping Americans understand the war. Far from being simplistic flag-waving propaganda designed to evoke emotional reactions, these films offered audiences narrative structures that formed a foundation for grasping the nuances of war. These films asked audiences to consider the implications of the Nazi threat; they put a face on both our enemies and allies; and they explored changing wartime gender roles. We'll Always Have the Movies reveals how film after film repeated the narratives, character types, and rhetoric that made the war and each American's role in it comprehensible."--Jacket.

Introduction -- Before Pearl Harbor -- The war in the Pacific -- Our enemies -- Our fighting allies -- Our occupied allies -- American men and women -- Home-front anxieties -- Postwar films in the postwar world.