I hadn't really thought about this before, but many of the folks in Hollywood just prior to and during World War II were ex-patriots, people who had been run out of Europe by the Nazis as well as people just looking to work in the movies. Many of them had family still in harm's way over there. They had (and knew they had) a huge personal stake in the outcome of the war, in other words. I don't think this in any way diminishes what Hollywood did to promote the war effort back then (altruism can be nice, but it's often overrated, don't you think?), but I think it does make some of the differences between then and now more understandable.
Oliver North interviewed Alfred Hitchcock's daughter for this show, and she talked about her father calling his mother in Britain on a regular basis. One day, the daughter said, her father went to make the call but came back very pale. His call could not be put through, and the reason he was given was 'that country is at war now'. She remembers how deeply that affected him.
The show mentioned some of the movies he made during this period, including
I'm a bit pressed for time, so I'll just toss up links for some books mentioned prominently in the show, and clear off for now. The authors were interviewed, and all of them were informative in person.
Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot
Duty, Honor, Applause: America's Entertainers in World War II
Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services
and World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre (textbook)
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