World War II in Film: How Rick Blaine and Tarzan Saved America and Made the World Safe for Democracy Timothy Sexton College

A very convincing argument can be forwarded that the two fictional characters appearing in films produced in Hollywood in the 1940’s who more perfect symbolize the complicated reactions to war breaking out again across Europe in the 1930’s are Rick Blaine of Casablanca and the might King of the Jungle specifically in his portrayal in the 1943 entry in the titular series named after him, Tarzan Triumphs. Indeed, with just a little more moxie, one can go even further and suggest that Rick and Tarzan as the single most significant World War II characters made in movies by Hollywood. Considering the sheer volume of movies produced about that conflict, to suggest this is truly bucking conventional wisdom.

And yet, it is difficult to counter the proposition. The legendary Oscar-winning Casablanca is usually categorized as one of the greatest romantic movies ever made, but it is so much more than that. Simply put: Casablanca is the single greatest work of political propaganda produced on film to date, period, finito. The story of how Rick Blaine makes the transition from cynical self-interested isolationist who openly admits “I stick my neck out for nobody” to walking off into the uncertain fog of war by realizing the necessity for...