Why We Fight

Under the auspices of the Office of War Information's Bureau of Motion Pictures, Frank Capra directed a series of seven government training and propaganda films under the unifying title Why We Fight. The films were narrated by Walter Huston, and most of the footage came from newsreels, studio libraries, government footage and from British and Russian sources.

Capra and his crew had very few tools of the trade available to them: No actors, no dialog, no lighting, no sets. The one tool they did have was editing and the strength of Why We Fight lies in its editing. The seven titles in the series are "Prelude to War," "The Nazis Strike," "Divide and Conquer," "The Battle of Britain," "The Battle of Russia," "The Battle of China" and "War Comes to America."

Why We Fight was added to the National Film Registry in 2000.