Wonderful character development!

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

"Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust" (2004) was directed by Daniel Anker and narrated by Gene Hackman. The film is a serious, in-depth exploration of Hollywood's and television's portrayal of the Holocaust. The director presents film clips--both newsreels and commercial films--about Hollywood's response to the Holocaust before, during, and after World War II.Hollywood is an industry, of course, not a force for or against social justice. Both before and after the war, Hollywood's decisions about portraying the Holocaust hinged on the possibility of profits, or loss of profits, from depicting the Nazi horrors. Seventy-five years after the rise of Naziism, we forget how much support Fascism then had in the U.S. and in western Europe. Producers, even though many were Jews, feared losing potential markets if they portrayed the true nature of the situation in Germany.During the war, many filmmakers worked for the Army Signal Corps, and they accomplished great things. However, most American leaders were more interested in defeating the Germans than in saving the Jews and other minorities being shipped to concentration camps.After the war, an unwritten code of silence arose. Possibly producers believed that an honest portrayal of the Holocaust would alienate audiences. Also, of course, postwar Germany was considered an important ally in the struggle against Communism, and politicians quietly urged that Hollywood turn its attention elsewhere. Another factor in downplaying the Holocaust was the wish to prevent people from asking, "Why didn't we do something?"It wasn't until the 1970's that television producers realized that people would watch dramas about the Holocaust. Once the unspoken taboo was broken, Hollywood struggled to catch up. However, it's interesting to consider how long it took for films like "The Pawnbroker," "Sophie's Choice," and "Schindler's List" to make it to the screen.All in all, an excellent, but discouraging film. Worth seeing, but definitely not a feel-good movie. We saw "Imaginary Witness" at the outstanding Rochester Jewish Film Festival. However, it should work well on a small screen

An outstanding account of the atrocities that happened in Germany, and Hollywood's dealing with in in light of the makeup of Hollywood, the acceptable mores of the times, the House Un-American witch hunt, and other factors.It was interesting that television led the way in presenting the Holocaust with a guest on "This is Your Life" being the first instance. After a weak Anne Frank movie, TV returns with Judgement at Nuremberg on "Playhouse 90" in 1959. The fact that one of the sponsors was The American Gas Company muted the effort.But, Hollywood soon began to get it right. It was after The Holocaust, an 8 hour miniseries was aired and survivors began telling their stories.How Hollywood handled this tragic part of history is an interesting story and part of a body of knowledge that will help in viewing these films.

I am perplexed that this documentary has not reached more people. And I am equally confused as to why the IMDb "weighted" rating is below 6 when only TWO people gave it less than a 6! Does this make sense????? Will IMDb publish this review? Anyway, this is an expertly made documentary on Hollywood, not just how they handled one topic, but how they are embroiled in current politics. There will be some surprises to some moviegoers and clips from some relatively unknown gems, some of which I have never seen and will now seek out! I am a big fan of Gene Hackman but I think his narration was a little lackluster. Otherwise, I have to give this documentary a big thumbs up.

A great review of what Hollywood needed to do -and whatnot- to expose Nazi Germany's intentions... It is a well-documented film with great interviews and original footage to prove that cinema can be used for either wrong or right purposes... This one, it is for the right mission: illustrate how coward was US witnessing what Hitler was doing against the Judaism... Nevermore, please! And even though some raw footage is missing when US troops discovered the death camps, the narration accomplished the feelings of those who watched back then... Hopefully Michael Moore sees this documentary to make him to shift their style of film documenting, where serious stuff can be covered straight forward, without all the comic gimmicks he used to abuse them on his films...