BOOTLEG FILES 896: “Professor Mamlock” (1938 Soviet drama focused on Nazi anti-Semitism).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: If any film deserves a release, this is it.

After Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and his subsequent persecution of Germany’s Jewish population, the Hollywood film industry found itself in a quandary. Many of the studios were owned and operated by Jewish businessmen who were not supportive of Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies – and many German creative artists who fled Hitler’s Germany were welcomed in the Hollywood studios. But at the same time, the German market was a lucrative export destination for Hollywood films and the studios did not want to jeopardize the revenue stream they enjoyed from German cinemas. As a result, no Hollywood film criticized Nazi policies against its Jewish population, while “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” released by Warner Bros. in May 1939 broke the taboo of clearly identify Hitler’s government as an enemy to Americans.
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