In this episode of Fascism on Film, we turn to late-1930s America, an anxious nation watching as authoritarian movements surged abroad and felt their reverberations at home. Long before the United States entered World War II, Hollywood began shaping stories that confronted this threat directly, laying the groundwork for an early tradition of anti‑fascist cinema that still resonates.

We examine Black Legion (1937), a Warner Bros. thriller that strips away the illusion of American exceptionalism. Humphrey Bogart plays a disillusioned factory worker drawn into a secret order built on fear, violence, and white‑supremacist ideology. Hooded figures, torchlit rituals, and secret oaths fill the screen, creating a chilling vision of how homegrown extremism takes root in everyday life. As we say in the episode, “The Black Legion doesn’t feel foreign or distant. It feels like it’s happening down the street, and that’s what makes it so dangerous.”

We also discuss Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), one of the first major Hollywood films to name Adolf Hitler, Nazi Germany, and the danger of fascist propaganda outright. Based on FBI case files, the film is as pulpy as the title implies. It shows how disinformation seeps into neighborhoods, churches, and civic groups. Its release stirred political backlash and government scrutiny, yet it stands as one of the earliest moments when Hollywood called out totalitarianism by name. As we note, “This is a studio film saying out loud, before the war even begins: we have a problem, and it’s not just over there.”

Throughout the conversation, we trace how these films turn domestic fears into cinematic warnings. We follow their blend of noir suspense and political urgency, their portraits of ordinary people drawn toward or standing against fascist promises, and their enduring relevance in an age when democratic ideals are again under pressure. “These movies don’t just tell stories,” we observe in the episode, “they tell us what’s at stake when a culture starts to give in to hate.”