ABSTRACT
Cities in post-war Hollywood films differed from the modernist city symphonies of the era between the wars as self-invention and focus on the individual evolved into a retreat into social masses through either fascism or socialism in the Second World War and then, post-war, to the individual family unit safely ensconced in the haven of the modern appliance filled single family dwelling. Second World War films emphasized 'the home front', that is the domestic life that war propaganda told soldiers they had been fighting to protect. The films themselves open a renewed interest in domesticity and its depiction in film, post-war fears, and expressions of modern urban and suburban dwelling. This chapter discusses some films, such as Dead End, Laura, The Best Years of Our Lives, Where the Sidewalk Ends, The Big Heat, and The Man with the Golden Arm.
