PRELUDE TO WAR Oscar Returned to Army
by Andre Soares
An Oscar statuette earned by Frank Capra’s 1942 documentary Prelude to War, the first film in the United States Army Special Services’ seven-picture Why We Fight series — which were supposed to teach American soldiers and civilians about the reasons for the deadliest global conflict in history — has been removed from the auction block and returned to the U.S. Army. (Photo: Frank Capra and John Ford during World War II, undated.)
The statuette in question is not the original Oscar given the film. As per the Academy’s press release, it is "a duplicate requested by and granted to the Department of Defense in 1958 in connection with a special exhibition. In the years following the exhibition, the award was in the care of the Army Pictorial Center. The disposition of the statuette following the closure of the Center in 1970 is unclear, but when Academy officials saw that Christie’s auction house was offering the statuette for sale they notified the Army which asserted its claim on the Award."
The original Oscar for Prelude to War remains in the possession of Capra’s heirs.
Photos: Todd Wawrychuk / © A.M.P.A.S. (Oscar photo), Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library (Capra/Ford)
Click on the images to enlarge them.
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