A BBC Four documentary reveals how the friendship between Winston Churchill and a Jewish film producer played a large part in convincing America to join in the fight against Nazis.   

Churchill and the Movie Mogul, which airs on BBC Four on Wednesday, tells the story of one of Britain’s most celebrated film producers, Alexander Korda, and how he became close friends with Mr Churchill.

Mr Korda was sent on a spy mission to Hollywood with the aim of bringing America into the war — with spectacular results.

The documentary explores how Mr Churchill, who was arguably more interested in film than any other politician in history, used movies as a political tool.

Charles Drazin, Mr Korda’s recent biographer, said the producer, who was born in Hungary at the end of the 19th century, was a key figure in convincing America to fight the Nazis.

“When Korda was born, Hungary had a large Jewish population. It was a golden age and there was little antisemitism.

“The First World War happened and that changed everything, but by then Korda was already established as a film producer. He became a target for antisemitism and had to get out in a hurry.”

Mr Drazin, a film professor, said it was this early experience that motivated Mr Korda to help Britain fight the Nazis.

“Korda was lucky to escape with his life in 1919. He went to Berlin and Vienna and then Hollywood and came to England in the 1930.”

In 1934, Mr Korda signed up his friend Mr Churchill as a screenwriter and adviser on a film, and a unique collaboration began.

When war broke out, their partnership became of immeasurable importance. Mr Drazin, one of the contributors to the documentary, said: “The film industry involved moving around and making connections. Korda was happy for his film company to be used for the purposes of spying. It was the perfect front.”

One of the ways Mr Korda helped Mr Churchill was by allowing a British spy to work for his studios in 1935. The spook was sent to Austria, from where he reported back to the government.

But the real “weapon” Mr Korda had was his films. By the end of the 1930s he was very famous and his films had a world audience, something Mr Churchill was keen to utilise.

Mr Drazin said: “He made the film That Hamilton Woman at the start of 1940 and the priority was to bring the US into the Allied effort. His films had to tell the message that Hitler needed to be defeated.”

While on the surface the movie was a war story and a romance set in Napoleonic times, it was also intended to portray Britain positively within the context of the Second World War.

The British were fighting against the Nazis alone and Mr Churchill saw the “power” of the film to portray Britain sympathetically to the outside world — particularly to the United States.

Writer-Director John Fleet said: “The parallels to today are incredibly poignant — the influence of the media, the rise of the far right and the seeming lack of internationalists in the Korda/Churchill mould.”