Why did cinema largely ignore the colonial era and the Revolutionary War? The Cinematic Challenge asks this question and studies four films from the 1930s and 1940s to consider other queries such as:

• How did Darryl F. Zanuck make a film about the American Revolution (Drums Along The Mohawk) without indicating that the British were the enemy?
• Why was Northwest Passage never completed?
• How did Cecil B. DeMille begin production on a film (Unconquered) based on a book that did not yet exist?

In addition we'll learn how accurate the depictions of colonial life were in each film and whether the political and economic climate affected the finished products.

Volume one of The Cinematic Challenge also includes information about the general state of the film industry during this period technological advancements and rival theories about historical filmmaking making it the most in-depth resource available today on colonial movies.

Working as a stagehand at NBC for thirty years gave author John P. Harty Jr. an inside look into the world of television and film and eventually inspired his creation of The Cinematic Challenge. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from St. Bonaventure University a master's degree in political science from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has studied Russian and English history at the doctoral level at New York University.