"The Inquisition in Hollywood examines the suppression of radical political activity in the film industry from the days of the Great Depression through the tumultuous House Un-American Activities Committee era to the waning days of the infamous blacklist." "Although this thirty-year period of American history is marked by widespread targeting of leftists in all areas of life, those in the film industry - predominately screenwriters - were considered to be in positions of great potential indoctrinating power, and found themselves under intense scrutiny as the cold war hysteria mounted. Ceplair and Englund trace the history of political struggle in Hollywood back to the formation of the Screen Writers Guild in 1933. Many of the blacklisted filmmakers were members of the Communist Party and all of the graylisted filmmakers had expressed their sympathy with progressive (mainly anti-fascist) causes."--BOOK JACKET.

"Although this thirty-year period of American history is marked by widespread targeting of leftists in all areas of life, those in the film industry - predominately screenwriters - were considered to be in positions of great potential indoctrinating power, and found themselves under intense scrutiny as the cold war hysteria mounted. Ceplair and Englund trace the history of political struggle in Hollywood back to the formation of the Screen Writers Guild in 1933. Many of the blacklisted filmmakers were members of the Communist Party and all of the graylisted filmmakers had expressed their sympathy with progressive (mainly anti-fascist) causes."--BOOK JACKET.

The blacklist. The Hollywood Ten. These words, evocative as they are, do not reveal that, from 1933 through 1947, Hollywood was the focal point of progressive political activity in the United States. Nor do they convey that the imprisonments and blacklistings were not an isolated outbreak of Cold War hysteria, but rather the successful conclusion of two decades of efforts by conservative and reactionary forces to curtail political activism in Hollywood. In the thirties and forties, Hollywood activists--Lillian Hellman, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Dalton Trumbo, among others--took part in countless political battles. They founded guilds, aided anti-fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War, and helped elect progressive candidates to public office. But progressives were unwelcome in an industry dominated by the last tycoons--especially since the industry was America's most glamorous and visible. With the outbreak of the Cold War, and the fear of anything labeled "Communist" that it engendered, the right wing finally managed, by means of the blacklist, to bring thought control to Hollywood--and to America. This book tells the real story of how, for a brief time and against immense obstacles, a group of dedicated men and women transformed Hollywood from a glamorous symbol of unreality into the center of social and political consciousness in the United States.--Adapted from dust jacket.

Much has been written about the history of Communism in America, including the Party's appeal to many in the Hollywood community of the 1930s and 40s. While several books have offered standard accounts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and the blacklist in the entertainment industry, Alan Casty provides a fresh and provocative perspective. In Communism in Hollywood: The Moral Paradoxes of Testimony, Silence, and Betrayal, Casty challenges the absolute dualisms of the period: cowardly informers and heroic martyrs. Drawing on newly available material, Casty illustrates the control by the international Communist movement and the role of the Hollywood Communists themselves in fomenting the intense hostilities of the period. Casty juxtaposes the actions and statements of those who testified and 'named names' before HUAC with Communists who refused to testify and remained silent about the atrocities of the Soviet Union. By providing a scrupulous account of the full scope of the Communist Party in Hollywood, this book presents a more accurate picture of the moral quandaries faced during this dark period in American history.

American History through Hollywood Film offers a new perspective on major issues in American history from the 1770s to the end of the twentieth century and explores how they have been represented in film. Melvyn Stokes examines how and why representation has changed over time, looking at the origins, underlying assumptions, production, and reception of an important cross-section of historical films. Chapters deal with key events in American history including the American Revolution, the Civil War and its legacy, the Great Depression, and the anti-communism of the Cold War era. Major themes such as ethnicity, slavery, Native Americans and Jewish immigrants are covered and a final chapter looks at the way the 1960s and 70s have been dealt with by Hollywood. This book is essential reading for anyone studying American history and the relationship between history and film.

'Un-American Hollywood' debates the blacklist era and the aesthetic and political work of the Hollywood Left. Featuring case studies focusing on contexts of production and reception, it offers perspectives on the role of progressive politics within a capitalist media industry.

This engrossing tale of intrigue, passion, betrayal, and violence uncovers the true face of communism in Southern California, and names writers and actresses who were seduced by the party's philosophy.

As a screenwriter, novelist, and political activist, Dalton Trumbo stands among the key American literary figures of the 20th century--he wrote the classic antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun, and his credits for Spartacus and Exodus broke the anticommunist blacklist that infected the movie industry for more than a decade. By defining connections between Trumbo's most highly acclaimed films (including Kitty Foyle, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and Roman Holiday) and his important but lesser-known movies (The Remarkable Andrew, He Ran All the Way, and The Boss), the author identifies how for nearly four decades Trumbo used the archetype of the rebel hero to inject social consciousness into mainstream films. This new critical survey--the first book-length work on Trumbo's screenwriting career--examines the scores of films on which Trumbo worked and explores the techniques that made him, at the time he was blacklisted in 1947, Hollywood's highest-paid writer. Hanson reveals how Trumbo dealt with major themes including rebellion, radical politics, and individualism--while also detailing lesser-known areas of Trumbo's screenwriting, such as his troubling portrayal of women, the dichotomy between his proletarian attitude and bourgeois lifestyle, and the almost surreptitious manner in which he included antiestablishment rhetoric in seemingly innocuous scripts. An extensive filmography is included.

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Searchers, the revelatory story behind the classic movie High Noon and the toxic political climate in which it was created. It's one of the most revered movies of Hollywood's golden era. Starring screen legend Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in her first significant film role, High Noon was shot on a lean budget over just thirty-two days but achieved instant box-office and critical success. It won four Academy Awards in 1953, including a best actor win for Cooper. And it became a cultural touchstone, often cited by politicians as a favorite film, celebrating moral fortitude. Yet what has been often overlooked is that High Noon was made during the height of the Hollywood blacklist, a time of political inquisition and personal betrayal. In the middle of the film shoot, screenwriter Carl Foreman was forced to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his former membership in the Communist Party. Refusing to name names, he was eventually blacklisted and fled the United States. (His co-authored screenplay for another classic, The Bridge on the River Kwai, went uncredited in 1957.) Examined in light of Foreman's testimony, High Noon's emphasis on courage and loyalty takes on deeper meaning and importance. In this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Frankel tells the story of the making of a great American Western, exploring how Carl Foreman's concept of High Noon evolved from idea to first draft to final script, taking on allegorical weight. Both the classic film and its turbulent political times emerge newly illuminated.

This author's analytical approach will be appreciated by historians as well as film buffs. He examines Hollywood's response to the rise of fascism and the beginning of the Second World War. Welky traces the shifting motivations and arguments of the film industry, politicians, and the public as they negotiated how or whether the silver screen would portray certain wartime attributes.