The films produced in Hollywood before, during and after the Cold War Red Scare make for an interesting study in the response of a popular medium caught in a political firestorm. The following list is a selective filmography of motion pictures that played a role in fueling the Red Scare, in propagandizing the threat of Communism and in a few rare and rather veiled cases, in standing up to the charges of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. As the frightening fifties receded in memory and the political temperment gradually changed with the passing decades, Hollywood found more courage in facing up to the culpability of the film industry itself and its role in supporting gross violations of civil liberties. Several feature films and a number of documentaries exploring this painful issue round out the list below. Show
HUAC interrogated many film industry people. In the end, countless careers were destroyed but only ten individuals actually went to jail. This group came to be known as "The Hollywood Ten." Alvah Bessie, Herbert J. Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo paid a huge price at the hands of HUAC. An exhaustive analysis of their films, published in 1972 by Dorothy B. Jones (who had served as chief of the film reviewing and analysis section of the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II), indicated that "none of the 159 films credited over a period of years (1929-1949) to The Hollywood Ten contained Communist propaganda." (Cogley, p.226) Today, the Blacklist Credit Committee is working with the Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to restore the credits and records of scores of film industry personnel who, along with The Hollywood Ten, were denied employment, forced to write behind the names of "fronts," or utilized pseudonyms because of suspected communist ties. The anti-communist films:
Films that can be interpreted as reaction against -- of one sort or another -- to HUAC activities:
Science fiction filmsThis genre provided a convincing disguise for a variety of political viewpoints.
Communists, the Cold War and the 1960's:By the 1960's, Hollywood grows bolder in its portrayal of Cold War espionage and bureaucratic hypocrisy. The federal government continues to release a few anti-communist "education" films, but the tide has inexorably turned.
HUAC and the Hollywood Ten Through the 1970's and into the 90's:
Films that may have "implicated" Hollywood and/or the Hollywood TenIn this category can be found films that portrayed socialist ideas or the working classes in a positive light, that showed Moscow as a worthy ally in World War II (at the behest of the wartime U.S. government), that revealed antisemiticism, or that simply cast capitalists as villains.
Early anti-communist filmsThis category delineates the first Red Scare era in American filmmaking, which began in 1919.
SourcesPrint Resources: Compiled by Glenda Pearson. 5 March 1998 Updated 19 September 2011 Visit The All Powers Project for more information about the commemorative event held in 1998 at University of Washington and for additional Red Scare resources. How did Mccarthyism affect the film industry?Pressured by Congress, the Hollywood establishment started a blacklist policy, banning the work of about 325 screenwriters, actors and directors who had not been cleared by the committee.
What was the result of the Red Scare?Enraged by the bombings, the United States government responded by raiding the headquarters of radical organizations and arresting thousands of suspected radicals. Several thousand who were aliens were deported. The largest raids occurred on January 2, 1920 when over 4000 suspected radicals were seized nationwide.
How did the Hollywood thrived through the Red Scare?As the federal government grew more confident in Hollywood's ability to fight the Red Menace, it allowed the movie industry to go its own way, waiving possible anti-monopoly actions and allowing the business to establish its own rating systems, fending off calls for government censorship of content.
What was the Red Scare and how did it affect society?A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which are referred to by this name.
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