Yeah, it was deliberate and McCarthy was proving that the Communists were moving into Hollywood.
Ann Coulter, in her most recent book, Treason, makes the suggestion that it was Communist influence in H'wood at the time that helped all those movies get made...the Nazis were, after all, fighting Stalin as well as us, and our victory ensured his. An example of both America and the Soviets having the same goals, for which the Soviets' minions in H'wood worked. After that, all bets were off and so were the Leftists' gloves.