The Truth about the "Hollywood Ten"

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | April 18, 2005 | Art Eckstein

[Calpernia]

Oh I see. So communism was fashionable when Truman declared that in order to protect national security, any American Communist is potentially an espionage agent? And he, of course only declared that to make it more stylish rather than stress the threat of the movement, right?

[Borges]

I'm not denying that Communism was a threat I just don't think that most of the filmmakers blacklisted posed such a threat. And what I said about radical leftism being fashionable back then was true. In various chic and intellectual circles it was. Sad but true.

[Calpernia]

Sad, but not true. You need to understand more how marketing works. Propaganda is a large part of marketing. Make it sell. Chic sells. What's "in" sells. If something is appealing at a fashionable level, the message is backdoored. Marketing has a large vice in the media. Hence is why the art and film industry was hit first.

[nopardons]

Yes, your were. :-)

Nope, nothing great tonight, but you'll need your new tapes on Friday.I told you all about it in a note.go read your mail. LOL

[Skywalk]

Perhaps Mr. DaSilva was wronged.

But many men have been sent to prison for crimes they DID NOT commit. THat doesn't mean we should change our minds on theft, murder, rape and the like or the necessity for going after (In some way, shape or form) those responsible.

[Borges]

The so called propaganda in the films made by most of these people was mostly nonexistent. Films like 'Body and Soul' or Night and the City...both made by blacklisted filmmakers are regarded as classics today and are nobody's idea of communist agit prop.

I guess you can see any film that's remotely critical as supportive of our enemies. Heck, Ayn Rand actually thought 'The Best Years of Our Lives', one of those most sympathetic films about American Vets ever made, was subversive. Anyway the best films by most of the blacklisted filmmakers are shown shown on TCM all the time and are not regarded as anything malignant. Did you know that a blacklisted writer worked on the script to 'It's a Wonderful Life'? :-)

[Skywalk]

I would tend to agree with you, but if I'm not mistaken there were a couple of people involved(not necessarily the Ten) that had to do with Trotsky being assassinated by Stalin's agents in Mexico.

I think though, that there would be no controversy had members of a Nazi or fascist party been blacklisted by members of the film industry ('twas not a govt blacklist.) Commies get a free pass, for some reason.

[nopardons]

Longboat Key, Florida and I'll have no stories to tell, unless you want to hear about what I ate and the great homemade ice cream they have down there. LOL

Oh yes, and what great buys I've made at the bookstores. I've found two fantastic bookstores, down there and their sales are remarkable!

[Wormwood]

Did you know that a blacklisted writer worked on the script to 'It's a Wonderful Life'? :-)

You mean that paean to the "common man's" struggle against the evil, hateful forces of Capitalism? ;-)

[Borges]

I was about to say that in my post!

[Wormwood]

Yeah, but I wasn't kidding.

[dread78645]

I was floored when I learned that Grandpa Walton was a gay commie.

Yep. William Geer.

[Borges]

It's rumored that Frank Capra had a bust of Mussolini in his office.

[Calpernia]

Sorry, I'm not speaking of any 'specific' film. I'm speaking broadly.

Anyone that has the intent of introducing a propaganda film to 'sell' the message needs to build a following to bait.

Like I said, you need to understand marketing a lot better than you do. I was a market analyst for a very large international company and directed the sales path for some very popular products. They were mine. And my methods are still used.

If I wanted to sell you something, I would draw you in first. That would include an innocuous method. That is baiting. Then I come back in and finish you off. I know how to do it. And the marketers of the commie propaganda...I have great professional respect for quite a few of them. There are a few they need to get rid of. I can tell the difference in their works. I know who puts out what. I can see their signatures.

[Skywalk]

A lot of that type of propaganda was out there.

I think the Birdman of Alcatraz was another case. Completely fictionalized account portraying a murderer as sympathetic to advance the ridiculous notion that somehow criminals were pushed by society or were victims themselves.

Not much different from the outright abomination, decades later, of "Murder in the First," which was another ridiculously deceptive film. The person Kevin bacon portrayed wasn't brutalized into murder, he was a MURDERER going in (in the film shown being a thief or something undeserving of time in Alcatraz.)

[Borges]

Neither was I. And Capra is considered as a purveyor of Americana! My point being that you can see a whole variety of films as being subversive if you look at them a certain way. Every other movie in the 1930s had some sort of class warfare subtext. It was the spirit of the time.

[John Lenin]

[Skywalk]

As a curio/collectible or because of sympathies to Il Duce?

Then again, one COULD make the argument that we should not be examining(unless it leads to direct action) the sympathies/beliefs of entertainers. If a man could write a great film, even if it did reveal some of his biases, does that mean it should be invalidated if it's found he believes something abhorrent?

No. But if he actively works on the part of front groups that advance the agenda of a hostile, alien ideology or State, then yes.

[Calpernia]

If you see Splinter Cell while you are at that bookstore, please pick it up. I just finished it...and would love to chat on it!

And yes, I'm very interested in your relaxing plans. I've three young ones and am interested in stories of those that sleep through the night to give you an example of how pathetic I am!!!!

[Borges]

And the marketers of the commie propaganda...I have great professional respect for quite a few of them. There are a few they need to get rid of. I can tell the difference in their works. I know who puts out what. I can see their signatures.

I don't quite follow this. But anyway I'm not denying that people with left wing political beliefs will reflect those beliefs in their art. It's inevitable. However I maintain that is not enough to be regarded as a 'dangerous communist agent'. By their fruits ye shall know them...none of the films have come down as anything resembling communist propaganda.

If you ignore artists with unpleasant political beliefs then you'll lose most of Western Culture.