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LIMITED SERIES THE HOLLYWOOD TEN AT 75 APR 13–30, 2023
Force of Evil Thu, Apr 27 | 7:30pm | TMT
Seventy-five years ago, Hollywood entered one of its bleakest periods. In 1947, 10 Hollywood writers and directors famously refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and were held in contempt of Congress. In response, Hollywood’s top studio heads turned their backs on these filmmakers. The Hollywood Ten—Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo—as these artists came to be known, were blacklisted from the film industry and in April 1948 were sentenced by the government to serve a year in federal prison. The persecution and blacklisting of these filmmakers were years in the making as the US government had already made its interest in Hollywood, and the left-wing views held by many within the industry, known. It became common practice to fire and/or deny employment to anyone who held Communist political views or were, in any way, deemed Communist sympathizers by their peers and the government. This series highlights key films made by and about members of the Hollywood Ten and their blacklisted colleagues, underscoring the hand these filmmakers had in how Hollywood depicted 20th-century history from the Depression through World War II and the Holocaust.
Programmed and notes by Bernardo Rondeau. Thank you, Ed Rampell.
Tender Comrade with Sahara Thu, Apr 13 | 7:30pm | TMT Tender Comrade
The Four Feathers (1939), Sahara was co-written by John Howard Lawson, the co-founder and first president of the Screen Writers Guild, and the so-called “Dean” of the Hollywood Ten. DIRECTED BY: Zoltan Korda. WRITTEN BY: John Howard Lawson, Zoltan Korda, James O’Hanlon, Philip MacDonald. WITH: Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges. 1943. 97 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm.
Three female welders at Douglas Aircraft Factory—led by Ginger Rogers—set up a communal residence while their husbands are overseas fighting in World War II. Expertly mounted by director Edward Dmytryk, this panoramic portrait of resilience on the home front was seen as patriotic propaganda on its initial release. However, Dmytryk and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo would both be subsequently indicted by HUAC, with this film used as evidence of the filmmakers’ anti-capitalist, communist views. DIRECTED BY: Edward Dmytryk. WRITTEN BY: Dalton Trumbo. WITH: Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, Kim Hunter. 1944. 102 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Sahara Humphrey Bogart heads up a ragtag platoon as they battle Nazis crossing the sun-beaten wilds of the film’s namesake desert. Joining Bogie’s small detachment on their war-beaten tank are six Allied stragglers, a Sudanese corporal (Rex Ingram) and his Italian prisoner (Academy Award–nominee J. Carrol Naish). Directed by Zoltan Korda with the same visionary expensiveness of his earlier arid adventure
Cloak and Dagger with None Shall Escape Fri, Apr 14 | 7:30pm | TMT Cloak and Dagger
A dizzying spy saga spanning the European continent, this virtuoso thriller from Fritz Lang is an underrated gem in the director’s body of work. Gary Cooper stars as the midwestern nuclear physicist reluctantly recruited by the US Office of Strategic Services for undercover work abroad tracking down Nazi Germany’s plans for an atom bomb. Allying with an Italian band of resistance fighters led by a bravura Lilli Palmer (in her Hollywood debut), Cooper finds himself the prey in Lang’s crackerjack cat-and-mouse games. Screenwriters Albert Maltz and Ring Lardner, Jr. were both among the blacklisted Hollywood Ten.
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