The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-1960

by Steven Englund and Larry Ceplair

Book Overview

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 Commission era to the waning days... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385129009
• ISBN13: 9780385129008
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Indispensible

I'm not a scholar of the period, but the book strongly recommends itself as the standard history of the blacklist era. Co-written in 1970, it's since undergone a number of reprintings, including a provocative Afterward to the 1983 issue, where the authors respond to critics. It's a voluminous work, 400+ pages, with small print, so it's definitely not a quick read, though the text flows easily. A number of appendices help keep the sometimes confusing cast of players properly sorted. As a fact-stating document, the work looks pretty exhaustive. Beginning with the Depression era 1930's, the narrative follows the growth of the Hollywood Left through the war years, to the post-war inquisition and decline, and into the cultural thaw of the 1960's. Focus is mainly on developments within and without the Screen Writers Guild (SWG), the most left-wing of the industry unions, and from whose ranks many broader industry coalitions emerge. It's their battles with the producers over the final product that constitutes a key subplot, and lesser known phase of the Hollywood wars. The emphasis throughout remains on events rather than individuals, though a number of key figures do predominate-- Trumbo, Lawson, Biberman, et al. Nonetheless, what we learn of these and other pivotal players is strictly a tale of character and conviction rather than personality or peccadillo. It's a sobering account with clear lessons for those raised on high-school civics classes. No one likes to think of democratic America as purging the unorthodox for "thought-crimes'. Yet, all things considered, it's hard to resist some such real life conclusion. The pressures through which the entertainment industry were finally brought to heel make for a fascinating and essential read. For me, it's surprising the extent to which some of the studios (e.g. MGM!) resisted the onslaughts at the same time others (e.g. Warner Bros.) capitulated almost immediately. Not surprisingly, the emotions of that treacherous period have never faded away. Even now, the blacklist remains highly charged, erupting again, for example, during a 1999 awards presentation for HUAC-collaborator Elia Kazan. The book takes a generally sympathetic, but not uncritical, view of those blacklisted. Still, the various nuances, as recounted in the book, are simply too complex and various to try to summarize here. (The complexity is heightened by the many acronyms that pop up on almost every page-- a handy referencing guide would have helped.) On the other hand, the authors are categorical in their perspective on HUAC and its various incarnations. The committee is clearly viewed as a reactionary tool intent on exploiting anti-communist hysteria for basically anti-New Deal, anti-labor, and anti-Semitic aspirations. At the same time, the acumen of these forces is acknowledged. HUAC managed to pick off Hollywood's most vulnerable labor activists as part of a wider process that also sent the kind of chill through American liberalis