TRUMBO
US, 2007, 96 minutes, Colour.
Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, Donald Sutherland.
Directed by Peter Askin.
Trumbo is a documentary about the life and career of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. However, it is much more than a documentary and life, it is a testimony to the person, the quality of his writing, his principles. This film is based on a play written by his son, Christopher.
There are, of course, a great number of interviewees paying tribute to Trumbo as well as illuminating his life during the 1940s and 50s. This includes his son and daughter. There is also a great deal of footage from the period.
Dalton Trumbo had been a member of the Communist Party at a time when Russia was an ally of the United States in World War Two. He wrote screenplays like A Guy Named Joe, a very strong patriotic film. When he was accused at the House of Un- American Activities Committee hearings, he took stances on the First Amendment and refused to collaborate. Along with Ring Lardner, his friend the scriptwriter, John Howard Lawson, Edward Dmytryk and others, he was one of the famous Hollywood Ten. He stuck to his principles and went to jail. On his release, he and his family had to move to Mexico. When they eventually returned to the United States in the mid-50s, his family was blacklisted by the neighbourhood and his daughter was persecuted at school. In the meantime, he wrote a great number of screenplays (for example Roman Holiday) with a variety of people acting as fronts. Eventually, in 1956, Robert Rich won the best screenplay Oscar for The Brave One – it was unclaimed, because it was written by Trumbo. It was eventually presented to him in 1970.
Kirk Douglas took an interest in Trumbo’s career and in Trumbo as a person and commissioned him to write Spartacus. He received the credit for the screenplay. In the same year, 1960, he also wrote the screenplay for Exodus.
The film is interesting in looking at the changes in American society during the 1940s, the memories of Russia in the 1930s and the idealism of many Americans who joined the Communist Party. It shows the years of alliance during World War Two, then the falling of the Iron Curtain and the paranoia against communists fomented by the House of Un- American Activities Committee as well as the hearings by Senator Joe Mc Carthy. The result was the black list, which had devastating effects on the careers of many Hollywood people, some of whom went to Europe, on their livelihood, on the marriages and family.
Trumbo was sometimes a rhetorical writer and there are a lot of quotations given in the film of his views on a variety of subjects, especially freedom, conscience, principles.
The film uses a device from the play whereby a number of famous actors speak to camera, in close-up, offering Trumbo’s views on many areas. This is a striking device and audience attention is certainly gained because of the prestige of the actors performing.
1. The audience knowledge of Dalton Trumbo? His screen career? The black list? The perception of him from the film? Based on his son’s play? The opening quote from Rng Lardner and the entertianing irony?
2. The film as a film, the adaptation of a play, the interviews, the footage from historical situations, the actors and their performances, the visual style and editing, the musical score?
3. The Hollywood film industry, art and artists, liberal views, the attraction in the 1930s of the Communist Party, the alliance with Russia during the war, idealism, the change of attitude after the war, the Iron Curtain the House of Un- American Activities, the black list?
4. The United States in the 1930s, Russia, visitors to Russia, the transition to fear, the Red Scare? The personalities involved, authorities investigating all areas of American society? The later perceptions on the House of Un- American Activities, Parnell Thomas, the investigations by Senator Mc Carthy, the calling of the time scoundrel time? This film’s inclusion of testimonies of sympathetic witnesses like Adolphe Menjou and Robert Taylor?
5. Dalton Trumbo himself, American background, writer, work in Hollywood, his films and screenplays, Oscar nominations, his patriotism during the war? Belonging to the Communist Party? His reasons? The investigations, his hostility to the committee, calling on the First Amendment? The role of the Hollywood Ten, going to court, Trumbo going to jail? The consequences for himself, family, wife and children, going to Mexico, the other blacklisted writers, Ring Lardner and his family? The funeral and Lardner talking about Trumbo? The return to Los Angeles, the school and the persecution of the daughter? His extensive letter-writing? The screenplays, the fronts, Robert Rich and The Brave One? Kirk Douglas and the commissioning for Spartacus?
6. Trumbo as an orator, his rhetorical style, the quotations, his attitudes towards being an American, his ideals, communism, honour? The issue of naming names and collaborators, the consequences?
7. The actors and the quotations from Trumbo, the impersonations, the range of issues? Quality of the performances – and having well-known actors performing?
8. The image of the House of Un- American Activities Committee, the stars, Elia Kazan? The fate of Larry Parks and the interviews? The sympathetic actors? Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall?
9. The consequences of the black list professionally, no avenues of communication, the use of fronts, the friendship from the war with Ray, his being a front, his early death, Trumbo’s tribute?
10. The consequences for the Hollywood Ten and others, Adrian Scott poverty, writing on the floor, going into exile, broken marriages?
11. The interview with Hugo Butler’s widow, her perceptions at the time, with Katherine Lardner, the Trumbo children?
12. Trumbo as an honourable man?
13. The film serving as an American examination of conscience for both this period and its attitudes, its injustices?
