HOLLYWOOD ON TRIAL

US, 1976, 105 minutes, Colour.
Directed by David Helpern.

Hollywood on Trial is a very serious-minded documentary which won great acclaim in America. It has a very strong point of view in its critical re-assesment of the treatment of the un-American activities of the late forties into the Mc Carthyist period of the fifties. The film focuses attention on the atmosphere of the Cold War suspicions of people who had been card-carrying Communists for a long time or a short time, especially those involved in the movie industry.

The film focuses very strongly on the Hollywood Ten, explains the personalities involved, their backgrounds and the treatment given them. There is a lot of visual documentary evidence from interviews and Senate investigations. The reminiscences of particular members of the Hollywood Ten, especially Dalton Trumbo and director Edward Dmytryk, who were re-established in Hollywood in the fifties and 'sixties, is very informative. There are also some ironic presentations of stars like Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor and Adolph Menjou, especially, declaring their loyalty to America. The material collected may be partial but the film has a definite critical point of view. It does provide an opportunity for seeing some important material from this period.

1. The implications of the title? the memories of Hollywood In the forties? the attitude of the anti?American enquiries? The documentary impact of this film?

2. The portrayal of Hollywood in the forties and the fifties? As fitting into America at that time? The cross section of personalities, attitudes? The background of strike activity, communist sympathizing, fear of Communism?

3. How does all this appear from the perspective of the seventies? How easy is it to judge the past? In comparison with living through a present? What is the perspective of the seventies on the atmosphere of unAmerican activities,the Cold War, fear of Communism?

4. How appropriate was the style of this documentary, the narratives, the clips, the editing, the interviews? The importance of the editing for a particular point of view?


5. What was the basic point of view of the film? Did it presuppose audience sympathy? Did it set out to propagandise its audience? Was it convincing in its point of view and giving documentary evidence?

6. How well did the film fill in the background of American political consciousness in the thirties, the Depression, union issues and strikes? Russia in the thirties? The status of Communism? Capitalistic attitudes? Hollywood sympathies? Hollywood as being struck by the unions?

7. How did this change during the years of the war? Russia as an ally? The importance for propaganda, American films and their support of Russia? A greater respectability for communists? American Communists compared with those in other countries throughout the world? How serious the Communism? Communist principles, Marxist principles to be lived out in American society?

8. How well did the film show the transition to the Cold War? Reaction against Russia? The influence of Churchill on his American visit and his famous speech? The change of public opinion? A war and Communists being the enemy?

9. The film's portrayal of the intensity of people against Communism, especially Parnell Thomas (and the irony of his later arrest and imprisonment)? Senator Mc Carthy and his ideology? Audience response to these men, their causes, their attitudes? behaviour and treatment of people, their dishonesty?

10. Did the film adequately present the pros and cons of the stances taken, especially in the late forties?

11. How well collected and presented was the documentary evidence of House hearings, the personalities involved, the illustration of their motivation? The particular Hollywood stars like Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor, Adolphe Menjou? The naming of names?

12. The film's focusing on the Hollywood Ten: the presentation of documentary evidence at the time, the build-up to their contempt charge, the anticipation that they would not be condemned? Their backgrounds as Communists, their social attitudes, their acceptability in Hollywood? The quality of their film work? The importance of seeing them so many decades later, their retrospect, their attitude towards the past, fellow workers In Hollywood? A serenity in their old age? The indications of their subsequent history, blacklisting, anonymous work, moving towards success again? Rehabilitation?

13. The indication of Constitutional and legal issues? The build?up for the trial of the ten? Constitutional hopes? The interviews with the lawyers?

14. How important was the editing of the interviews for indicating a point of view? How important were the sequences shown of the filming of 'The Front' with all its implications about the period?

15. What are the implications for understanding a period and the persecution of people when they are seen in retrospect? The vindication of people who seem to be criminals? A lesson for persecution in the present?

16. What were the major issues of right and left during the thirties and forties? The presence of fascist attitudes? Questions of freedom of speech?