Hollywood on Trial (1976)

Hollywood on Trial
Directed by David Halpern
Written by Arnie Reisman
1976/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime (free to members)

I fought fire with oil. — Dalton Trumbo

I learned many new things from this excellent documentary about the Hollywood blacklist and the fates of the Hollywood Ten.

The film, narrated by John Huston, starts with the inception of the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee on subversives in Hollywood and their influence on films.  It begins with testimony by several industry celebrities alleging that members of the American Communist Party were inserting propaganda in films.  I had not known that the hearings were, in part, a reaction of the studios to major strikes in the 1930s, in particular by the Screen Writers Guild.

The Hollywood Ten

The film goes on to cover the fates of the “Hollywood Ten” who defied the Committee by refusing to answer questions about their Party membership or political beliefs on First Amendment grounds.  Most of these were screenwriters.  The ten were jailed for Contempt of Congress.  Many never worked in Hollywood again.

There are also extensive contemporary interviews with members of the Ten.  The film also discusses The Front (1976) in which Woody Allen plays the titular “front” who puts his name on a screenplay written by a blacklisted writer.  I will be watching that movie today.

28 Oct 1947, Washington, DC, USA — Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the “Hollywood Ten” targeted by the Un-American Activities Committee, leaves the witness stand shouting “This is the beginning of Amercan concentration camps.”  Trumbo went on to win Oscars for his work on “Roman Holiday” and “The Brave One” under assumed names while blacklisted.

This is a very well-made documentary.  I recommend it to anyone interested in this shameful period in American history.

I couldn’t find a clip from the documentary.