When the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed Hollywood’s screenwriters, producers, and directors to testify about communism in 1947, 10 men refused to share their political affiliations or reveal those of their friends. They gained the respect of many who valued civil liberties but they also lost their livelihoods.
The ten men were blacklisted from working in the industry for more than a decade - at least, not under their own names. Many secretly carried on writing under pseudonyms, going through intermediaries, or working from other countries where they were paid less and missed out on the Oscars and other honors. Here are our top picks of must-watch movies from the Red Scare era of moviemaking.
Roman Holiday (1953)
When Roman Holiday won the Academy Award for Best Story, screenwriter ‘Robert Rich’ took all of the credit - whoever he was. The real mastermind behind the scenes was Dalton Trumbo, the writer of blockbusters including Exodus and Spartacus. Trumbo was finally vindicated in 1975 when, in ill health and at his West Hollywood home, Walter Mirisch - president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - delivered Trumbo’s Oscar personally. The men had previously worked together and Mirisch knew Trumbo sometimes wrote under assumed names. (YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, Prime Video)
The Brave One (1956)
The Brave One,about a Mexican boy who tries to save his beloved bull Gitano from a deadly duel against a champion matador, was also credited to ‘Robert Rich’ - a name Trumbo borrowed from a nephew of a film producer. Trumbo had moved to Mexico after serving his prison sentence and the Hollywood Blacklist severely curtailed his earnings. At one point, Trumbo was among the highest-paid writers in Hollywood. After he was blacklisted, Trumbo wrote 18 screenplays at an average fee of $1,750 each. Meanwhile, ‘Robert Rich’ picked up the Oscar for Best Story in 1957. (HBO Max, Prime Video)
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When the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed Hollywood’s screenwriters, producers, and directors to testify about communism in 1947, 10 men refused to share their political affiliations or reveal those of their friends. They gained the respect of many who valued civil liberties but they also lost their livelihoods.
The ten men were blacklisted from working in the industry for more than a decade - at least, not under their own names. Many secretly carried on writing under pseudonyms, going through intermediaries, or working from other countries where they were paid less and missed out on the Oscars and other honors. Here are our top picks of must-watch movies from the Red Scare era of moviemaking.
Roman Holiday (1953)
When Roman Holiday won the Academy Award for Best Story, screenwriter ‘Robert Rich’ took all of the credit - whoever he was. The real mastermind behind the scenes was Dalton Trumbo, the writer of blockbusters including Exodus and Spartacus. Trumbo was finally vindicated in 1975 when, in ill health and at his West Hollywood home, Walter Mirisch - president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - delivered Trumbo’s Oscar personally. The men had previously worked together and Mirisch knew Trumbo sometimes wrote under assumed names. (YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, Prime Video)
The Brave One (1956)
The Brave One,about a Mexican boy who tries to save his beloved bull Gitano from a deadly duel against a champion matador, was also credited to ‘Robert Rich’ - a name Trumbo borrowed from a nephew of a film producer. Trumbo had moved to Mexico after serving his prison sentence and the Hollywood Blacklist severely curtailed his earnings. At one point, Trumbo was among the highest-paid writers in Hollywood. After he was blacklisted, Trumbo wrote 18 screenplays at an average fee of $1,750 each. Meanwhile, ‘Robert Rich’ picked up the Oscar for Best Story in 1957. (HBO Max, Prime Video)
When a rich woman in Victorian England marries a poor artist she finds herself the victim of a blackmailing plot. The sensational script was drafted by an uncredited Ring Lardner Jr., one of the Hollywood Ten who would later - when the blacklist was finally lifted - write The Greatest (1977), a movie about and starring Muhammed Ali, along with The Cincinnati Kid (1965), MASH (1970), for which he won an Academy Award. (YouTube)
Born Free (1966)
Lester Cole found fame in Hollywood writing B-Movies in the Charlie Chan series but his union-organizing skills led studio execs to nickname him ‘Hollywood Red’. After Cole was jailed and blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten, he wrote some of his best work including the highly successful Born Free (1966) which was credited to a Mr. ‘Gerald L.C. Copley’ who didn’t exist. ''When you write a nonpolitical play or film, there's little problem now,” Cole said in 1974, “but when any of us writes anything political, it's harder. We're judged by a different standard.” (YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, Prime Video)
Chain Lightning
While a ‘J. Redmond Prior’ accepted the credit for writing Humphrey Bogart’s aviator thriller Chain Lightning, it was actually Lester Cole secretly banging out the screenplay on his typewriter. Cole remained bitter about the Blacklist and his imprisonment. In his autobiography, Cole recalled appearing on a 1978 radio talk show with ex-Communist Budd Schulberg, who testified as a ‘friendly’ HUAC witness. While on air, Cole called Schulberg a ‘canary’’: Aren't you the canary who sang before the un-American Committee? Aren't you that canary? Or are you another bird, a pigeon – the stool kind… Just sing, canary, sing, you b******!” (Stream for free on YouTube)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
Lester Cole’s unfinished script about the Mexican revolutionary general Emiliano Zapata was reportedly picked up by John Steinbeck and made Viva Zapata! starring Marlon Brando. Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) and the inspiration for the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. (Apple TV, Internet Archive)
Broken Arrow (1950)
Just before screenwriter Albert Maltz served his prison term, Maltz convinced his friend Michael Blankfort to front for him on the James Stewart film Broken Arrow. The story about a war between white settlers and the Apaches received an Oscar nomination for the Adapted Screenplay. Maltz also wrote uncredited screenplays for The Robe (1953). He was finally credited for writing Clint Eastwood’s western Two Mules for Sister Sara in 1970. (Apple TV, Peacock, Prime Video)
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
John Howard Lawson’s originally uncredited screenplay was written during his exile. Cry, the Beloved Countryis an anti-Apartheid film that starred a young Sidney Poitier. It was shot in South Africa, which was still under Apartheid at the time. Producer/Director Zoltan Korda had to inform the South African immigration authorities that Poitier and Lee were his indentured servants, not actors. (Vudu, Prime Video)
The Careless Years (1957)
The Careless Years, abouta high school couple on the lam in Mexico, was John Howard Lawson’s last screenplay, also written under a pseudonym. Lawson, one of the founders and the first president of the Screenwriters Guild, was struggling to make a living in his chosen profession after the Blacklist years. He gave up writing screenplays to teach drama and film at American universities. (Stream for free on YouTube)
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