The Blacklist

Cinema is a powerful medium for communicating ideas. It can normalize perspectives and shape society. Any attempt to suppress free expression—whether by law or intimidation—threatens the arts. As America’s political divide widens, some fear a renewed stifling of speech. This evokes the era when the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) targeted Hollywood, ultimately imprisoning ten men for refusing to cooperate in 1947.

During World War II, Hollywood was typically pro-military, backing the government’s efforts under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But after the war, as power shifted in Congress, some of these same films were painted as “subversive” or “communist.” Under Republican leadership, HUAC’s Chairman J. Parnell Thomas declared “hundreds of…film people” were communist sympathizers, placing them on long lists. Some were labeled “friendly” for cooperating, but nineteen were declared “unfriendly.”

Those nineteen met at the home of Herbert Biberman to plan their response. Most had been Communist Party members at some point, and ten were Jewish. This was likely not coincidental, considering HUAC’s focus on anti-communist rhetoric overlapping with suspicion of cultural others. Two 1947 movies on anti-Semitism, Crossfire (1947) and Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), also came under scrutiny.

In October 1947, the hearings began. “Friendly” witnesses included Jack Warner of Warner Bros. and Louis B. Mayer of MGM. Ironically, these men were also cited for producing “anti-American” films like Mission to Moscow (1943), which had been explicitly encouraged during the war. But HUAC seized on any link to the Roosevelt administration’s propaganda objectives.

After hearing from the so-called friendly witnesses, the committee turned to the “unfriendly” witnesses. Eleven testified:

Alvah Bessie
Herbert Biberman
Bertolt Brecht
Lester Cole
Edward Dmytryk
Ring Lardner Jr.
John Howard Lawson
Albert Maltz
Samuel Ornitz
Adrian Scott
Dalton Trumbo

All had leftist leanings and had explored themes like anti-intolerance or social justice in their work. Chairman Thomas labeled these themes as communist.

Adrian Scott and Edward Dmytryk were summoned because of Crossfire (1947), a film fighting prejudice. It depicts a soldier who murders a Jewish man, pushing back against the then-common fear of addressing anti-Semitism on screen. Crossfire earned five Oscar nominations, but HUAC claimed it was subversive because it humanized a soldier’s vulnerability.

Action in the North Atlantic (1943), written by John Howard Lawson and produced at the so-called “Roosevelt Studio” (Warner Bros.), also drew attention from HUAC. The film showed a convoy of equal allies delivering supplies to Russia, supporting the Soviet Union when it was America’s wartime ally.

Ten of the “unfriendly” witnesses refused to testify about their political affiliations, citing the First Amendment (not the Fifth). As a result, they were charged with contempt of Congress and became the “Hollywood Ten.” Most served prison time, and the studios—via the Waldorf Statement—agreed to blacklist them from employment. Some, like Edward Dmytryk, eventually returned to work; others, like Samuel Ornitz, never did.

The eleventh unfriendly witness was Bertolt Brecht, who cooperated to avoid deportation under the Alien Registration Act. He left the U.S. shortly thereafter. HUAC had planned further investigations, but these initial hearings ended by late 1947.

This campaign effectively destroyed careers and chilled creative expression. Chairman Thomas claimed to protect America from communist influence but instead demonstrated how fragile free speech can be when fear rules.

The Blacklist

Links

Films

People

References

Books