Communism in Hollywood ─ The Moral Paradoxes of Testimony, Silence, and Betrayal

Casty turns here from his usual focus on the films themselves to look at how the industry as a whole reacted to the McCarthy attacks during the late 1940s and early 1950s. He describes the culture of ideology, art and conflict before the congressional hearings; party discipline and the realities of the Soviet world as the hearings began; and the time of the blacklist and since. He follows in particular the life, work, politics, and trials of filmmaker Robert Rossen through the process. Among the topics are the establishment of Comintern control, the emblematic battle of Body and Soul, the strategies and consequences of the first hearing in 1947, Jews and the degrees of betrayal, the Rosenbergs and Alger Hess, the denial of value and the record on film, and the myth of total McCarthyism. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Alan Casty is the author of The Dramatic Art of the Film, The Films of Robert Rossen, and Mass Media and Mass Man.