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Blacklisted by History
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Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies, is a 2007 book by author M. Stanton Evans, who asserts that Joseph McCarthy was proper in making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason within the US State Department and the US Army, showing proper regard for evidence (during a period in the late 1940s and 1950s known as McCarthyism or the second Red Scare).


Contents  [hide]
1 Summary
2 Reviews
3 References
4 External links

Summary[edit]
The book claims that a vast Soviet conspiracy infiltrated the Roosevelt and Truman administrations to create a foreign policy that advances the spread of world Communism, including the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe and the fall of Nationalist China, which McCarthy exposed, only to have his efforts undermined by political opponents with a vested interest in allowing the conspiracy to continue.[1][2]
Reviews[edit]
Ronald Radosh, a historian and expert on the Cold War spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, states that "rather than a biography, Evans has written a defense counsel’s brief for his client, whom he seeks to defend against all the slanders made about McCarthy by his political enemies." He praises Evans' "extensive research", and his exposure of the political agendas of McCarthy's main opponents and their unwillingness to look more closely into Soviet penetration. He also commends Evans for correcting the view that all of McCarthy's victims were innocent. Radosh severely criticises McCarthy's failure to distinguish between communists and anti-communist liberals, and between those expressing communist views and those working as Soviet agents, and criticises Evans for glossing over this. Radosh concludes:[3]

Evans’s book falls far short of what it might have done to correct the record about the era. His own exaggerations and unwarranted leaps parallel those made by McCarthy. It is unlikely that his hope to change history’s verdict will become a reality as a result of the publication of this book.
Reviewing the book for The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian David Oshinsky was harshly critical, calling Evans' primary thesis a "remarkable fantasy," asserting that Evans has uncovered no fresh evidence and arguing that the evidence supports the historical consensus that Communist spy networks in the United States had largely been dismantled by the time McCarthy started his campaign and that McCarthy was "a bit player in the battle against Communist subversion, a latecomer who turned a vital crusade into a political mud bath... The fiercely negative judgments of those who lived through the McCarthy era are widely accepted today for good reason: they ring true."[1]
Kirkus Reviews called the book "[a] revisionist biography", which although a "detailed account" is "marred by ideological blinders" and fit "[f]or true believers only",[2] Publishers Weekly describing Evans as "given to conspiracy thinking"[4] and Reason magazine describing it as "revisionist" and "a breathless defense of McCarthy."[5]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Oshinsky (2007-01-27). "In the Heart of the Heart of Conspiracy". New York Times. "This remarkable fantasy, playing upon the deepest fears of right-wing Republicans, ignores the actual United States foreign policy that gave billions of dollars in aid to Chiang, fought a brutal war in Korea against two Communist nations, propped up an anti-Communist regime in Vietnam at the cost of 58,000 American lives and refused for three decades to recognize the government of Mao. Most historians today view the “loss” of China for what it was: a futile American attempt to aid a corrupt and unpopular regime. And most see Truman — the key bogeyman of the McCarthyites — as a tough anti-Communist who protected constitutional liberties at home and American interests abroad."
2.^ Jump up to: a b "Kirkus Reviews:BLACKLISTED BY HISTORY". Kirkus Reviews. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2012-01-12. "A detailed account of McCarthy and of the CPUSA marred by ideological blinders. For true believers only."
3.Jump up ^ Radosh, Ronald (5 December 2007). "The Enemy Within". National Review Online. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
4.Jump up ^ "Nonfiction Review - Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy". Publishers Weekly. 2007-09-17.
5.Jump up ^ Michael C. Moynihan (2010-07-10). "Beck U : The excitable Fox News host goes to college". Reason.
External links[edit]
book review by Henry E. Mattox, Contributing Editor of American Diplomacy
 


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Books about American politicians
Works about McCarthyism


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Blacklisted by History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies, is a 2007 book by author M. Stanton Evans, who asserts that Joseph McCarthy was proper in making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason within the US State Department and the US Army, showing proper regard for evidence (during a period in the late 1940s and 1950s known as McCarthyism or the second Red Scare).


Contents  [hide]
1 Summary
2 Reviews
3 References
4 External links

Summary[edit]
The book claims that a vast Soviet conspiracy infiltrated the Roosevelt and Truman administrations to create a foreign policy that advances the spread of world Communism, including the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe and the fall of Nationalist China, which McCarthy exposed, only to have his efforts undermined by political opponents with a vested interest in allowing the conspiracy to continue.[1][2]
Reviews[edit]
Ronald Radosh, a historian and expert on the Cold War spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, states that "rather than a biography, Evans has written a defense counsel’s brief for his client, whom he seeks to defend against all the slanders made about McCarthy by his political enemies." He praises Evans' "extensive research", and his exposure of the political agendas of McCarthy's main opponents and their unwillingness to look more closely into Soviet penetration. He also commends Evans for correcting the view that all of McCarthy's victims were innocent. Radosh severely criticises McCarthy's failure to distinguish between communists and anti-communist liberals, and between those expressing communist views and those working as Soviet agents, and criticises Evans for glossing over this. Radosh concludes:[3]

Evans’s book falls far short of what it might have done to correct the record about the era. His own exaggerations and unwarranted leaps parallel those made by McCarthy. It is unlikely that his hope to change history’s verdict will become a reality as a result of the publication of this book.
Reviewing the book for The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian David Oshinsky was harshly critical, calling Evans' primary thesis a "remarkable fantasy," asserting that Evans has uncovered no fresh evidence and arguing that the evidence supports the historical consensus that Communist spy networks in the United States had largely been dismantled by the time McCarthy started his campaign and that McCarthy was "a bit player in the battle against Communist subversion, a latecomer who turned a vital crusade into a political mud bath... The fiercely negative judgments of those who lived through the McCarthy era are widely accepted today for good reason: they ring true."[1]
Kirkus Reviews called the book "[a] revisionist biography", which although a "detailed account" is "marred by ideological blinders" and fit "[f]or true believers only",[2] Publishers Weekly describing Evans as "given to conspiracy thinking"[4] and Reason magazine describing it as "revisionist" and "a breathless defense of McCarthy."[5]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b David Oshinsky (2007-01-27). "In the Heart of the Heart of Conspiracy". New York Times. "This remarkable fantasy, playing upon the deepest fears of right-wing Republicans, ignores the actual United States foreign policy that gave billions of dollars in aid to Chiang, fought a brutal war in Korea against two Communist nations, propped up an anti-Communist regime in Vietnam at the cost of 58,000 American lives and refused for three decades to recognize the government of Mao. Most historians today view the “loss” of China for what it was: a futile American attempt to aid a corrupt and unpopular regime. And most see Truman — the key bogeyman of the McCarthyites — as a tough anti-Communist who protected constitutional liberties at home and American interests abroad."
2.^ Jump up to: a b "Kirkus Reviews:BLACKLISTED BY HISTORY". Kirkus Reviews. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2012-01-12. "A detailed account of McCarthy and of the CPUSA marred by ideological blinders. For true believers only."
3.Jump up ^ Radosh, Ronald (5 December 2007). "The Enemy Within". National Review Online. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
4.Jump up ^ "Nonfiction Review - Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy". Publishers Weekly. 2007-09-17.
5.Jump up ^ Michael C. Moynihan (2010-07-10). "Beck U : The excitable Fox News host goes to college". Reason.
External links[edit]
book review by Henry E. Mattox, Contributing Editor of American Diplomacy
 


Categories: 2007 books
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A Conspiracy So Immense
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A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy is the Hardeman Prize winning book by David Oshinsky first published in 1983 by Free Press and later reprinted by Oxford University Press. The book covers the life of Joseph McCarthy from his birth to his death. [1] [2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Broyard, Anatole (May 28, 1983). "Books of The Times; Joe McCarthy's World". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
2.Jump up ^ "Reading Series". American Book Review. Retrieved 2008-04-01. "Another books include A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy, which won the Hardeman Prize as the best book about the U.S. Congress, and “Worse Than Slavery”: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice, which won the Robert Kennedy Prize for its contribution to human rights."



Flag of United StatesBiography icon This article about a biographical or autobiographical book on an American politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




 


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A Conspiracy So Immense
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy is the Hardeman Prize winning book by David Oshinsky first published in 1983 by Free Press and later reprinted by Oxford University Press. The book covers the life of Joseph McCarthy from his birth to his death. [1] [2]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Broyard, Anatole (May 28, 1983). "Books of The Times; Joe McCarthy's World". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
2.Jump up ^ "Reading Series". American Book Review. Retrieved 2008-04-01. "Another books include A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy, which won the Hardeman Prize as the best book about the U.S. Congress, and “Worse Than Slavery”: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice, which won the Robert Kennedy Prize for its contribution to human rights."



Flag of United StatesBiography icon This article about a biographical or autobiographical book on an American politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




 


Categories: 1983 books
American biographies
Biographies about politicians
Works about McCarthyism
Free Press (publisher) books
United States biography book stubs
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Politician book stubs




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The Front
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For The Simpsons episode of the same name, see The Front (The Simpsons). For other uses, see Front (disambiguation).

The Front
Wallenthefront2.jpg
theatrical release poster

Directed by
Martin Ritt
Produced by
Charles H. Joffe
Jack Rollins
Written by
Walter Bernstein
Starring
Woody Allen
Zero Mostel
Michael Murphy
Herschel Bernardi
Andrea Marcovicci
Remak Ramsay
Lloyd Gough
Music by
Dave Grusin
Cinematography
Michael Chapman
Edited by
Sidney Levin
Distributed by
Columbia Pictures
Release dates
September 17, 1976
Running time
95 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
The Front is a 1976 comedy-drama film about the Hollywood blacklist during the age of live television. It is written by Walter Bernstein, directed by Martin Ritt and stars Woody Allen and Zero Mostel.
Because of the blacklist, a number of artists, writers, directors and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of being Communists themselves.
Several people involved in the making of the film – screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough – had themselves been blacklisted. (The name of each in the closing credits is followed by "Blacklisted 19--" and the relevant year.) Bernstein was listed after being named in the Red Channels journal that identified alleged Communists and Communist sympathizers.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Reception 2.1 Critical response
2.2 Accolades
3 Historical connections
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
In the early 1950s, in New York City, restaurant cashier and small-time bookie Howard Prince (Woody Allen) has a friend who writes for television. Because the friend, Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) has been blacklisted, he asks Howard to sign his name to the TV scripts.
Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the percentage of the writer's fee that Miller will pay him. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman (Herschel Bernardi), who is pleased to have a writer not contaminated by the blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for one of Sussman's top actors, Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel).
Howard becomes such a “success” that Miller’s other friends hire him to be their front. The quality of the scripts and Howard's ability to write so many impresses Sussman's idealistic script editor, Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci), who mistakes him for a principled, artistic talent. Howard begins dating her but changes the subject whenever she wants to discuss his work.
McCarthyism is rampant and investigators are trying to expose and blacklist Communists in the entertainment industry. They are making life hell for Hecky Brown. They affect his ability to find work and pressure Sussman to drop him from the show.
Hecky takes a liking to Howard and invites him to the Catskills, where he is booked to perform on stage. The club owner short-changes the entertainer on his promised salary, furthering Hecky's distress.
The professional humiliation and loss of income take their toll, resulting in Hecky's suicide.
Howard witnesses the harsh reality of what the terrible actions of the right-wing “Freedom Information Services” can do. Suspicion is cast his way and Howard is called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He ends up revealing privately to Florence that he is not a brilliant writer at all, just a humble cashier.
Howard decides to outwit the committee. He hatches a scheme in which he will respond to all questions, not refusing to answer but in such a general way that he will admit or deny nothing. After briefly enduring the HUAC questioning – including being asked to speak ill of the dead Hecky Brown – Howard takes a stand. He ends the interview with a blatant act of defiance, which gets him arrested and convicted for contempt of Congress, a punishment he accepts with pride.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Critical reception of The Front was divided between those who thought it effectively and amusingly dealt with the topic of McCarthyism and those who thought it a superficial gloss instead of a pithy statement about the McCarthy era. In 1976, reviewing it for the New York Times, Vincent Canby acknowledged the film's lack of direct political commentary: "The Front is not the whole story of an especially unpleasant piece of American history. It may be faulted for oversimplification. Mr. Ritt and Mr. Bernstein, veterans of the blacklist are not interested in subtleties. Yet, even in its comic moments, The Front works on the conscience. "It recreates the awful noise of ignorance that can still be heard." (Canby, 1976)[1] He said that, while the film does not directly attack or address the political era, it does communicate its message: Do not rat on people.[citation needed] Furthermore, he emphasized that The Front encourages the viewer to understand the emotional consequences of blacklisting and finger-pointing by telling the experience of one man. Pauline Kael wrote in praise of the film and the performance of Woody Allen in particular : "At its most appealing, this movie says that people shouldn't be pressured to inform on their friends, that people shouldn't be humiliated in order to earn a living. Humbly, this film asks for fairness....When you see Woody Allen in one of his own films, in a peculiar way you take him for granted; here you appreciate his skill, because you miss him so much when he's offscreen."[2]
Roger Ebert dismissed the political value of The Front: "What we get are the adventures of a schlemiel in wonderland". He felt that the Woody Allen character was too comic and unconvincing a writer to represent the true nature of "front" writers. He added that Hecky Brown was a worthwhile character: "The tragedy implied by this character tells us what we need to know about the blacklist's effect on people's lives; the rest of the movie adds almost nothing else".[3]
Accolades[edit]
For The Front, Walter Bernstein was nominated for the 1977 Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and Zero Mostel was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. Andrea Marcovicci was nominated for the 1977 "Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress".
Historical connections[edit]
The movie draws from real life incidents in its depiction of the characters. A scene in which Hecky (played by Mostel) goes to entertain at a mountain resort, and then is cheated out of part of his fee, is based on a real life incident described by Bernstein in his memoirs Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist. In the book, Bernstein describes how Mostel came to entertain at the Concord hotel in the Catskills, where he used to entertain as a rising comic, because he desperately needed the money. The manager of the Concord promised him $500 but, when he arrived, reduced that to $300, according to Bernstein. In the movie, Hecky has a violent scene when, after the performance, told that he is cheated. In real life, Mostel was told before the performance and acted out his hostility during the performance, by cursing at the customers, who thought it was part of the act.
The subsequent suicide of Hecky, shown in the film as his leaping from a hotel window, has a historical parallel in the suicide of blacklisted actor Philip Loeb, who took an overdose of sleeping pills in a hotel room. Loeb was a friend of Mostel's, according to Bernstein's memoirs.
See also[edit]
List of American films of 1976
References[edit]
Notes
1.Jump up ^ Movie Review by Vincint Canby New York Times, Oct 1, 1976
2.Jump up ^ Pauline Kael, New Yorker review reprinted in When the Lights Go Down.
3.Jump up ^ The Front review from Roger Ebert


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Front
The Front at the Internet Movie Database
McCarthyism and the Movies
Rogert Ebert's Review of The Front





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Films directed by Martin Ritt


Edge of the City (1957) ·
 No Down Payment (1957) ·
 The Long, Hot Summer (1958) ·
 The Black Orchid (1958) ·
 The Sound and the Fury (1959) ·
 Five Branded Women (1960) ·
 Paris Blues (1961) ·
 Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) ·
 Hud (1963) ·
 The Outrage (1964) ·
 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) ·
 Hombre (1967) ·
 The Brotherhood (1968) ·
 The Molly Maguires (1970) ·
 The Great White Hope (1970) ·
 Sounder (1972) ·
 Pete 'n' Tillie (1972) ·
 Conrack (1974) ·
 The Front (1976) ·
 Casey's Shadow (1978) ·
 Norma Rae (1979) ·
 Back Roads (1981) ·
 Cross Creek (1983) ·
 Murphy's Romance (1985) ·
 Nuts (1987) ·
 Stanley & Iris (1990)
 

 


Categories: English-language films
1976 films
1970s comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
Columbia Pictures films
Films directed by Martin Ritt
Films based on actual events
Films about the Hollywood blacklist
Films set in New York City
Films set in the 1950s
Works about McCarthyism








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The Front
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For The Simpsons episode of the same name, see The Front (The Simpsons). For other uses, see Front (disambiguation).

The Front
Wallenthefront2.jpg
theatrical release poster

Directed by
Martin Ritt
Produced by
Charles H. Joffe
Jack Rollins
Written by
Walter Bernstein
Starring
Woody Allen
Zero Mostel
Michael Murphy
Herschel Bernardi
Andrea Marcovicci
Remak Ramsay
Lloyd Gough
Music by
Dave Grusin
Cinematography
Michael Chapman
Edited by
Sidney Levin
Distributed by
Columbia Pictures
Release dates
September 17, 1976
Running time
95 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
The Front is a 1976 comedy-drama film about the Hollywood blacklist during the age of live television. It is written by Walter Bernstein, directed by Martin Ritt and stars Woody Allen and Zero Mostel.
Because of the blacklist, a number of artists, writers, directors and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of being Communists themselves.
Several people involved in the making of the film – screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough – had themselves been blacklisted. (The name of each in the closing credits is followed by "Blacklisted 19--" and the relevant year.) Bernstein was listed after being named in the Red Channels journal that identified alleged Communists and Communist sympathizers.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Reception 2.1 Critical response
2.2 Accolades
3 Historical connections
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
In the early 1950s, in New York City, restaurant cashier and small-time bookie Howard Prince (Woody Allen) has a friend who writes for television. Because the friend, Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) has been blacklisted, he asks Howard to sign his name to the TV scripts.
Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the percentage of the writer's fee that Miller will pay him. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman (Herschel Bernardi), who is pleased to have a writer not contaminated by the blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for one of Sussman's top actors, Hecky Brown (Zero Mostel).
Howard becomes such a “success” that Miller’s other friends hire him to be their front. The quality of the scripts and Howard's ability to write so many impresses Sussman's idealistic script editor, Florence Barrett (Andrea Marcovicci), who mistakes him for a principled, artistic talent. Howard begins dating her but changes the subject whenever she wants to discuss his work.
McCarthyism is rampant and investigators are trying to expose and blacklist Communists in the entertainment industry. They are making life hell for Hecky Brown. They affect his ability to find work and pressure Sussman to drop him from the show.
Hecky takes a liking to Howard and invites him to the Catskills, where he is booked to perform on stage. The club owner short-changes the entertainer on his promised salary, furthering Hecky's distress.
The professional humiliation and loss of income take their toll, resulting in Hecky's suicide.
Howard witnesses the harsh reality of what the terrible actions of the right-wing “Freedom Information Services” can do. Suspicion is cast his way and Howard is called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He ends up revealing privately to Florence that he is not a brilliant writer at all, just a humble cashier.
Howard decides to outwit the committee. He hatches a scheme in which he will respond to all questions, not refusing to answer but in such a general way that he will admit or deny nothing. After briefly enduring the HUAC questioning – including being asked to speak ill of the dead Hecky Brown – Howard takes a stand. He ends the interview with a blatant act of defiance, which gets him arrested and convicted for contempt of Congress, a punishment he accepts with pride.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Critical reception of The Front was divided between those who thought it effectively and amusingly dealt with the topic of McCarthyism and those who thought it a superficial gloss instead of a pithy statement about the McCarthy era. In 1976, reviewing it for the New York Times, Vincent Canby acknowledged the film's lack of direct political commentary: "The Front is not the whole story of an especially unpleasant piece of American history. It may be faulted for oversimplification. Mr. Ritt and Mr. Bernstein, veterans of the blacklist are not interested in subtleties. Yet, even in its comic moments, The Front works on the conscience. "It recreates the awful noise of ignorance that can still be heard." (Canby, 1976)[1] He said that, while the film does not directly attack or address the political era, it does communicate its message: Do not rat on people.[citation needed] Furthermore, he emphasized that The Front encourages the viewer to understand the emotional consequences of blacklisting and finger-pointing by telling the experience of one man. Pauline Kael wrote in praise of the film and the performance of Woody Allen in particular : "At its most appealing, this movie says that people shouldn't be pressured to inform on their friends, that people shouldn't be humiliated in order to earn a living. Humbly, this film asks for fairness....When you see Woody Allen in one of his own films, in a peculiar way you take him for granted; here you appreciate his skill, because you miss him so much when he's offscreen."[2]
Roger Ebert dismissed the political value of The Front: "What we get are the adventures of a schlemiel in wonderland". He felt that the Woody Allen character was too comic and unconvincing a writer to represent the true nature of "front" writers. He added that Hecky Brown was a worthwhile character: "The tragedy implied by this character tells us what we need to know about the blacklist's effect on people's lives; the rest of the movie adds almost nothing else".[3]
Accolades[edit]
For The Front, Walter Bernstein was nominated for the 1977 Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and Zero Mostel was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. Andrea Marcovicci was nominated for the 1977 "Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress".
Historical connections[edit]
The movie draws from real life incidents in its depiction of the characters. A scene in which Hecky (played by Mostel) goes to entertain at a mountain resort, and then is cheated out of part of his fee, is based on a real life incident described by Bernstein in his memoirs Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist. In the book, Bernstein describes how Mostel came to entertain at the Concord hotel in the Catskills, where he used to entertain as a rising comic, because he desperately needed the money. The manager of the Concord promised him $500 but, when he arrived, reduced that to $300, according to Bernstein. In the movie, Hecky has a violent scene when, after the performance, told that he is cheated. In real life, Mostel was told before the performance and acted out his hostility during the performance, by cursing at the customers, who thought it was part of the act.
The subsequent suicide of Hecky, shown in the film as his leaping from a hotel window, has a historical parallel in the suicide of blacklisted actor Philip Loeb, who took an overdose of sleeping pills in a hotel room. Loeb was a friend of Mostel's, according to Bernstein's memoirs.
See also[edit]
List of American films of 1976
References[edit]
Notes
1.Jump up ^ Movie Review by Vincint Canby New York Times, Oct 1, 1976
2.Jump up ^ Pauline Kael, New Yorker review reprinted in When the Lights Go Down.
3.Jump up ^ The Front review from Roger Ebert


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Front
The Front at the Internet Movie Database
McCarthyism and the Movies
Rogert Ebert's Review of The Front





[hide]
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 e
 
Films directed by Martin Ritt


Edge of the City (1957) ·
 No Down Payment (1957) ·
 The Long, Hot Summer (1958) ·
 The Black Orchid (1958) ·
 The Sound and the Fury (1959) ·
 Five Branded Women (1960) ·
 Paris Blues (1961) ·
 Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) ·
 Hud (1963) ·
 The Outrage (1964) ·
 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) ·
 Hombre (1967) ·
 The Brotherhood (1968) ·
 The Molly Maguires (1970) ·
 The Great White Hope (1970) ·
 Sounder (1972) ·
 Pete 'n' Tillie (1972) ·
 Conrack (1974) ·
 The Front (1976) ·
 Casey's Shadow (1978) ·
 Norma Rae (1979) ·
 Back Roads (1981) ·
 Cross Creek (1983) ·
 Murphy's Romance (1985) ·
 Nuts (1987) ·
 Stanley & Iris (1990)
 

 


Categories: English-language films
1976 films
1970s comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
Columbia Pictures films
Films directed by Martin Ritt
Films based on actual events
Films about the Hollywood blacklist
Films set in New York City
Films set in the 1950s
Works about McCarthyism








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Good Night, and Good Luck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Good Night, and Good Luck.
Goodnight poster.jpg
US theatrical poster

Directed by
George Clooney
Produced by
Grant Heslov
Written by
George Clooney
Grant Heslov

Starring
David Strathairn
Patricia Clarkson
George Clooney
Jeff Daniels
Robert Downey, Jr.
Frank Langella

Cinematography
Robert Elswit
Edited by
Stephen Mirrione
Production
 company

2929 Entertainment
Participant Productions
Section Eight Productions
Davis Films

Distributed by
WIP (US)
 Redbus Film Distr. (UK
Release dates
September 1, 2005 (VIFF)
October 7, 2005 (US)
December 15, 2005 (AUS)
February 17, 2006 (UK)

Running time
93 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$7 million[1]
Box office
$56.5 million[1]
Good Night, and Good Luck. is a 2005 American drama film co-written and directed by George Clooney and starring David Strathairn, Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson and Jeff Daniels. The movie was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, both of whom also act in the film, and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-Communist Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The movie, although released in black and white, was filmed on color film stock but on a greyscale set, and was color corrected to black and white during post-production. It focuses on the theme of media responsibility, and also addresses what occurs when the media offer a voice of dissent from government policy. The movie takes its title (which ends with a period or full stop) from the line with which Murrow routinely signed off his broadcasts.
The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Clooney and Best Actor for David Strathairn.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Main cast
3 Production
4 Music
5 Soundtrack
6 Reception
7 Awards and nominations
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
Set in 1953, during the early days of television broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his dedicated staff — headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and reporter Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom—defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out Communist elements within the government.
Murrow first defends Milo Radulovich, who is facing separation from the U.S. Air Force because of his sister's political leanings and because his father is subscribed to a Serbian newspaper. Murrow makes a show on McCarthy attacking him. A very public feud develops when McCarthy responds by accusing Murrow of being a communist. Murrow is accused of having been a member of the leftist union Industrial Workers of the World, which Murrow claimed was false.
In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity ultimately strikes a historic blow against McCarthy. Historical footage also shows the questioning of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon communication worker accused of being a communist based on her name appearing on a list seen by an FBI infiltrator of the American Communist Party. The film's subplots feature Joseph and Shirley Wershba, recently married staffers, having to hide their marriage to save their jobs at CBS as well as the suicide of Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) who had been accused in print of being a Communist.
The film is framed by performance of the speech given by Murrow to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in 1958, in which Murrow harshly admonishes his audience not to squander the potential of television to inform and educate the public, otherwise, it’s "just wires in a box".[2]
Main cast[edit]
David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow, journalist and host of the CBS television program See It Now
George Clooney as Fred W. Friendly, coproducer with Murrow of See It Now
Robert Downey, Jr. as Joseph Wershba, writer, editor, and correspondent for CBS News
Patricia Clarkson as Shirley Wershba
Frank Langella as William Paley, chief executive of CBS
Jeff Daniels as Sig Mickelson, Director of CBS News
Tate Donovan as Jesse Zousmer
Ray Wise as Don Hollenbeck, journalist for CBS News; accused in the press of being a "pinko".
Alex Borstein as Natalie
Thomas McCarthy as Palmer Williams
Rose Abdoo as Mili Lerner
Reed Diamond as John Aaron
Matt Ross as Eddie Scott
Grant Heslov as Don Hewitt, director of See It Now
Joseph McCarthy (archive footage) as Himself
Liberace (archive footage) as Himself
Roy Cohn (archive footage) as Himself
Production[edit]
In September 2005, Clooney explained his interest in the story to an audience at the New York Film Festival: "I thought it was a good time to raise the idea of using fear to stifle political debate."[3] Having majored in journalism in college, Clooney was well-versed in the subject matter. His father, Nick Clooney, was a television journalist for many years, appearing as an anchorman in Cincinnati, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Utah, Los Angeles, California, and Buffalo, New York. The elder Clooney also ran for Congress in 2004.
George Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in Good Night, and Good Luck., which cost $7.5 million to make. Due to an injury he received on the set of Syriana a few months earlier, Clooney couldn't pass the tests to be insured. He then mortgaged his own house in Los Angeles in order to make the film.[4] Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former eBay president Jeff Skoll invested money in the project as executive producers. The film ultimately grossed more than $54m worldwide.[5]
The CBS offices and studios seen in the movie were all sets on a soundstage. To accomplish a pair of scenes showing characters going up an elevator, different "floors" of the building were laid out on the same level. The "elevator" was actually built on a large turntable at the intersection of the two floor sets, and rotated once the doors were closed. When the doors reopened, the actors appeared to be in a different location. In doing so, the movie exercised a bit of dramatic license—the CBS executive offices at the time were located at 485 Madison Avenue.[6] CBS News was located in an office building just north of Grand Central Terminal (demolished and now the site of the Met Life Building);[7] and the See It Now studio was located in Grand Central Terminal itself, above the waiting room.[8] For dramatic effect, all three areas were depicted as being in the same building.
Clooney and producer Grant Heslov decided to use only archival footage of Joseph McCarthy in his depiction. As all of that footage was black-and-white, that determined the color scheme of the film.[9] A young Robert Kennedy is also shown in the movie during McCarthy's hearing sessions. He was then a staff member on the Senate subcommittee chaired by McCarthy.
Music[edit]
A small jazz combo starring jazz singer Dianne Reeves was hired to record the soundtrack to the movie. This combo (Peter Martin, Christoph Luty, Jeff Hamilton and Matt Catingub) was featured in the movie in several scenes; for example, in one scene the newsmen pass a studio where she is recording with the rest of the band. The CD is Dianne Reeves's second featuring jazz standards (including "How High the Moon", "I've Got My Eyes on You", "Too Close For Comfort", "Straighten Up and Fly Right" and "One for My Baby"), and it won the Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Soundtrack[edit]
The soundtrack to Good Night, and Good Luck was released on September 27, 2005.

No.
Title
Artist
Length

1. "Straighten Up and Fly Right"   Dianne Reeves 2:44
2. "I've Got My Eyes on You"   Dianne Reeves 2:06
3. "Gotta Be This or That"   Dianne Reeves 3:16
4. "Too Close for Comfort"   Dianne Reeves 3:50
5. "How High the Moon"   Dianne Reeves 2:22
6. "Who's Minding the Store?"   Dianne Reeves 4:31
7. "You're Driving Me Crazy"   Dianne Reeves 1:57
8. "Pretend"   Dianne Reeves 4:01
9. "Solitude"   Dianne Reeves 5:28
10. "TV Is the Thing This Year"   Dianne Reeves 1:43
11. "Pick Yourself Up"   Dianne Reeves 2:38
12. "When I Fall in Love"   Dianne Reeves 3:52
13. "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall"   Dianne Reeves 4:08
14. "There'll Be Another Spring"   Dianne Reeves 4:43
15. "One for My Baby"   Dianne Reeves 3:50
Total length:
 51:09[10] 
Reception[edit]
The film was critically acclaimed upon release. It was named "Best Reviewed Film of 2005 in Limited Release" by Rotten Tomatoes, where it achieved a 93% positive review rating. The movie received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Director (Clooney), and Actor (Strathairn).
Libertarian Jack Shafer, a columnist for the online magazine Slate, accused the film of continuing what he characterizes as the hagiography of Murrow.[11] Roger Ebert, in his Chicago Sun-Times review, contends that "the movie is not really about the abuses of McCarthy, but about the process by which Murrow and his team eventually brought about his downfall (some would say his self-destruction). It is like a morality play, from which we learn how journalists should behave. It shows Murrow as fearless, but not flawless."[12]
Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton from the ABC show At The Movies each gave the film five stars, making Good Night, and Good Luck the only other film besides Brokeback Mountain to receive such a score from the hosts in 2005.[13] Both described the film as "beautiful" but also praised Clooney for the film's importance. Margret commented that "[The film] is so important, because it's about things that are really vital today, like the responsibility of the press and examining the press' role in forming opinion." David noted "Though [the film] is in black-and-white, there's nothing monochromatic about Clooney's passion for his subject or the importance of his message."[14]
One complaint about the film among test audiences was their belief that the actor playing McCarthy was too over the top, not realizing that the film used actual archive footage of McCarthy himself.[15]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Good Night, and Good Luck.
The film was nominated for six Academy Awards at the 2006 Academy Awards, for six BAFTAs at the 2005 BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globes at the 2006 Golden Globe Awards.
The American Film Institute named Good Night, and Good Luck as one of the Top Ten Movies of 2005. Other nominations and awards include:
See also[edit]
2929 Entertainment
Participant Media
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b The Numbers: Good Night and Good Luck. Linked 2013-08-12
2.Jump up ^ Edward R. Murrow Speech, 1958 (excerpts), Radio Television Digital News Association RTDNA.org
3.Jump up ^ Brooks, Brian. IndieWire, "Clooney Speaks Out About Journalism and Filmmaking As NYFF Opens." Retrieved: April 24, 2007.
4.Jump up ^ Friedman, Roger. Fox News.com, "Clooney Bets House on New Film," September 27, 2005. Retrieved: December 30, 2007.
5.Jump up ^ Boxofficemojo.com
6.Jump up ^ "Broadcasting Yearbook 1952", page 448
7.Jump up ^ Kuralt, Charles, "A Life On The Road", 1991
8.Jump up ^ http://www.cbsretirees.com/dec2a.htm
9.Jump up ^ Brooks, Brian. IndieWire, ibid.
10.Jump up ^ Good Night, and Good Luck Soundtrack AllMusic. Retrieved February 27, 2014
11.Jump up ^ Shafer, Jack. Slate.com., "Edward R. Movie—Good Night, and Good Luck and bad history." Retrieved: March 1, 2006.
12.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times, film review, "Good Night, and Good Luck." Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved: April 23, 2007.
13.Jump up ^ "Movie reviews, 2005". ABC: At the Movies. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
14.Jump up ^ "Good Night, and Good Luck (review)". ABC: At the Movies. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
15.Jump up ^ "When television took a stand", Telegraph, October 5, 2005
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Good Night, and Good Luck.
Official website
Good Night, and Good Luck at the Internet Movie Database
Good Night, and Good Luck at AllMovie
Good Night, and Good Luck at Box Office Mojo
Good Night, and Good Luck at Rotten Tomatoes


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by George Clooney


Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) ·
 Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) ·
 Leatherheads (2008) ·
 The Ides of March (2011) ·
 The Monuments Men (2014)
 

 


Categories: 2005 films
English-language films
American films
2000s drama films
American political drama films
Cold War films
Black-and-white films
Films about journalists
Films about television
Films based on actual events
Films directed by George Clooney
Films about the Hollywood blacklist
Procedural films
Warner Independent Pictures films
Films set in 1953
Works about McCarthyism
Screenplays by George Clooney
Screenplays by Grant Heslov
Films about freedom of expression
Participant Media films




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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Night,_and_Good_Luck











Good Night, and Good Luck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Good Night, and Good Luck.
Goodnight poster.jpg
US theatrical poster

Directed by
George Clooney
Produced by
Grant Heslov
Written by
George Clooney
Grant Heslov

Starring
David Strathairn
Patricia Clarkson
George Clooney
Jeff Daniels
Robert Downey, Jr.
Frank Langella

Cinematography
Robert Elswit
Edited by
Stephen Mirrione
Production
 company

2929 Entertainment
Participant Productions
Section Eight Productions
Davis Films

Distributed by
WIP (US)
 Redbus Film Distr. (UK
Release dates
September 1, 2005 (VIFF)
October 7, 2005 (US)
December 15, 2005 (AUS)
February 17, 2006 (UK)

Running time
93 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$7 million[1]
Box office
$56.5 million[1]
Good Night, and Good Luck. is a 2005 American drama film co-written and directed by George Clooney and starring David Strathairn, Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson and Jeff Daniels. The movie was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, both of whom also act in the film, and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-Communist Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The movie, although released in black and white, was filmed on color film stock but on a greyscale set, and was color corrected to black and white during post-production. It focuses on the theme of media responsibility, and also addresses what occurs when the media offer a voice of dissent from government policy. The movie takes its title (which ends with a period or full stop) from the line with which Murrow routinely signed off his broadcasts.
The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Clooney and Best Actor for David Strathairn.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Main cast
3 Production
4 Music
5 Soundtrack
6 Reception
7 Awards and nominations
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Plot[edit]
Set in 1953, during the early days of television broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his dedicated staff — headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and reporter Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom—defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out Communist elements within the government.
Murrow first defends Milo Radulovich, who is facing separation from the U.S. Air Force because of his sister's political leanings and because his father is subscribed to a Serbian newspaper. Murrow makes a show on McCarthy attacking him. A very public feud develops when McCarthy responds by accusing Murrow of being a communist. Murrow is accused of having been a member of the leftist union Industrial Workers of the World, which Murrow claimed was false.
In this climate of fear and reprisal, the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity ultimately strikes a historic blow against McCarthy. Historical footage also shows the questioning of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon communication worker accused of being a communist based on her name appearing on a list seen by an FBI infiltrator of the American Communist Party. The film's subplots feature Joseph and Shirley Wershba, recently married staffers, having to hide their marriage to save their jobs at CBS as well as the suicide of Don Hollenbeck (Ray Wise) who had been accused in print of being a Communist.
The film is framed by performance of the speech given by Murrow to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in 1958, in which Murrow harshly admonishes his audience not to squander the potential of television to inform and educate the public, otherwise, it’s "just wires in a box".[2]
Main cast[edit]
David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow, journalist and host of the CBS television program See It Now
George Clooney as Fred W. Friendly, coproducer with Murrow of See It Now
Robert Downey, Jr. as Joseph Wershba, writer, editor, and correspondent for CBS News
Patricia Clarkson as Shirley Wershba
Frank Langella as William Paley, chief executive of CBS
Jeff Daniels as Sig Mickelson, Director of CBS News
Tate Donovan as Jesse Zousmer
Ray Wise as Don Hollenbeck, journalist for CBS News; accused in the press of being a "pinko".
Alex Borstein as Natalie
Thomas McCarthy as Palmer Williams
Rose Abdoo as Mili Lerner
Reed Diamond as John Aaron
Matt Ross as Eddie Scott
Grant Heslov as Don Hewitt, director of See It Now
Joseph McCarthy (archive footage) as Himself
Liberace (archive footage) as Himself
Roy Cohn (archive footage) as Himself
Production[edit]
In September 2005, Clooney explained his interest in the story to an audience at the New York Film Festival: "I thought it was a good time to raise the idea of using fear to stifle political debate."[3] Having majored in journalism in college, Clooney was well-versed in the subject matter. His father, Nick Clooney, was a television journalist for many years, appearing as an anchorman in Cincinnati, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Utah, Los Angeles, California, and Buffalo, New York. The elder Clooney also ran for Congress in 2004.
George Clooney was paid $1 each for writing, directing, and acting in Good Night, and Good Luck., which cost $7.5 million to make. Due to an injury he received on the set of Syriana a few months earlier, Clooney couldn't pass the tests to be insured. He then mortgaged his own house in Los Angeles in order to make the film.[4] Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former eBay president Jeff Skoll invested money in the project as executive producers. The film ultimately grossed more than $54m worldwide.[5]
The CBS offices and studios seen in the movie were all sets on a soundstage. To accomplish a pair of scenes showing characters going up an elevator, different "floors" of the building were laid out on the same level. The "elevator" was actually built on a large turntable at the intersection of the two floor sets, and rotated once the doors were closed. When the doors reopened, the actors appeared to be in a different location. In doing so, the movie exercised a bit of dramatic license—the CBS executive offices at the time were located at 485 Madison Avenue.[6] CBS News was located in an office building just north of Grand Central Terminal (demolished and now the site of the Met Life Building);[7] and the See It Now studio was located in Grand Central Terminal itself, above the waiting room.[8] For dramatic effect, all three areas were depicted as being in the same building.
Clooney and producer Grant Heslov decided to use only archival footage of Joseph McCarthy in his depiction. As all of that footage was black-and-white, that determined the color scheme of the film.[9] A young Robert Kennedy is also shown in the movie during McCarthy's hearing sessions. He was then a staff member on the Senate subcommittee chaired by McCarthy.
Music[edit]
A small jazz combo starring jazz singer Dianne Reeves was hired to record the soundtrack to the movie. This combo (Peter Martin, Christoph Luty, Jeff Hamilton and Matt Catingub) was featured in the movie in several scenes; for example, in one scene the newsmen pass a studio where she is recording with the rest of the band. The CD is Dianne Reeves's second featuring jazz standards (including "How High the Moon", "I've Got My Eyes on You", "Too Close For Comfort", "Straighten Up and Fly Right" and "One for My Baby"), and it won the Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Soundtrack[edit]
The soundtrack to Good Night, and Good Luck was released on September 27, 2005.

No.
Title
Artist
Length

1. "Straighten Up and Fly Right"   Dianne Reeves 2:44
2. "I've Got My Eyes on You"   Dianne Reeves 2:06
3. "Gotta Be This or That"   Dianne Reeves 3:16
4. "Too Close for Comfort"   Dianne Reeves 3:50
5. "How High the Moon"   Dianne Reeves 2:22
6. "Who's Minding the Store?"   Dianne Reeves 4:31
7. "You're Driving Me Crazy"   Dianne Reeves 1:57
8. "Pretend"   Dianne Reeves 4:01
9. "Solitude"   Dianne Reeves 5:28
10. "TV Is the Thing This Year"   Dianne Reeves 1:43
11. "Pick Yourself Up"   Dianne Reeves 2:38
12. "When I Fall in Love"   Dianne Reeves 3:52
13. "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall"   Dianne Reeves 4:08
14. "There'll Be Another Spring"   Dianne Reeves 4:43
15. "One for My Baby"   Dianne Reeves 3:50
Total length:
 51:09[10] 
Reception[edit]
The film was critically acclaimed upon release. It was named "Best Reviewed Film of 2005 in Limited Release" by Rotten Tomatoes, where it achieved a 93% positive review rating. The movie received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Director (Clooney), and Actor (Strathairn).
Libertarian Jack Shafer, a columnist for the online magazine Slate, accused the film of continuing what he characterizes as the hagiography of Murrow.[11] Roger Ebert, in his Chicago Sun-Times review, contends that "the movie is not really about the abuses of McCarthy, but about the process by which Murrow and his team eventually brought about his downfall (some would say his self-destruction). It is like a morality play, from which we learn how journalists should behave. It shows Murrow as fearless, but not flawless."[12]
Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton from the ABC show At The Movies each gave the film five stars, making Good Night, and Good Luck the only other film besides Brokeback Mountain to receive such a score from the hosts in 2005.[13] Both described the film as "beautiful" but also praised Clooney for the film's importance. Margret commented that "[The film] is so important, because it's about things that are really vital today, like the responsibility of the press and examining the press' role in forming opinion." David noted "Though [the film] is in black-and-white, there's nothing monochromatic about Clooney's passion for his subject or the importance of his message."[14]
One complaint about the film among test audiences was their belief that the actor playing McCarthy was too over the top, not realizing that the film used actual archive footage of McCarthy himself.[15]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Good Night, and Good Luck.
The film was nominated for six Academy Awards at the 2006 Academy Awards, for six BAFTAs at the 2005 BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globes at the 2006 Golden Globe Awards.
The American Film Institute named Good Night, and Good Luck as one of the Top Ten Movies of 2005. Other nominations and awards include:
See also[edit]
2929 Entertainment
Participant Media
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b The Numbers: Good Night and Good Luck. Linked 2013-08-12
2.Jump up ^ Edward R. Murrow Speech, 1958 (excerpts), Radio Television Digital News Association RTDNA.org
3.Jump up ^ Brooks, Brian. IndieWire, "Clooney Speaks Out About Journalism and Filmmaking As NYFF Opens." Retrieved: April 24, 2007.
4.Jump up ^ Friedman, Roger. Fox News.com, "Clooney Bets House on New Film," September 27, 2005. Retrieved: December 30, 2007.
5.Jump up ^ Boxofficemojo.com
6.Jump up ^ "Broadcasting Yearbook 1952", page 448
7.Jump up ^ Kuralt, Charles, "A Life On The Road", 1991
8.Jump up ^ http://www.cbsretirees.com/dec2a.htm
9.Jump up ^ Brooks, Brian. IndieWire, ibid.
10.Jump up ^ Good Night, and Good Luck Soundtrack AllMusic. Retrieved February 27, 2014
11.Jump up ^ Shafer, Jack. Slate.com., "Edward R. Movie—Good Night, and Good Luck and bad history." Retrieved: March 1, 2006.
12.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times, film review, "Good Night, and Good Luck." Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved: April 23, 2007.
13.Jump up ^ "Movie reviews, 2005". ABC: At the Movies. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
14.Jump up ^ "Good Night, and Good Luck (review)". ABC: At the Movies. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
15.Jump up ^ "When television took a stand", Telegraph, October 5, 2005
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Good Night, and Good Luck.
Official website
Good Night, and Good Luck at the Internet Movie Database
Good Night, and Good Luck at AllMovie
Good Night, and Good Luck at Box Office Mojo
Good Night, and Good Luck at Rotten Tomatoes


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 The Monuments Men (2014)
 

 


Categories: 2005 films
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I Was a Communist for the FBI
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


I Was a Communist for the FBI
I Was a Communist for the FBI Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Gordon Douglas
Produced by
Bryan Foy
Screenplay by
Crane Wilbur
Based on
the SEP articles "I Posed as a Communist for the F.B.I."
 by Matt Cvetic
 Pete Martin
Starring
Frank Lovejoy
Dorothy Hart
Philip Carey
James Millican
Narrated by
Frank Lovejoy
Music by
William Lava
Max Steiner
Cinematography
Edwin B. DuPar
Edited by
Folmar Blangsted
Distributed by
Warner Brothers
Release dates
May 2, 1951 (Premiere-United States)
May 5, 1951 (General release-United States)

Running time
97 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Box office
$1.3 million (US rentals)[1]
I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American film noir drama directed by Gordon Douglas, and featuring Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey, and James Millican.[2]
The film was based on a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.[3] The stories were later turned into a best-selling book and radio series.
The story follows Cvetic, who infiltrated a local Communist Party cell for nine years and reported back to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their activities.
The film and radio show are, in part, artifacts of the McCarthy era, as well as a time capsule of American society during the Second Red Scare. The purpose of both is partly to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. The tone of the show is ultra-patriotic, with Communists portrayed as racist, vindictive, and tools of a totalitarian foreign power, the Soviet Union.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Radio
4 Reception 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Accolades
5 References
6 External links 6.1 Audio streaming


Plot[edit]
Matt Cvetic (Frank Lovejoy), who works in a Pittsburgh steel mill, has been infiltrating the Communist Party for the FBI in Pittsburgh for nine years. During this time he has been unable to tell his family about his dual role, so they believe he is a Communist and despise him.
He becomes emotionally involved with a Communist school teacher (Dorothy Hart), who is becoming disenchanted with the party. She breaks with the party when it foments a violent strike. Cvetic helps her escape the Communists in violent sequences in which two Communists and an FBI agent are killed.
Communists are portrayed in the film as cynical opportunists, racists who are interested only in seizing power on behalf of the Soviets and not in improving social and labor conditions in the U.S. They are shown exploiting ethnic tensions to get their way, such as by wrapping copies of a Jewish newspaper around lead pipes used to beat up people during a strike. They also are shown fomenting discontent among blacks. Despite doing so, they are shown as cynical racists, calling blacks "niggers" and Jews "kikes".
The Communists in the film are also shown to be violent thugs who kill informers.
Cvetic ultimately testifies against the Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee and reconciles with his brother and son.
Cast[edit]
Frank Lovejoy as Matt Cvetic
Dorothy Hart as Eve Merrick
Philip Carey as Mason
James Millican as Jim Blandon
Ron Hagerthy as Dick Cvetic
Paul Picerni as Joe Cvetic
 Richard Webb as Ken Crowley
Konstantin Shayne as Gerhardt Eisler
Edward Norris as Harmon
Hugh Sanders as Clyde Garson
Hope Kramer as Ruth Cvetic

Radio[edit]
The radio version of I Was a Communist for the FBI consisted of 78 episodes syndicated by the Frederick W. Ziv Company to more than 600 stations, including KNX in Los Angeles, California, with original episodes running from March 30, 1952 to September 20, 1953. The program was made without the cooperation of the FBI. Real-life undercover agent Matt Cvetic was portrayed by Dana Andrews. The show had a budget of $12,000 a week, a very high cost to produce a radio show at the time.[4]
The program frequently dealt with the great stress that Cvetic was under, as he covertly infiltrated a local Communist Party cell. There were many personal and family problems caused by his being a Communist, as well as a certain amount of mental torment. He saw the party as being hypocritical and a great danger to society.
In 1953, Ziv created a separate television follow-up, I Led Three Lives, based on the life of Herbert Philbrick, a Boston advertising executive who also infiltrated the U.S. Communist Party on behalf of the FBI in the 1940s. This time, the FBI approved all of the show's scripts.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
When the film was released, The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, was critical of the message in the film. He wrote, "In many respects, this heated item bears comparison to the hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee—which, incidentally, it extols. ... For instance, in glibly detailing how the Communists foment racial hate and labor unrest in this country ... [it] hint[s] that most Negroes and most laborers are 'pinks'. It raises suspicion of school teachers ... [and] that people who embrace liberal causes, such as the Scottsboro trial defense, are Communist dupes ... and the film itself glows with patriotism. But it plays a bit recklessly with fire".[5]
The staff at Variety magazine wrote a positive review, "From the real life experiences of Matt Cvetic [published in the Saturday Evening Post as "I Posed as a Communist for the F.B.I"], scripter Crane Wilbur has fashioned an exciting film. Direction of Gordon Douglas plays up suspense and pace strongly, and the cast, headed by Frank Lovejoy in the title role, punches over the expose of the Communist menace."[6]
Accolades[edit]
This dramatic film was nominated for an Academy Award as the Best Documentary of the year.[7]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952.
2.Jump up ^ I Was a Communist for the FBI at the American Film Institute Catalog.
3.Jump up ^ Filreis, Al. Web site at University of Pennsylvania, based on Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
4.Jump up ^ Wudarczyk, James. Lawrenceville Historical Society, book review, September 24, 2006. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
5.Jump up ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, May 3, 1951. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
6.Jump up ^ Variety. Staff film review, 1951. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
7.Jump up ^ IMDb, awards section.
External links[edit]
I Was a Communist for the FBI at the American Film Institute Catalog
I Was a Communist for the FBI at the Internet Movie Database
I Was a Communist for the FBI at AllMovie
I Was a Communist for the FBI at the TCM Movie Database
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. radio episodes log
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. radio play starring Dana Andrews at Times Past Old Time Radio
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. film clip on YouTube
Audio streaming[edit]
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. "I Walk Alone" episode, on the Ziv Television Programs: Apr 23, 1952


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Gordon Douglas


General Spanky (1936) ·
 Zenobia (1939) ·
 Saps at Sea (1940) ·
 Broadway Limited (1941) ·
 The Great Gildersleeve (1942) ·
 Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) ·
 Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) ·
 A Night of Adventure (1944) ·
 Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) ·
 Girl Rush (1944) ·
 The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) ·
 Zombies on Broadway (1945) ·
 First Yank into Tokyo (1945) ·
 Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946) ·
 San Quentin (1946) ·
 If You Knew Susie (1948) ·
 Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) ·
 Mr. Soft Touch (1949) ·
 The Nevadan (1950) ·
 Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950) ·
 Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) ·
 Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) ·
 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) ·
 Only the Valiant (1951) ·
 I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951) ·
 Come Fill the Cup (1951) ·
 Mara Maru (1952) ·
 The Charge at Feather River (1953) ·
 So This Is Love (1953) ·
 Them! (1954) ·
 Young at Heart (1954) ·
 The McConnell Story (1955) ·
 Bombers B-52 (1957) ·
 Fort Dobbs (1958) ·
 The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958) ·
 Up Periscope (1959) ·
 Yellowstone Kelly (1959) ·
 The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) ·
 Gold of the Seven Saints (1961) ·
 Claudelle Inglish (1961) ·
 Follow That Dream (1962) ·
 Call Me Bwana (1963) ·
 Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) ·
 Rio Conchos (1964) ·
 Sylvia (1965) ·
 Harlow (1965) ·
 Stagecoach (1966) ·
 Way...Way Out (1966) ·
 In Like Flint (1967) ·
 Chuka (1967) ·
 Tony Rome (1967) ·
 The Detective (1968) ·
 Lady in Cement (1968) ·
 Skullduggery (1970) ·
 They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) ·
 Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) ·
 Nevada Smith (1975) ·
 Viva Knievel! (1977)
 

 


Categories: 1951 films
English-language films
1950s American radio programs
American anti-communist propaganda films
American drama films
American radio drama
Black-and-white films
Cold War films
Film noir
Films about communism
Films directed by Gordon Douglas
Films set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Warner Bros. films
Works about McCarthyism




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I Was a Communist for the FBI
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


I Was a Communist for the FBI
I Was a Communist for the FBI Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Gordon Douglas
Produced by
Bryan Foy
Screenplay by
Crane Wilbur
Based on
the SEP articles "I Posed as a Communist for the F.B.I."
 by Matt Cvetic
 Pete Martin
Starring
Frank Lovejoy
Dorothy Hart
Philip Carey
James Millican
Narrated by
Frank Lovejoy
Music by
William Lava
Max Steiner
Cinematography
Edwin B. DuPar
Edited by
Folmar Blangsted
Distributed by
Warner Brothers
Release dates
May 2, 1951 (Premiere-United States)
May 5, 1951 (General release-United States)

Running time
97 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Box office
$1.3 million (US rentals)[1]
I Was a Communist for the FBI is a 1951 American film noir drama directed by Gordon Douglas, and featuring Frank Lovejoy, Dorothy Hart, Philip Carey, and James Millican.[2]
The film was based on a series of stories written by Matt Cvetic that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post.[3] The stories were later turned into a best-selling book and radio series.
The story follows Cvetic, who infiltrated a local Communist Party cell for nine years and reported back to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their activities.
The film and radio show are, in part, artifacts of the McCarthy era, as well as a time capsule of American society during the Second Red Scare. The purpose of both is partly to warn people about the threat of Communist subversion of American society. The tone of the show is ultra-patriotic, with Communists portrayed as racist, vindictive, and tools of a totalitarian foreign power, the Soviet Union.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Radio
4 Reception 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Accolades
5 References
6 External links 6.1 Audio streaming


Plot[edit]
Matt Cvetic (Frank Lovejoy), who works in a Pittsburgh steel mill, has been infiltrating the Communist Party for the FBI in Pittsburgh for nine years. During this time he has been unable to tell his family about his dual role, so they believe he is a Communist and despise him.
He becomes emotionally involved with a Communist school teacher (Dorothy Hart), who is becoming disenchanted with the party. She breaks with the party when it foments a violent strike. Cvetic helps her escape the Communists in violent sequences in which two Communists and an FBI agent are killed.
Communists are portrayed in the film as cynical opportunists, racists who are interested only in seizing power on behalf of the Soviets and not in improving social and labor conditions in the U.S. They are shown exploiting ethnic tensions to get their way, such as by wrapping copies of a Jewish newspaper around lead pipes used to beat up people during a strike. They also are shown fomenting discontent among blacks. Despite doing so, they are shown as cynical racists, calling blacks "niggers" and Jews "kikes".
The Communists in the film are also shown to be violent thugs who kill informers.
Cvetic ultimately testifies against the Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee and reconciles with his brother and son.
Cast[edit]
Frank Lovejoy as Matt Cvetic
Dorothy Hart as Eve Merrick
Philip Carey as Mason
James Millican as Jim Blandon
Ron Hagerthy as Dick Cvetic
Paul Picerni as Joe Cvetic
 Richard Webb as Ken Crowley
Konstantin Shayne as Gerhardt Eisler
Edward Norris as Harmon
Hugh Sanders as Clyde Garson
Hope Kramer as Ruth Cvetic

Radio[edit]
The radio version of I Was a Communist for the FBI consisted of 78 episodes syndicated by the Frederick W. Ziv Company to more than 600 stations, including KNX in Los Angeles, California, with original episodes running from March 30, 1952 to September 20, 1953. The program was made without the cooperation of the FBI. Real-life undercover agent Matt Cvetic was portrayed by Dana Andrews. The show had a budget of $12,000 a week, a very high cost to produce a radio show at the time.[4]
The program frequently dealt with the great stress that Cvetic was under, as he covertly infiltrated a local Communist Party cell. There were many personal and family problems caused by his being a Communist, as well as a certain amount of mental torment. He saw the party as being hypocritical and a great danger to society.
In 1953, Ziv created a separate television follow-up, I Led Three Lives, based on the life of Herbert Philbrick, a Boston advertising executive who also infiltrated the U.S. Communist Party on behalf of the FBI in the 1940s. This time, the FBI approved all of the show's scripts.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
When the film was released, The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, was critical of the message in the film. He wrote, "In many respects, this heated item bears comparison to the hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee—which, incidentally, it extols. ... For instance, in glibly detailing how the Communists foment racial hate and labor unrest in this country ... [it] hint[s] that most Negroes and most laborers are 'pinks'. It raises suspicion of school teachers ... [and] that people who embrace liberal causes, such as the Scottsboro trial defense, are Communist dupes ... and the film itself glows with patriotism. But it plays a bit recklessly with fire".[5]
The staff at Variety magazine wrote a positive review, "From the real life experiences of Matt Cvetic [published in the Saturday Evening Post as "I Posed as a Communist for the F.B.I"], scripter Crane Wilbur has fashioned an exciting film. Direction of Gordon Douglas plays up suspense and pace strongly, and the cast, headed by Frank Lovejoy in the title role, punches over the expose of the Communist menace."[6]
Accolades[edit]
This dramatic film was nominated for an Academy Award as the Best Documentary of the year.[7]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952.
2.Jump up ^ I Was a Communist for the FBI at the American Film Institute Catalog.
3.Jump up ^ Filreis, Al. Web site at University of Pennsylvania, based on Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
4.Jump up ^ Wudarczyk, James. Lawrenceville Historical Society, book review, September 24, 2006. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
5.Jump up ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, May 3, 1951. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
6.Jump up ^ Variety. Staff film review, 1951. Accessed: July 17, 2013.
7.Jump up ^ IMDb, awards section.
External links[edit]
I Was a Communist for the FBI at the American Film Institute Catalog
I Was a Communist for the FBI at the Internet Movie Database
I Was a Communist for the FBI at AllMovie
I Was a Communist for the FBI at the TCM Movie Database
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. radio episodes log
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. radio play starring Dana Andrews at Times Past Old Time Radio
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. film clip on YouTube
Audio streaming[edit]
I Was A Communist for the F.B.I. "I Walk Alone" episode, on the Ziv Television Programs: Apr 23, 1952


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Gordon Douglas


General Spanky (1936) ·
 Zenobia (1939) ·
 Saps at Sea (1940) ·
 Broadway Limited (1941) ·
 The Great Gildersleeve (1942) ·
 Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) ·
 Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) ·
 A Night of Adventure (1944) ·
 Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) ·
 Girl Rush (1944) ·
 The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) ·
 Zombies on Broadway (1945) ·
 First Yank into Tokyo (1945) ·
 Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946) ·
 San Quentin (1946) ·
 If You Knew Susie (1948) ·
 Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) ·
 Mr. Soft Touch (1949) ·
 The Nevadan (1950) ·
 Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950) ·
 Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) ·
 Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) ·
 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) ·
 Only the Valiant (1951) ·
 I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951) ·
 Come Fill the Cup (1951) ·
 Mara Maru (1952) ·
 The Charge at Feather River (1953) ·
 So This Is Love (1953) ·
 Them! (1954) ·
 Young at Heart (1954) ·
 The McConnell Story (1955) ·
 Bombers B-52 (1957) ·
 Fort Dobbs (1958) ·
 The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958) ·
 Up Periscope (1959) ·
 Yellowstone Kelly (1959) ·
 The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) ·
 Gold of the Seven Saints (1961) ·
 Claudelle Inglish (1961) ·
 Follow That Dream (1962) ·
 Call Me Bwana (1963) ·
 Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) ·
 Rio Conchos (1964) ·
 Sylvia (1965) ·
 Harlow (1965) ·
 Stagecoach (1966) ·
 Way...Way Out (1966) ·
 In Like Flint (1967) ·
 Chuka (1967) ·
 Tony Rome (1967) ·
 The Detective (1968) ·
 Lady in Cement (1968) ·
 Skullduggery (1970) ·
 They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970) ·
 Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973) ·
 Nevada Smith (1975) ·
 Viva Knievel! (1977)
 

 


Categories: 1951 films
English-language films
1950s American radio programs
American anti-communist propaganda films
American drama films
American radio drama
Black-and-white films
Cold War films
Film noir
Films about communism
Films directed by Gordon Douglas
Films set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Warner Bros. films
Works about McCarthyism




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Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















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Languages
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This page was last modified on 18 April 2014 at 12:23.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_a_Communist_for_the_FBI












Insignificance (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Insignificance
Insignificance.jpg
Lorimar release poster

Directed by
Nicolas Roeg
Produced by
Alexander Stuart
Jeremy Thomas
Written by
Terry Johnson
Starring
Michael Emil
Theresa Russell
Tony Curtis
Gary Busey
Will Sampson
Music by
Stanley Myers
Hans Zimmer
Cinematography
Peter Hannan
Edited by
Tony Lawson
Production
 company
Recorded Picture Company
Zenith Productions

Distributed by
Island Alive (USA)
Palace Pictures (UK)
Release dates
2 August 1985
Running time
110 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Insignificance is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jeremy Thomas and Alexander Stuart, and adapted by Terry Johnson from his play of the same name. The film is set in 1954, with most of the action taking place in a hotel room in New York City. The action revolves around the interplay of four characters who represent iconic figures of the era, Marilyn Monroe, Joseph McCarthy, Joe DiMaggio, and Albert Einstein called The Actress, The Senator, The Ballplayer, and The Professor, respectively.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Background
4 Production
5 Critical reception
6 Awards
7 Soundtrack
8 In popular culture
9 Home media
10 References
11 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens on a crowded New York City street where people have gathered to watch a film crew shoot a sequence which becomes recognisable as the iconic shot of Marilyn Monroe in a white dress standing on a grate while the rush of wind caused by a huge fan to imitate the subway going by below blows her skirt up around her waist. The Actress' husband, The Ballplayer, watches with obvious discomfort as she is ogled. The Actress, rather than join him afterwards, disappears in a taxi, leaving him behind. She stops at a store and picks up a variety of toys, flashlights, and balloons.
The Professor, recognisable as Albert Einstein, is in his hotel room, working on pages of mathematical calculations. He is interrupted by The Senator, who has come to alternately coax and threaten him into appearing before a committee to investigate his activities and answer the famous question, "Have you now or have you ever been...?" The Senator is recognisable as Joe McCarthy. The Professor refuses and says he will never appear. The Senator leaves, saying he'll be back to get him at 8 a.m. the following morning.
The Actress appears at the door of the Professor's hotel room, and he invites her in. They talk about fame, being chased, and the stars. She does a lively demonstration of the Theory of Relativity using the toys and flashlights and balloons. She tells The Professor he is at the top of her list of people she'd like to sleep with. They decide to go to bed, but are interrupted by the arrival of The Ballplayer, who has tracked her to the hotel. The Professor leaves them alone and goes to find another room, meeting a Cherokee elevator man with whom he speaks. The Actress and The Ballplayer talk about their marriage; The Actress tells her husband she believes she is pregnant, but he has fallen asleep.
The following morning The Senator arrives at The Professor's room to find him gone, but The Actress naked and alone in his bed. The Senator mistakes her for a call girl and threatens to use her to expose and embarrass The Professor, then punches her hard in the abdomen, causing her to collapse in pain. The Professor returns while The Senator is collecting all of the hundreds of pages of The Professor's work to take away with him. The Professor grabs the papers and throws them out of the windows, while The Actress writhes in agony on the bed. The Senator leaves, defeated in his purpose. The Ballplayer returns and talks about his fame in the baseball world, and confides in him about his marital problems while The Actress is in the bathroom. She finally announces to him that their marriage is over, and he leaves.
The Actress becomes impatient with The Professor, sensing that he is hiding something. He is sitting on the bed with his watch, which has stopped at 8.15, in one hand, and the alarm clock in the other as the hour approaches 8.15 (the time that "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima). He confesses his terrible feelings of guilt about the event, and she reassures him. Right at 8.15 a.m. as she is leaving, he has a vision of the destruction of the room, Hiroshima, and the world. The Actress's skirt swirls in flames as she burns in his vision. Then the film reverses and the world is restored to order as she smiles and leaves.[1]
Cast[edit]
Michael Emil – The Professor
Theresa Russell – The Actress
Tony Curtis – The Senator
Gary Busey – The Ballplayer
Will Sampson – Elevator attendant
Patrick Kilpatrick – Driver
Ian O'Connell – Assistant director
George Holmes – Actor
Richard Davidson – Director of photography
Mitchell Greenberg – Technician
Raynor Scheine – Autograph hunter
Jude Ciccolella – Gaffer
Lou Hirsch – Charlie
Ray Charleson – Bud
Joel Cutrara – Bar Drunk
Background[edit]
Insignificance was originally a play, written by Terry Johnson and performed at the Royal Court in 1982, with Judy Davis as The Actress. The seed for Johnson's play was his having read that an autographed photograph of Einstein was found amongst Marilyn Monroe's possessions upon her death. The idea of them meeting piqued his interest, and he wrote what became a meditation on the nature of fame.[2] "It was always meant to be a play about the era, about fame...what these people stood for, the fact that this was different from what they are." He was interested in exploring the differences between who these people really were, as opposed to what qualities others assumed or imbued them with. Johnson acknowledges that there are "lots of little cheats" in the play, mostly to do with exactly where and when The Seven Year Itch was filmed, and the timing of Marilyn's marriage to Joe DiMaggio. Einstein was also never called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, "but," he said, "had it gone on longer, I can see that as having been a big possibility. He was there in spirit, as it were."[3]
Roeg saw the play and felt it "might be a tool to use. An incident came up in my own life and I thought, 'Good God, nobody knows a damn thing about anyone.' That was the premise that started me thinking about the piece again." Roeg notes that Insignificance is usually talked about as a meeting between Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein, but what moved him was the pain of the problems between The Actress and The Ballplayer, who are married but seem to know nothing about each other.[3] Insignificance would become his first film adapted from a play.
Roeg asked Johnson to work on the screenplay, which at first meant simply reducing the play to approximately 90 minutes as opposed to two hours, but then Roeg began making suggestions which would expand the screenplay and include flashbacks to the characters histories, and flash-forwards of imagination. His suggestions inspired Johnson to focus on a deeper development of the characters, while Roeg himself began to imagine how the film could open then play spatially as well as laterally.[4] "He opened it backwards," Johnson said.[3]
Production[edit]
All of the interiors for Insignificance were shot at Lee Studios in Wembley, with exteriors shot in New York City.[5] Mise-en-scène was created through the use of Pablo Picasso's post-cubism painting "Woman and Child on the Seashore" which underscores The Actress' pain about her childlessness,[6] while the fractured structure of the narrative was mirrored in the splintered image of Theresa Russell used as a nude calendar shot of The Actress. Created by photographer-collagist David Hockney, the image is, according to film critic Chuck Stephens, "a pinup in a hundred pieces, a centerfold sent through a centrifuge..." and is a reflection of The Actress. With "her much-exposed and famously exploited psyche already splintered into jagged, mingled shards of kittenish innocence, movie business cunning, overwhelming erotic appeal, and abject inner terror, Monroe was post-cubism's quintessential glittering star...perfectly pieced together and seen prismatically all at once..."[7] The image is also a metaphor for Roeg's non-linear filmmaking, Stephens notes that "for a cine-cubist like Roeg, two entirely disparate spatial and temporal dimensions are never more than a splice apart, and in Insignificance, the past is always present, and never goes away."[7]
Critical reception[edit]
Insignificance received mostly positive reviews at the time of its release, and currently has a 73% score at Rotten Tomatoes[8] The film has been written about extensively in the years since it was first seen. Film4's movie critic wrote: "Roeg really is the perfect director to bring Johnson's stage play to the screen. Throughout, tortured childhood flashbacks and pessimistic flash-forwards (ka-boom!) draw unexpected connections between time, place and circumstance, with the repeated visual motif of a wristwatch employed to mark time's passing — but perhaps also to suggest all time is one time; each moment co-existing. As evinced by his back catalogue, it's something of a hobbyhorse for a director enchanted with the notion of synchronicity – see Don't Look Now in particular. Here, 1920 bleeds into 1945 and drip-feeds into the 1980s, a period in which another 'Actor' has taken on his greatest role as the President of the United States."
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat write: "Insignificance shines with some incandescent moments of acting bravado delivered by Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis, and Gary Busey. As a weird meditation on sex, power, knowledge, and fame, this is a four-star treat for those who savor exotic movie fare...Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth) draws out the inner psychological nuances of the drama and delivers the philosophical freight in Terry Johnson's screenplay."[9]
Awards[edit]
The film was entered into the 1985 Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Technical Grand Prize.[10]
Soundtrack[edit]
The soundtrack to the film was released on the British label ZTT Records. It featured a diverse selection of professional artists and composers including movie composer Hans Zimmer, Glenn Gregory, Claudia Brücken, Stanley Myers, Midge Ure (occasional guitar) and Roy Orbison. In addition, Gil Evans and his orchestra contributed with an interpretation of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.
In popular culture[edit]
The title of the film was used by musician Jim O'Rourke for his album Insignificance.
The film is also featured in Big Audio Dynamite's music video for "E=MC2" as clips are shown throughout the video and are also referenced throughout the song.
Home media[edit]
Insignificance was released on VHS in 1992, on Laserdisc a few years later, and on DVD in 2003. In June 2011, the Criterion Collection released a fully restored and re-mastered DVD and Blu-ray edition, containing interviews with Nicolas Roeg, Terry Johnson, long-time Roeg editor Tony Lawson, and the short film, "Making 'Insignificance'". The release also contains a booklet with excerpts from the August 1985 Roeg-Johnson interview called "Relatively Speaking" in the 1985 Monthly Film Bulletin, and an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens.[11]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Dennis Lim (26 June 2011). "A Second Look: 'Insignificance'". LA Times. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
2.Jump up ^ Sinyard, Neil; The Films of Nicolas Roeg; 1991 Charles Letts & Co.; pp. 95–96
3.^ Jump up to: a b c Monthly Film Bulletin; "Relatively Speaking"; August 1985; p. 237
4.Jump up ^ Sinyard, Neil; The Films of Nicolas Roeg; 1991 Charles Letts & Co.; pp. 97
5.Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089343/combined IMDB Locations Notes
6.Jump up ^ Criterion Collection Interview with Nicolas Roeg and Terry Johnson, 2011
7.^ Jump up to: a b Essay in Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-ray release, August 2011
8.Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insignificance/ Rotten Tomatoes Score
9.Jump up ^ http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/films.php?id=8918 Brussat review
10.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: Insignificance". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
11.Jump up ^ "Insignificance". The Criterion Collection.
External links[edit]
Insignificance at the Internet Movie Database
McCarthyism and the Movies
Criterion Collection Essay by Chuck Stephen
Interview with Theresa Russell by Sam Wasson


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Nicolas Roeg


Performance (1970) ·
 Walkabout (1971) ·
 Glastonbury Fayre (1972) ·
 Don't Look Now (1973) ·
 The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) ·
 Bad Timing (1980) ·
 Eureka (1983) ·
 Insignificance (1985) ·
 Aria (1987, segment: "Un ballo in maschera") ·
 Castaway (1986) ·
 Track 29 (1988) ·
 The Witches (1990) ·
 Cold Heaven (1991) ·
 Heart of Darkness (1993) ·
 Two Deaths (1995) ·
 Full Body Massage (1995) ·
 Samson and Delilah (1996) ·
 Puffball (2007)
 

 


Categories: English-language films
1985 films
1980s comedy-drama films
British films
British comedy-drama films
Films directed by Nicolas Roeg
Films based on plays
Films set in 1954
Films set in the 1950s
Films shot in New York City
Films about Marilyn Monroe
Works about Albert Einstein
Works about McCarthyism
Film scores by Hans Zimmer






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Insignificance (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Insignificance
Insignificance.jpg
Lorimar release poster

Directed by
Nicolas Roeg
Produced by
Alexander Stuart
Jeremy Thomas
Written by
Terry Johnson
Starring
Michael Emil
Theresa Russell
Tony Curtis
Gary Busey
Will Sampson
Music by
Stanley Myers
Hans Zimmer
Cinematography
Peter Hannan
Edited by
Tony Lawson
Production
 company
Recorded Picture Company
Zenith Productions

Distributed by
Island Alive (USA)
Palace Pictures (UK)
Release dates
2 August 1985
Running time
110 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Insignificance is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jeremy Thomas and Alexander Stuart, and adapted by Terry Johnson from his play of the same name. The film is set in 1954, with most of the action taking place in a hotel room in New York City. The action revolves around the interplay of four characters who represent iconic figures of the era, Marilyn Monroe, Joseph McCarthy, Joe DiMaggio, and Albert Einstein called The Actress, The Senator, The Ballplayer, and The Professor, respectively.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Background
4 Production
5 Critical reception
6 Awards
7 Soundtrack
8 In popular culture
9 Home media
10 References
11 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens on a crowded New York City street where people have gathered to watch a film crew shoot a sequence which becomes recognisable as the iconic shot of Marilyn Monroe in a white dress standing on a grate while the rush of wind caused by a huge fan to imitate the subway going by below blows her skirt up around her waist. The Actress' husband, The Ballplayer, watches with obvious discomfort as she is ogled. The Actress, rather than join him afterwards, disappears in a taxi, leaving him behind. She stops at a store and picks up a variety of toys, flashlights, and balloons.
The Professor, recognisable as Albert Einstein, is in his hotel room, working on pages of mathematical calculations. He is interrupted by The Senator, who has come to alternately coax and threaten him into appearing before a committee to investigate his activities and answer the famous question, "Have you now or have you ever been...?" The Senator is recognisable as Joe McCarthy. The Professor refuses and says he will never appear. The Senator leaves, saying he'll be back to get him at 8 a.m. the following morning.
The Actress appears at the door of the Professor's hotel room, and he invites her in. They talk about fame, being chased, and the stars. She does a lively demonstration of the Theory of Relativity using the toys and flashlights and balloons. She tells The Professor he is at the top of her list of people she'd like to sleep with. They decide to go to bed, but are interrupted by the arrival of The Ballplayer, who has tracked her to the hotel. The Professor leaves them alone and goes to find another room, meeting a Cherokee elevator man with whom he speaks. The Actress and The Ballplayer talk about their marriage; The Actress tells her husband she believes she is pregnant, but he has fallen asleep.
The following morning The Senator arrives at The Professor's room to find him gone, but The Actress naked and alone in his bed. The Senator mistakes her for a call girl and threatens to use her to expose and embarrass The Professor, then punches her hard in the abdomen, causing her to collapse in pain. The Professor returns while The Senator is collecting all of the hundreds of pages of The Professor's work to take away with him. The Professor grabs the papers and throws them out of the windows, while The Actress writhes in agony on the bed. The Senator leaves, defeated in his purpose. The Ballplayer returns and talks about his fame in the baseball world, and confides in him about his marital problems while The Actress is in the bathroom. She finally announces to him that their marriage is over, and he leaves.
The Actress becomes impatient with The Professor, sensing that he is hiding something. He is sitting on the bed with his watch, which has stopped at 8.15, in one hand, and the alarm clock in the other as the hour approaches 8.15 (the time that "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima). He confesses his terrible feelings of guilt about the event, and she reassures him. Right at 8.15 a.m. as she is leaving, he has a vision of the destruction of the room, Hiroshima, and the world. The Actress's skirt swirls in flames as she burns in his vision. Then the film reverses and the world is restored to order as she smiles and leaves.[1]
Cast[edit]
Michael Emil – The Professor
Theresa Russell – The Actress
Tony Curtis – The Senator
Gary Busey – The Ballplayer
Will Sampson – Elevator attendant
Patrick Kilpatrick – Driver
Ian O'Connell – Assistant director
George Holmes – Actor
Richard Davidson – Director of photography
Mitchell Greenberg – Technician
Raynor Scheine – Autograph hunter
Jude Ciccolella – Gaffer
Lou Hirsch – Charlie
Ray Charleson – Bud
Joel Cutrara – Bar Drunk
Background[edit]
Insignificance was originally a play, written by Terry Johnson and performed at the Royal Court in 1982, with Judy Davis as The Actress. The seed for Johnson's play was his having read that an autographed photograph of Einstein was found amongst Marilyn Monroe's possessions upon her death. The idea of them meeting piqued his interest, and he wrote what became a meditation on the nature of fame.[2] "It was always meant to be a play about the era, about fame...what these people stood for, the fact that this was different from what they are." He was interested in exploring the differences between who these people really were, as opposed to what qualities others assumed or imbued them with. Johnson acknowledges that there are "lots of little cheats" in the play, mostly to do with exactly where and when The Seven Year Itch was filmed, and the timing of Marilyn's marriage to Joe DiMaggio. Einstein was also never called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, "but," he said, "had it gone on longer, I can see that as having been a big possibility. He was there in spirit, as it were."[3]
Roeg saw the play and felt it "might be a tool to use. An incident came up in my own life and I thought, 'Good God, nobody knows a damn thing about anyone.' That was the premise that started me thinking about the piece again." Roeg notes that Insignificance is usually talked about as a meeting between Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein, but what moved him was the pain of the problems between The Actress and The Ballplayer, who are married but seem to know nothing about each other.[3] Insignificance would become his first film adapted from a play.
Roeg asked Johnson to work on the screenplay, which at first meant simply reducing the play to approximately 90 minutes as opposed to two hours, but then Roeg began making suggestions which would expand the screenplay and include flashbacks to the characters histories, and flash-forwards of imagination. His suggestions inspired Johnson to focus on a deeper development of the characters, while Roeg himself began to imagine how the film could open then play spatially as well as laterally.[4] "He opened it backwards," Johnson said.[3]
Production[edit]
All of the interiors for Insignificance were shot at Lee Studios in Wembley, with exteriors shot in New York City.[5] Mise-en-scène was created through the use of Pablo Picasso's post-cubism painting "Woman and Child on the Seashore" which underscores The Actress' pain about her childlessness,[6] while the fractured structure of the narrative was mirrored in the splintered image of Theresa Russell used as a nude calendar shot of The Actress. Created by photographer-collagist David Hockney, the image is, according to film critic Chuck Stephens, "a pinup in a hundred pieces, a centerfold sent through a centrifuge..." and is a reflection of The Actress. With "her much-exposed and famously exploited psyche already splintered into jagged, mingled shards of kittenish innocence, movie business cunning, overwhelming erotic appeal, and abject inner terror, Monroe was post-cubism's quintessential glittering star...perfectly pieced together and seen prismatically all at once..."[7] The image is also a metaphor for Roeg's non-linear filmmaking, Stephens notes that "for a cine-cubist like Roeg, two entirely disparate spatial and temporal dimensions are never more than a splice apart, and in Insignificance, the past is always present, and never goes away."[7]
Critical reception[edit]
Insignificance received mostly positive reviews at the time of its release, and currently has a 73% score at Rotten Tomatoes[8] The film has been written about extensively in the years since it was first seen. Film4's movie critic wrote: "Roeg really is the perfect director to bring Johnson's stage play to the screen. Throughout, tortured childhood flashbacks and pessimistic flash-forwards (ka-boom!) draw unexpected connections between time, place and circumstance, with the repeated visual motif of a wristwatch employed to mark time's passing — but perhaps also to suggest all time is one time; each moment co-existing. As evinced by his back catalogue, it's something of a hobbyhorse for a director enchanted with the notion of synchronicity – see Don't Look Now in particular. Here, 1920 bleeds into 1945 and drip-feeds into the 1980s, a period in which another 'Actor' has taken on his greatest role as the President of the United States."
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat write: "Insignificance shines with some incandescent moments of acting bravado delivered by Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis, and Gary Busey. As a weird meditation on sex, power, knowledge, and fame, this is a four-star treat for those who savor exotic movie fare...Nicolas Roeg (Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth) draws out the inner psychological nuances of the drama and delivers the philosophical freight in Terry Johnson's screenplay."[9]
Awards[edit]
The film was entered into the 1985 Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Technical Grand Prize.[10]
Soundtrack[edit]
The soundtrack to the film was released on the British label ZTT Records. It featured a diverse selection of professional artists and composers including movie composer Hans Zimmer, Glenn Gregory, Claudia Brücken, Stanley Myers, Midge Ure (occasional guitar) and Roy Orbison. In addition, Gil Evans and his orchestra contributed with an interpretation of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony.
In popular culture[edit]
The title of the film was used by musician Jim O'Rourke for his album Insignificance.
The film is also featured in Big Audio Dynamite's music video for "E=MC2" as clips are shown throughout the video and are also referenced throughout the song.
Home media[edit]
Insignificance was released on VHS in 1992, on Laserdisc a few years later, and on DVD in 2003. In June 2011, the Criterion Collection released a fully restored and re-mastered DVD and Blu-ray edition, containing interviews with Nicolas Roeg, Terry Johnson, long-time Roeg editor Tony Lawson, and the short film, "Making 'Insignificance'". The release also contains a booklet with excerpts from the August 1985 Roeg-Johnson interview called "Relatively Speaking" in the 1985 Monthly Film Bulletin, and an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens.[11]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Dennis Lim (26 June 2011). "A Second Look: 'Insignificance'". LA Times. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
2.Jump up ^ Sinyard, Neil; The Films of Nicolas Roeg; 1991 Charles Letts & Co.; pp. 95–96
3.^ Jump up to: a b c Monthly Film Bulletin; "Relatively Speaking"; August 1985; p. 237
4.Jump up ^ Sinyard, Neil; The Films of Nicolas Roeg; 1991 Charles Letts & Co.; pp. 97
5.Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089343/combined IMDB Locations Notes
6.Jump up ^ Criterion Collection Interview with Nicolas Roeg and Terry Johnson, 2011
7.^ Jump up to: a b Essay in Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-ray release, August 2011
8.Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insignificance/ Rotten Tomatoes Score
9.Jump up ^ http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/films.php?id=8918 Brussat review
10.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: Insignificance". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
11.Jump up ^ "Insignificance". The Criterion Collection.
External links[edit]
Insignificance at the Internet Movie Database
McCarthyism and the Movies
Criterion Collection Essay by Chuck Stephen
Interview with Theresa Russell by Sam Wasson


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Nicolas Roeg


Performance (1970) ·
 Walkabout (1971) ·
 Glastonbury Fayre (1972) ·
 Don't Look Now (1973) ·
 The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) ·
 Bad Timing (1980) ·
 Eureka (1983) ·
 Insignificance (1985) ·
 Aria (1987, segment: "Un ballo in maschera") ·
 Castaway (1986) ·
 Track 29 (1988) ·
 The Witches (1990) ·
 Cold Heaven (1991) ·
 Heart of Darkness (1993) ·
 Two Deaths (1995) ·
 Full Body Massage (1995) ·
 Samson and Delilah (1996) ·
 Puffball (2007)
 

 


Categories: English-language films
1985 films
1980s comedy-drama films
British films
British comedy-drama films
Films directed by Nicolas Roeg
Films based on plays
Films set in 1954
Films set in the 1950s
Films shot in New York City
Films about Marilyn Monroe
Works about Albert Einstein
Works about McCarthyism
Film scores by Hans Zimmer






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Log in



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Talk









Read

Edit

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Languages
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日本語
Norsk bokmål
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Edit links
This page was last modified on 23 January 2014 at 04:42.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insignificance_(film)











The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the original 1962 film. For the 2004 remake, see The Manchurian Candidate (2004 film).

The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate 1962 movie.jpg
Directed by
John Frankenheimer
Produced by
George Axelrod
John Frankenheimer

Screenplay by
George Axelrod
Based on
The Manchurian Candidate
 by Richard Condon
Starring
Frank Sinatra
Laurence Harvey
Janet Leigh

Narrated by
Paul Frees[citation needed]
Music by
David Amram
Cinematography
Lionel Lindon
Edited by
Ferris Webster
Distributed by
United Artists
Release dates
October 24, 1962

Running time
126 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$2.2 million[citation needed]
Box office
$7.7 million (domestic)[1]
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War suspense thriller directed by John Frankenheimer that stars Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh and co-stars Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva and James Gregory. Its screenplay, by George Axelrod, is based on the 1959 novel by Richard Condon.
The premise of the film is the brainwashing of the son of a prominent right-wing political family as an unwitting assassin in an international communist conspiracy.
The Manchurian Candidate was released in the United States on October 24, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film was well-received and gained nominations for two Academy Awards.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Releases
5 Reception 5.1 Critical response
5.2 Awards and honors
5.3 DVD commentary
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
During the Korean War, the Soviets capture a U.S. platoon and take them to Manchuria in Communist China. Some days later, all but two of the soldiers return to U.S. lines and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is credited with saving their lives in combat. Upon the recommendation of the platoon's commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Raymond is awarded the Medal of Honor for his reported heroism. When asked to describe him, Marco and the other soldiers automatically respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Deep down, however, they know that Shaw is a cold, sad, unsympathetic loner.
Following his return to the U.S., Marco, who has since been promoted to Major, suffers from a recurring nightmare in which a hypnotized Shaw blithely and brutally murders the two missing soldiers before the assembled military brass of Communist nations, during a practical demonstration of a revolutionary brainwashing technique. Marco wants to investigate, but has no solid evidence to back his claims and thus receives no support from Army Intelligence. However, Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin (James Edwards), has had the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify some of the men in the dream as leading figures in communist governments, Army Intelligence agrees to help Marco investigate.



 Sgt. Shaw (Harvey, left) meets Major Marco (Sinatra, right), after having jumped into a lake in Central Park, New York
Meanwhile, Shaw's mother, Mrs. Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), drives the political career of her husband and Shaw's stepfather, Senator John Yerkes Iselin (James Gregory), a McCarthy-like demagogue who is widely dismissed as a fool. Senator Iselin finds a newfound political profile when he claims that varying numbers of communists work within the Department of Defense. However, unknown to Raymond, Mrs. Iselin herself is actually a Communist agent with a plan intended to secure the presidency under Communist influence.
Mrs. Iselin is the American "operator" responsible for controlling Raymond, who was conditioned in Manchuria to be an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will blindly obey the next suggestion or order given to him and never have any memories of his actions. It is revealed that Shaw's heroism was a false memory implanted in the platoon during their conditioning, and that the actions for which Shaw was awarded his Medal of Honor never took place. Shaw's conditioning is reinforced by a North Korean agent who supervises him under the pretext of acting as his cook and houseboy. When Marco visits Shaw's apartment, he becomes suspicious of the Korean and they engage in a fight using karate techniques.
Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver), one of his stepfather's political rivals. Mrs. Iselin had previously broken up the relationship, but now facilitates the couple's reunion as part of her scheme to garner Jordan's support for her husband's bid for Vice President. Jocelyn, wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume, inadvertently hypnotizes Raymond at a costume party and elopes with him. Although pleased with the match, Jordan makes it clear that he will block Senator Iselin's nomination. Mrs. Iselin triggers Raymond and sends him to kill Jordan; he also shoots Jocelyn when she happens upon the scene. Raymond has no knowledge of his actions and is grief-stricken when he learns of the murders.
After discovering the card's role in Raymond's conditioning, Marco uses a forced deck to get the full story. He then verbally drills into Raymond the suggestion or affirmation that the Queen of Diamonds no longer has any power over him. Mrs. Iselin primes her son to assassinate their party's presidential nominee at the nomination convention so that Senator Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the nominee by default and elected with emergency powers that, in Mrs. Iselin's words, "will make martial law seem like anarchy." Mrs. Iselin tells Raymond that she did not know that he was to be selected by the Communists, but vows that once in power she will "grind them into the dirt" in revenge.
With Marco's attempt to free Raymond from his conditioning appearing to have failed, Raymond enters Madison Square Garden disguised as a priest and takes position to carry out the assassination. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt (Douglas Henderson), arrive at the convention to stop him. As the nominee (Robert Riordan) makes his speech, Raymond, instead of assassinating him, shoots his stepfather before shooting his mother with the sniper rifle she gave him. He then commits suicide in front of Marco while wearing his Medal of Honor. Marco, in the film's final scene, voices a putative Medal of Honor citation for Raymond's genuine act of heroism.
Cast[edit]
Frank Sinatra as Maj. Bennett Marco
Laurence Harvey as Raymond Shaw
Janet Leigh as Eugenie Rose Chaney
Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin
Henry Silva as Chunjin
James Gregory as Sen. John Yerkes Iselin
Leslie Parrish as Jocelyn Jordan
John McGiver as Sen. Thomas Jordan
Khigh Dheigh as Dr. Yen Lo
James Edwards as Cpl. Allen Melvin
Douglas Henderson as Col. Milt
Albert Paulsen as Zilkov
Barry Kelley as Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Corrigan as Holborn Gaines
Madame Spivy as Female Berezovo
Production[edit]
For the role of Mrs. Iselin, Sinatra had considered Lucille Ball, but Frankenheimer, who had worked with Lansbury in All Fall Down, suggested her for the part[2] and insisted that Sinatra watch the film before making any decisions. (Although Lansbury played Raymond Shaw's mother, she was in fact only three years older than actor Laurence Harvey.)
An early scene where Raymond, recently decorated with the Medal of Honor, argues with his parents was filmed in Sinatra's own private plane.[2]
Janet Leigh plays Marco's love interest. A bizarre conversation on a train between her character and Marco has been interpreted by some – notably film critic Roger Ebert[3][4] – as implying that Leigh's character, Eugenie Rose Chaney, is working for the Communists to activate Marco's brainwashing, much as the Queen of Diamonds activates Shaw's. It is a jarringly strange conversation between people who have only just met, and almost appears to be an exchange of passwords. Frankenheimer himself maintained that he had no idea whether or not "Rosie" was supposed to be an agent of any sort; he merely lifted the train conversation straight from the Condon novel, in which there is no such implication.[2] The rest of the film does not elaborate on Rosie's part and latter scenes suggest that she is simply a romantic foil for Marco.
During the fight scene between Frank Sinatra and Henry Silva, Sinatra broke his hand during a movement where he smashed through a table. This resulted in problems with his hand/fingers for several years and is said to be one of the reasons why he pulled out of a starring role in Dirty Harry, having to undertake surgery to alleviate pains.
The interrogation sequence where Raymond and Marco confront each other in the hotel room opposite the convention is from a rough cut. When first filmed, Sinatra was out of focus, and when they tried to re-shoot the scene he was simply not as effective as he had been in the first take, a common factor in Sinatra's film performances. Frustrated, Frankenheimer decided in the end to simply use the original out-of-focus takes. Critics praised him for showing Marco from Raymond's distorted point of view.[2]
In the novel, Mrs. Iselin uses her son's brainwashing to have sex with him before the climax. Concerned that censors would not allow even a reference to such a taboo subject in a mainstream motion picture of the time, the filmmakers instead opted for Mrs. Iselin to simply kiss Raymond on the lips to imply her incestuous attraction to him.[2]
For the scene in the convention hall prior to the assassination, Frankenheimer was at a loss as to how Marco would pinpoint Raymond Shaw's sniper's nest. Eventually he decided on a method similar to Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940). Frankenheimer noted that what would be plagiarism in the 1960s would now be looked upon as an homage.[2]
Frankenheimer also acknowledged the climax's connection with Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 and 1956) by naming the Presidential candidate "Benjamin Arthur". Arthur Benjamin was the composer of the Storm Clouds Cantata used in both versions of Hitchcock's film.
Releases[edit]
According to rumor, Sinatra removed the film from distribution after the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. Michael Schlesinger, who was responsible for the film's 1988 reissue by MGM/UA, denies the rumor. According to him, the film's apparent withdrawal was not due to the assassination, but due to lack of public interest by 1963. Sinatra's representatives acquired rights to the film in 1972 after the initial contract with United Artists expired, but he later stated that he was unaware of the transaction at the time. After a successful showing at the New York Film Festival in 1987 renewed public interest in the film, the studio reacquired the rights and it became again available for theater and video releases.[5][6]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
It has a 98% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 49 reviews, which summarizes it as "a classic blend of satire and political thriller that was uncomfortably prescient in its own time."[7] Film critic Roger Ebert ranked The Manchurian Candidate as an exemplary "Great Film," declaring that it is "inventive and frisky, takes enormous chances with the audience, and plays not like a 'classic' but as a work as alive and smart as when it was first released."[3]
Awards and honors[edit]
Angela Lansbury was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress, and Ferris Webster was nominated for Best Film Editing. In addition, Lansbury was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.
The film was No. 67 on the AFI's "100 Years...100 Movies" when that list was compiled in 1998, but in 2007 a new version of that list was made which excluded The Manchurian Candidate. It was also No. 17 on AFI's "100 Years...100 Thrills" lists. In 1994, The Manchurian Candidate was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[8]
In April 2007, Angela Lansbury's character was selected by Newsweek as one of the ten greatest villains in cinema history.
American Film Institute recognition
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies ... #67
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains ... Villain #21 is Mrs. Iselin
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills ... #17
DVD commentary[edit]
On the DVD audio commentary of the film, the director stated his belief that it contained the first-ever karate fight in an American motion picture. This is true inasmuch as this was the first fight scene in an American film in which a karateka – a studied karate practitioner – faced off against another karateka; however, the 1955 MGM film Bad Day at Black Rock featured a fight scene between a conventional fighter, played by Ernest Borgnine, and a karate expert, played by Spencer Tracy.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
Assassinations in fiction
Conspiracy thriller
Hypnosis in fiction
Spy film
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Box Office Information for The Manchurian Candidate. The Numbers. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Director John Frankenheimer's audio commentary, available on The Manchurian Candidate DVD
3.^ Jump up to: a b "The Manchurian Candidate :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies". Chicago Sun-Times.
4.Jump up ^ "The Manchurian Candidate :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Chicago Sun-Times.
5.Jump up ^ Schlesinger, Michael (2008-01-27). "A 'Manchurian' myth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
6.Jump up ^ Santopietro, Tom (2009). Sinatra in Hollywood. Macmillan. pp. 324–326. ISBN 9781429964746.
7.Jump up ^ Rotten Tomatoes "The Manchurian Candidate Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes".
8.Jump up ^ The Manchurian Candidate, One of 25 Films Added to National Registry. The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
The Manchurian Candidate at the Internet Movie Database
The Manchurian Candidate at the TCM Movie Database
The Manchurian Candidate at AllMovie
The Manchurian Candidate at Rotten Tomatoes
The Manchurian Candidate at Metacritic
Storyline and key dialogue excerpts
McCarthyism and the Movies


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by John Frankenheimer


The Young Stranger (1957) ·
 The Young Savages (1961) ·
 All Fall Down (1962) ·
 Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) ·
 The Manchurian Candidate (1962) ·
 Seven Days in May (1964) ·
 The Train (1964) ·
 Seconds (1966) ·
 Grand Prix (1966) ·
 The Fixer (1968) ·
 The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) ·
 The Gypsy Moths (1969) ·
 I Walk the Line (1970) ·
 The Horsemen (1971) ·
 The Iceman Cometh (1973) ·
 Story of a Love Story (1973) ·
 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974) ·
 French Connection II (1975) ·
 Black Sunday (1977) ·
 Prophecy (1979) ·
 The Challenge (1982) ·
 The Holcroft Covenant (1985) ·
 52 Pick-Up (1986) ·
 Dead Bang (1989) ·
 The Fourth War (1990) ·
 Year of the Gun (1991) ·
 Against the Wall (1994) ·
 The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) ·
 George Wallace (1997) ·
 Ronin (1998) ·
 Reindeer Games (2000) ·
 Path to War (2002)
 

 


Categories: 1962 films
English-language films
1960s thriller films
American films
American political thriller films
Black-and-white films
Cold War spy films
Films about communism
Films about elections
Films based on mystery novels
Films directed by John Frankenheimer
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe winning performance
Films set in New York City
Incest in film
Korean War films
Mind control in fiction
Psychological thriller films
Suspense films
United Artists films
United States National Film Registry films
United States presidential nominating conventions in fiction
Works about McCarthyism








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This page was last modified on 22 October 2014 at 07:03.
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The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the original 1962 film. For the 2004 remake, see The Manchurian Candidate (2004 film).

The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate 1962 movie.jpg
Directed by
John Frankenheimer
Produced by
George Axelrod
John Frankenheimer

Screenplay by
George Axelrod
Based on
The Manchurian Candidate
 by Richard Condon
Starring
Frank Sinatra
Laurence Harvey
Janet Leigh

Narrated by
Paul Frees[citation needed]
Music by
David Amram
Cinematography
Lionel Lindon
Edited by
Ferris Webster
Distributed by
United Artists
Release dates
October 24, 1962

Running time
126 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$2.2 million[citation needed]
Box office
$7.7 million (domestic)[1]
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War suspense thriller directed by John Frankenheimer that stars Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh and co-stars Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva and James Gregory. Its screenplay, by George Axelrod, is based on the 1959 novel by Richard Condon.
The premise of the film is the brainwashing of the son of a prominent right-wing political family as an unwitting assassin in an international communist conspiracy.
The Manchurian Candidate was released in the United States on October 24, 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film was well-received and gained nominations for two Academy Awards.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Releases
5 Reception 5.1 Critical response
5.2 Awards and honors
5.3 DVD commentary
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
During the Korean War, the Soviets capture a U.S. platoon and take them to Manchuria in Communist China. Some days later, all but two of the soldiers return to U.S. lines and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is credited with saving their lives in combat. Upon the recommendation of the platoon's commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Raymond is awarded the Medal of Honor for his reported heroism. When asked to describe him, Marco and the other soldiers automatically respond, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Deep down, however, they know that Shaw is a cold, sad, unsympathetic loner.
Following his return to the U.S., Marco, who has since been promoted to Major, suffers from a recurring nightmare in which a hypnotized Shaw blithely and brutally murders the two missing soldiers before the assembled military brass of Communist nations, during a practical demonstration of a revolutionary brainwashing technique. Marco wants to investigate, but has no solid evidence to back his claims and thus receives no support from Army Intelligence. However, Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon, Allen Melvin (James Edwards), has had the same nightmare. When Melvin and Marco separately identify some of the men in the dream as leading figures in communist governments, Army Intelligence agrees to help Marco investigate.



 Sgt. Shaw (Harvey, left) meets Major Marco (Sinatra, right), after having jumped into a lake in Central Park, New York
Meanwhile, Shaw's mother, Mrs. Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), drives the political career of her husband and Shaw's stepfather, Senator John Yerkes Iselin (James Gregory), a McCarthy-like demagogue who is widely dismissed as a fool. Senator Iselin finds a newfound political profile when he claims that varying numbers of communists work within the Department of Defense. However, unknown to Raymond, Mrs. Iselin herself is actually a Communist agent with a plan intended to secure the presidency under Communist influence.
Mrs. Iselin is the American "operator" responsible for controlling Raymond, who was conditioned in Manchuria to be an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will blindly obey the next suggestion or order given to him and never have any memories of his actions. It is revealed that Shaw's heroism was a false memory implanted in the platoon during their conditioning, and that the actions for which Shaw was awarded his Medal of Honor never took place. Shaw's conditioning is reinforced by a North Korean agent who supervises him under the pretext of acting as his cook and houseboy. When Marco visits Shaw's apartment, he becomes suspicious of the Korean and they engage in a fight using karate techniques.
Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn Jordan (Leslie Parrish), the daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan (John McGiver), one of his stepfather's political rivals. Mrs. Iselin had previously broken up the relationship, but now facilitates the couple's reunion as part of her scheme to garner Jordan's support for her husband's bid for Vice President. Jocelyn, wearing a Queen of Diamonds costume, inadvertently hypnotizes Raymond at a costume party and elopes with him. Although pleased with the match, Jordan makes it clear that he will block Senator Iselin's nomination. Mrs. Iselin triggers Raymond and sends him to kill Jordan; he also shoots Jocelyn when she happens upon the scene. Raymond has no knowledge of his actions and is grief-stricken when he learns of the murders.
After discovering the card's role in Raymond's conditioning, Marco uses a forced deck to get the full story. He then verbally drills into Raymond the suggestion or affirmation that the Queen of Diamonds no longer has any power over him. Mrs. Iselin primes her son to assassinate their party's presidential nominee at the nomination convention so that Senator Iselin, as the vice-presidential candidate, will become the nominee by default and elected with emergency powers that, in Mrs. Iselin's words, "will make martial law seem like anarchy." Mrs. Iselin tells Raymond that she did not know that he was to be selected by the Communists, but vows that once in power she will "grind them into the dirt" in revenge.
With Marco's attempt to free Raymond from his conditioning appearing to have failed, Raymond enters Madison Square Garden disguised as a priest and takes position to carry out the assassination. Marco and his supervisor, Colonel Milt (Douglas Henderson), arrive at the convention to stop him. As the nominee (Robert Riordan) makes his speech, Raymond, instead of assassinating him, shoots his stepfather before shooting his mother with the sniper rifle she gave him. He then commits suicide in front of Marco while wearing his Medal of Honor. Marco, in the film's final scene, voices a putative Medal of Honor citation for Raymond's genuine act of heroism.
Cast[edit]
Frank Sinatra as Maj. Bennett Marco
Laurence Harvey as Raymond Shaw
Janet Leigh as Eugenie Rose Chaney
Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin
Henry Silva as Chunjin
James Gregory as Sen. John Yerkes Iselin
Leslie Parrish as Jocelyn Jordan
John McGiver as Sen. Thomas Jordan
Khigh Dheigh as Dr. Yen Lo
James Edwards as Cpl. Allen Melvin
Douglas Henderson as Col. Milt
Albert Paulsen as Zilkov
Barry Kelley as Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Corrigan as Holborn Gaines
Madame Spivy as Female Berezovo
Production[edit]
For the role of Mrs. Iselin, Sinatra had considered Lucille Ball, but Frankenheimer, who had worked with Lansbury in All Fall Down, suggested her for the part[2] and insisted that Sinatra watch the film before making any decisions. (Although Lansbury played Raymond Shaw's mother, she was in fact only three years older than actor Laurence Harvey.)
An early scene where Raymond, recently decorated with the Medal of Honor, argues with his parents was filmed in Sinatra's own private plane.[2]
Janet Leigh plays Marco's love interest. A bizarre conversation on a train between her character and Marco has been interpreted by some – notably film critic Roger Ebert[3][4] – as implying that Leigh's character, Eugenie Rose Chaney, is working for the Communists to activate Marco's brainwashing, much as the Queen of Diamonds activates Shaw's. It is a jarringly strange conversation between people who have only just met, and almost appears to be an exchange of passwords. Frankenheimer himself maintained that he had no idea whether or not "Rosie" was supposed to be an agent of any sort; he merely lifted the train conversation straight from the Condon novel, in which there is no such implication.[2] The rest of the film does not elaborate on Rosie's part and latter scenes suggest that she is simply a romantic foil for Marco.
During the fight scene between Frank Sinatra and Henry Silva, Sinatra broke his hand during a movement where he smashed through a table. This resulted in problems with his hand/fingers for several years and is said to be one of the reasons why he pulled out of a starring role in Dirty Harry, having to undertake surgery to alleviate pains.
The interrogation sequence where Raymond and Marco confront each other in the hotel room opposite the convention is from a rough cut. When first filmed, Sinatra was out of focus, and when they tried to re-shoot the scene he was simply not as effective as he had been in the first take, a common factor in Sinatra's film performances. Frustrated, Frankenheimer decided in the end to simply use the original out-of-focus takes. Critics praised him for showing Marco from Raymond's distorted point of view.[2]
In the novel, Mrs. Iselin uses her son's brainwashing to have sex with him before the climax. Concerned that censors would not allow even a reference to such a taboo subject in a mainstream motion picture of the time, the filmmakers instead opted for Mrs. Iselin to simply kiss Raymond on the lips to imply her incestuous attraction to him.[2]
For the scene in the convention hall prior to the assassination, Frankenheimer was at a loss as to how Marco would pinpoint Raymond Shaw's sniper's nest. Eventually he decided on a method similar to Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940). Frankenheimer noted that what would be plagiarism in the 1960s would now be looked upon as an homage.[2]
Frankenheimer also acknowledged the climax's connection with Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 and 1956) by naming the Presidential candidate "Benjamin Arthur". Arthur Benjamin was the composer of the Storm Clouds Cantata used in both versions of Hitchcock's film.
Releases[edit]
According to rumor, Sinatra removed the film from distribution after the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. Michael Schlesinger, who was responsible for the film's 1988 reissue by MGM/UA, denies the rumor. According to him, the film's apparent withdrawal was not due to the assassination, but due to lack of public interest by 1963. Sinatra's representatives acquired rights to the film in 1972 after the initial contract with United Artists expired, but he later stated that he was unaware of the transaction at the time. After a successful showing at the New York Film Festival in 1987 renewed public interest in the film, the studio reacquired the rights and it became again available for theater and video releases.[5][6]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
It has a 98% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 49 reviews, which summarizes it as "a classic blend of satire and political thriller that was uncomfortably prescient in its own time."[7] Film critic Roger Ebert ranked The Manchurian Candidate as an exemplary "Great Film," declaring that it is "inventive and frisky, takes enormous chances with the audience, and plays not like a 'classic' but as a work as alive and smart as when it was first released."[3]
Awards and honors[edit]
Angela Lansbury was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress, and Ferris Webster was nominated for Best Film Editing. In addition, Lansbury was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.
The film was No. 67 on the AFI's "100 Years...100 Movies" when that list was compiled in 1998, but in 2007 a new version of that list was made which excluded The Manchurian Candidate. It was also No. 17 on AFI's "100 Years...100 Thrills" lists. In 1994, The Manchurian Candidate was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[8]
In April 2007, Angela Lansbury's character was selected by Newsweek as one of the ten greatest villains in cinema history.
American Film Institute recognition
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies ... #67
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains ... Villain #21 is Mrs. Iselin
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills ... #17
DVD commentary[edit]
On the DVD audio commentary of the film, the director stated his belief that it contained the first-ever karate fight in an American motion picture. This is true inasmuch as this was the first fight scene in an American film in which a karateka – a studied karate practitioner – faced off against another karateka; however, the 1955 MGM film Bad Day at Black Rock featured a fight scene between a conventional fighter, played by Ernest Borgnine, and a karate expert, played by Spencer Tracy.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
Assassinations in fiction
Conspiracy thriller
Hypnosis in fiction
Spy film
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Box Office Information for The Manchurian Candidate. The Numbers. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Director John Frankenheimer's audio commentary, available on The Manchurian Candidate DVD
3.^ Jump up to: a b "The Manchurian Candidate :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies". Chicago Sun-Times.
4.Jump up ^ "The Manchurian Candidate :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Chicago Sun-Times.
5.Jump up ^ Schlesinger, Michael (2008-01-27). "A 'Manchurian' myth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
6.Jump up ^ Santopietro, Tom (2009). Sinatra in Hollywood. Macmillan. pp. 324–326. ISBN 9781429964746.
7.Jump up ^ Rotten Tomatoes "The Manchurian Candidate Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes".
8.Jump up ^ The Manchurian Candidate, One of 25 Films Added to National Registry. The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
The Manchurian Candidate at the Internet Movie Database
The Manchurian Candidate at the TCM Movie Database
The Manchurian Candidate at AllMovie
The Manchurian Candidate at Rotten Tomatoes
The Manchurian Candidate at Metacritic
Storyline and key dialogue excerpts
McCarthyism and the Movies


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by John Frankenheimer


The Young Stranger (1957) ·
 The Young Savages (1961) ·
 All Fall Down (1962) ·
 Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) ·
 The Manchurian Candidate (1962) ·
 Seven Days in May (1964) ·
 The Train (1964) ·
 Seconds (1966) ·
 Grand Prix (1966) ·
 The Fixer (1968) ·
 The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) ·
 The Gypsy Moths (1969) ·
 I Walk the Line (1970) ·
 The Horsemen (1971) ·
 The Iceman Cometh (1973) ·
 Story of a Love Story (1973) ·
 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974) ·
 French Connection II (1975) ·
 Black Sunday (1977) ·
 Prophecy (1979) ·
 The Challenge (1982) ·
 The Holcroft Covenant (1985) ·
 52 Pick-Up (1986) ·
 Dead Bang (1989) ·
 The Fourth War (1990) ·
 Year of the Gun (1991) ·
 Against the Wall (1994) ·
 The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) ·
 George Wallace (1997) ·
 Ronin (1998) ·
 Reindeer Games (2000) ·
 Path to War (2002)
 

 


Categories: 1962 films
English-language films
1960s thriller films
American films
American political thriller films
Black-and-white films
Cold War spy films
Films about communism
Films about elections
Films based on mystery novels
Films directed by John Frankenheimer
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe winning performance
Films set in New York City
Incest in film
Korean War films
Mind control in fiction
Psychological thriller films
Suspense films
United Artists films
United States National Film Registry films
United States presidential nominating conventions in fiction
Works about McCarthyism








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Suomi
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Українська
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 22 October 2014 at 07:03.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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About Wikipedia
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Contact Wikipedia
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Powered by MediaWiki
 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manchurian_Candidate_(1962_film)











The Manchurian Candidate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see The Manchurian Candidate (disambiguation).


 This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2012)
The Manchurian Candidate
ManchurianCandidate.jpg
First edition

Author
Richard Condon
Cover artist
Bernard Krigstein
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Thriller novel
Publisher
McGraw-Hill

Publication date
 1959
Media type
Print (Hardback)
Pages
311 pp
OCLC
52409655

Dewey Decimal
 813/.54 21
LC Class
PS3553.O487 M36 2003
The Manchurian Candidate (1959), by Richard Condon, is a political thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a Communist conspiracy.
The novel has been adapted twice into a feature film by the same title, in 1962 and again in 2004.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Plagiarism charge
3 Film adaptations
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Major Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which Congress awards him the Medal of Honor.
Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer, begins suffering the recurring nightmare of Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all while clinically observed by Chinese and Soviet intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery and its meaning.
It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated by seeing the “Queen of Diamonds” playing card while playing solitaire. Provoked by the appearance of the card, he obeys orders which he then forgets. Shaw’s KGB handler is his domineering mother Eleanor, a ruthless power broker working with the Communists to execute a "palace coup d’état" to quietly overthrow the U.S. government, with her husband, McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin, as a puppet dictator.
Marco discovers the trigger of the "Queen of Diamonds" and meets with Shaw at the Central Park Zoo shortly before the party's national convention. He uses the card to interrogate Shaw as to his final plan; Shaw is to shoot the presidential candidate during the convention in order to win overwhelming support for Senator Iselin, the vice-presidential candidate, and the dictatorial powers he'll request following the assassination. Marco reprograms Shaw, although the reader is unsure until the final pages if it worked. At the convention, Shaw instead shoots his mother and Senator Iselin. Marco is the first of the authorities to reach Shaw's sniper nest and it is heavily implied that Marco kills him.
Plagiarism charge[edit]
In 1998, software engineer C.J. Silverio noted that several long passages of the novel seemed to be adapted from Robert Graves' 1934 novel I, Claudius. Forensic linguist John Olsson judged that "There can be no disputing that Richard Condon plagiarized from Robert Graves." Olsson went on to state that "As plagiarists go, Condon is quite creative, he does not confine himself to one source and is prepared to throw other ingredients into the pot."[1] Jonathan Lethem, in his influential essay The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism, has identified The Manchurian Candidate as one of a number of "cherished texts that become troubling to their admirers after the discovery of their 'plagiarized' elements," which make it "apparent that appropriation, mimicry, quotation, allusion, and sublimated collaboration consist of a kind of sine qua non of the creative act, cutting across all forms and genres in the realm of cultural production."[2]
Film adaptations[edit]
The Manchurian Candidate has been adapted twice into a feature film by the same title. The first film, released in 1962, is considered a classic of the political thriller genre.[3] It was directed by John Frankenheimer and starred Laurence Harvey as Shaw, Frank Sinatra as Marco, and Angela Lansbury as Eleanor in an Academy Award-nominated performance.
The second film, released in 2004, was directed by Jonathan Demme, and starred Liev Schreiber as Shaw, Denzel Washington as Marco, and Meryl Streep as Eleanor. It was generally well received by critics, and moderately successful at the box office. The film updated the conflict (and brainwashing) to the Persian Gulf War in 1991, emphasized the science fiction aspects of the story by setting the action in a dystopian near-future (implied to be 2008), had a U.S. corporation as the perpetrator of the brainwashing and conspiracy instead of foreign Communist groups, and dropped the Johnny Iselin character in favor of making both Shaw and his mother elected politicians. The movie adaptations also omit the novel's portrayal of incest between Raymond and his mother, only hinting at it with a mouth-to-mouth kiss.
Both adaptations discard several elements of the book. The book spends more time describing the brain-washers and the facility in Manchuria where the Americans were held. The head of the project grants Raymond a "gift"; after his brainwashing, he becomes quite sexually active, in contrast to his reserved nature beforehand where he hadn't even kissed his love interest, Jocelyn Jordan.
In the novel, Mrs. Iselin and her son travel abroad, where she uses him to kill various political figures and possibly Jocelyn Jordan's first husband. Rosie, Marco's love interest, is also the ex-fiance of one of his associates handling the Shaw case for Army Intelligence, making things between them tense.
As a child, Mrs. Iselin was sexually abused by her father but fell in love with him and idolized him after his early death. Towards the end of the book, as Raymond is hypnotized by the Queen of Diamonds, he reminds her of her father and she sleeps with him.
The 1962 version does not state outright the political affiliation of Senators Iselin and Jordan, although in the 2004 film the equivalent characters are Democrats. According to David Willis McCullough, Senator Iselin is modelled on Republican senator Joseph McCarthy and, according to Condon, Shaw's mother is based on McCarthy's counsel Roy Cohn.[4]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Assassinations in fiction
Conspiracy thriller
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Lara, Adair (4 October 2003). "Has a local software engineer unmasked 'The Manchurian Candidate'? Menlo Park woman says author Richard Condon plagiarized.". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
2.Jump up ^ Jonathan Lethem (February 2007). "The Ecstasy of Influence". Harper's: 59–71.
3.Jump up ^ Cosgrove, Ben (22 August 2012). "'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962)". TIME Entertainment. Time. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
4.Jump up ^ David Willis McCullough. "Introduction". p. x. in Richard Condon (1988). The Manchurian Candidate. Mysterious Press.
References[edit]
Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 110. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.
Condon, Richard. "'Manchurian Candidate' in Dallas", The Nation, December 28, 1963.
Loken, John. Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly? (2000), pgs. 16, 36.
External links[edit]
Photos of the first edition of The Manchurian Candidate
Review: The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate at complete review
‘Manchurian Candidate’ in Dallas 28 December 1963, article by Richard Condon in The Nation about the JFK assassination and The Manchurian Candidate
 


Categories: 1959 novels
American novels adapted into films
Mind control in fiction
Korean War novels
Novels about elections
Novels by Richard Condon
Political thriller novels
Works about McCarthyism
American political novels





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The Manchurian Candidate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see The Manchurian Candidate (disambiguation).


 This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2012)
The Manchurian Candidate
ManchurianCandidate.jpg
First edition

Author
Richard Condon
Cover artist
Bernard Krigstein
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Thriller novel
Publisher
McGraw-Hill

Publication date
 1959
Media type
Print (Hardback)
Pages
311 pp
OCLC
52409655

Dewey Decimal
 813/.54 21
LC Class
PS3553.O487 M36 2003
The Manchurian Candidate (1959), by Richard Condon, is a political thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a Communist conspiracy.
The novel has been adapted twice into a feature film by the same title, in 1962 and again in 2004.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Plagiarism charge
3 Film adaptations
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Major Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which Congress awards him the Medal of Honor.
Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer, begins suffering the recurring nightmare of Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all while clinically observed by Chinese and Soviet intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery and its meaning.
It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated by seeing the “Queen of Diamonds” playing card while playing solitaire. Provoked by the appearance of the card, he obeys orders which he then forgets. Shaw’s KGB handler is his domineering mother Eleanor, a ruthless power broker working with the Communists to execute a "palace coup d’état" to quietly overthrow the U.S. government, with her husband, McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin, as a puppet dictator.
Marco discovers the trigger of the "Queen of Diamonds" and meets with Shaw at the Central Park Zoo shortly before the party's national convention. He uses the card to interrogate Shaw as to his final plan; Shaw is to shoot the presidential candidate during the convention in order to win overwhelming support for Senator Iselin, the vice-presidential candidate, and the dictatorial powers he'll request following the assassination. Marco reprograms Shaw, although the reader is unsure until the final pages if it worked. At the convention, Shaw instead shoots his mother and Senator Iselin. Marco is the first of the authorities to reach Shaw's sniper nest and it is heavily implied that Marco kills him.
Plagiarism charge[edit]
In 1998, software engineer C.J. Silverio noted that several long passages of the novel seemed to be adapted from Robert Graves' 1934 novel I, Claudius. Forensic linguist John Olsson judged that "There can be no disputing that Richard Condon plagiarized from Robert Graves." Olsson went on to state that "As plagiarists go, Condon is quite creative, he does not confine himself to one source and is prepared to throw other ingredients into the pot."[1] Jonathan Lethem, in his influential essay The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism, has identified The Manchurian Candidate as one of a number of "cherished texts that become troubling to their admirers after the discovery of their 'plagiarized' elements," which make it "apparent that appropriation, mimicry, quotation, allusion, and sublimated collaboration consist of a kind of sine qua non of the creative act, cutting across all forms and genres in the realm of cultural production."[2]
Film adaptations[edit]
The Manchurian Candidate has been adapted twice into a feature film by the same title. The first film, released in 1962, is considered a classic of the political thriller genre.[3] It was directed by John Frankenheimer and starred Laurence Harvey as Shaw, Frank Sinatra as Marco, and Angela Lansbury as Eleanor in an Academy Award-nominated performance.
The second film, released in 2004, was directed by Jonathan Demme, and starred Liev Schreiber as Shaw, Denzel Washington as Marco, and Meryl Streep as Eleanor. It was generally well received by critics, and moderately successful at the box office. The film updated the conflict (and brainwashing) to the Persian Gulf War in 1991, emphasized the science fiction aspects of the story by setting the action in a dystopian near-future (implied to be 2008), had a U.S. corporation as the perpetrator of the brainwashing and conspiracy instead of foreign Communist groups, and dropped the Johnny Iselin character in favor of making both Shaw and his mother elected politicians. The movie adaptations also omit the novel's portrayal of incest between Raymond and his mother, only hinting at it with a mouth-to-mouth kiss.
Both adaptations discard several elements of the book. The book spends more time describing the brain-washers and the facility in Manchuria where the Americans were held. The head of the project grants Raymond a "gift"; after his brainwashing, he becomes quite sexually active, in contrast to his reserved nature beforehand where he hadn't even kissed his love interest, Jocelyn Jordan.
In the novel, Mrs. Iselin and her son travel abroad, where she uses him to kill various political figures and possibly Jocelyn Jordan's first husband. Rosie, Marco's love interest, is also the ex-fiance of one of his associates handling the Shaw case for Army Intelligence, making things between them tense.
As a child, Mrs. Iselin was sexually abused by her father but fell in love with him and idolized him after his early death. Towards the end of the book, as Raymond is hypnotized by the Queen of Diamonds, he reminds her of her father and she sleeps with him.
The 1962 version does not state outright the political affiliation of Senators Iselin and Jordan, although in the 2004 film the equivalent characters are Democrats. According to David Willis McCullough, Senator Iselin is modelled on Republican senator Joseph McCarthy and, according to Condon, Shaw's mother is based on McCarthy's counsel Roy Cohn.[4]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Assassinations in fiction
Conspiracy thriller
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Lara, Adair (4 October 2003). "Has a local software engineer unmasked 'The Manchurian Candidate'? Menlo Park woman says author Richard Condon plagiarized.". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
2.Jump up ^ Jonathan Lethem (February 2007). "The Ecstasy of Influence". Harper's: 59–71.
3.Jump up ^ Cosgrove, Ben (22 August 2012). "'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962)". TIME Entertainment. Time. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
4.Jump up ^ David Willis McCullough. "Introduction". p. x. in Richard Condon (1988). The Manchurian Candidate. Mysterious Press.
References[edit]
Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 110. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.
Condon, Richard. "'Manchurian Candidate' in Dallas", The Nation, December 28, 1963.
Loken, John. Oswald's Trigger Films: The Manchurian Candidate, We Were Strangers, Suddenly? (2000), pgs. 16, 36.
External links[edit]
Photos of the first edition of The Manchurian Candidate
Review: The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate at complete review
‘Manchurian Candidate’ in Dallas 28 December 1963, article by Richard Condon in The Nation about the JFK assassination and The Manchurian Candidate
 


Categories: 1959 novels
American novels adapted into films
Mind control in fiction
Korean War novels
Novels about elections
Novels by Richard Condon
Political thriller novels
Works about McCarthyism
American political novels





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Point of Order (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2013)

Point of Order!

Directed by
Emile de Antonio
Produced by
Emile de Antonio and Daniel Talbot
Edited by
Robert Duncan
Production
 company
Point Films

Distributed by
Continental Distributing
Release dates
January 14, 1964
Running time
97 minutes
Country
USA
Language
English
Point of Order! is a 1964 documentary film by Emile de Antonio, about the Senate Army-McCarthy Hearings of 1954.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Synopsis
3 Production
4 Exhibition
5 Reception
6 Book tie-in
7 Honors
8 See also
9 Notes
10 External links

Background[edit]
The Army-McCarthy Hearings came about when the Army accused Senator Joseph McCarthy of improperly pressuring the Army for special privileges for Private G. David Schine, formerly of McCarthy's investigative staff. McCarthy counter-charged that the Army was holding Schine hostage to keep him from searching for Communists in the Army. The hearings were broadcast live on television in their entirety and also recorded via kinescope. This film was created from those kinescope recordings.
Synopsis[edit]
The film uses selections from the hearings to show the overall development of the trial, beginning with introductions from several main participants, such as Joseph N. Welch and Joseph McCarthy. Each participant is shown in a still image with a brief audio recording, except for McCarthy, who is introduced with longer footage of a speech he made during the hearings.[1]
In a sequence titled "Charge and Countercharge," Senator Stuart Symington summarizes the principle charge and counter-charge of the case. This sequence includes questioning of Roy Cohn for allegedly threatening to "wreck the army" if David Schine were not made a general, a statement Cohn denies. The film follows with a scene in which the Army counsel questions the origin of a photograph of that shows Schine in a meeting with Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens; the photograph is shown to be cropped to suggest a closer relationship between Schine and Stevens, but McCarthy's counsel denies any knowledge of photographic alteration.[1]
A sequence titled "The Accusation" shows McCarthy accusing a member of Welch's law firm of membership in the National Lawyer's Guild, which McCarthy and others accused of serving the interests of the Communist Party USA. The sequence includes a frequently quoted exchange from the hearings: Welch asks McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"[1]
The film ends with a heated exchange between Symington and McCarthy that occurred when the hearings were about to adjourn for the day. Symington sharply questions the handling of McCarthy's secret files by his staff. McCarthy calls this a "smear" against the men on his staff, and as Symington starts to leave, McCarthy accuses him of using "the same tactics that the Communist Party has used for too long." Symington returns to the microphone and says: "Apparently every time anybody says anything against anybody working for Senator McCarthy, he is declaring them and accusing them of being Communists!" Symington leaves and the hearings adjourn. McCarthy continues his passionate but repetitious defense of his staff and his attack on Symington, speaking to an increasingly empty chamber. Although this is the finale of the film, this exchange actually occurred in the middle of the hearings. The actual end to the hearings, in which McCarthy was cleared of any wrongdoing, does not appear in the film.[1]
Production[edit]
Point of Order! was first imagined by Emile de Antonio and Daniel Talbot in 1961. De Antonio and Talbot thought a film about the Army-McCarthy Hearings could be successful at Henry Rosenberg's New Yorker Theater. De Antonio persuaded Richard Ellison at CBS to help him find footage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings; Ellison informed de Antonio that the network held a complete set of kinescopes for the hearings. These kinescopes totaled nearly 188 hours. Talbot initially asked Orson Welles, then Irving Lerner to direct the film, but neither man agreed to do so. Talbot hired Paul Falkenberg to edit the film, and Falkenberg asked Richard Rovere to write narration for the film, to be read by Mike Wallace. However, when Falkenberg screened a rough cut of the film for the producers, they did not approve and decided to start over. De Antonio offered to direct the film for free, which Talbot accepted.[1]
De Antonio hired a young editor named Robert Duncan to help edit the film. Their plan was to remove any narration, music, or added scenes and create a documentary using only the footage from the kinescopes of the hearings. This approach to filmmaking—which de Antonio would use on later films—was similar to the use of assemblage in the works of modern artists like Robert Rauschenberg, who was a friend of de Antonio.[1] De Antonio said that his two main decisions with regard to making the film were "only footage from the actual hearings would be used" and "no preaching."[2]
Exhibition[edit]
The film premiered in New York City on January 14, 1964. It was first distributed by Continental Distributing in 103 theaters nationwide. In 1968 it was recut and shown on television, with an added introduction by Paul Newman, to provide context for audiences unfamiliar with the Army-McCarthy hearings.[1]
Several versions of Point of Order! have appeared on the home video market in the United States. The version with the Newman introduction was released by Zenger Video in 1984, with added instructional materials for classroom use. This version ran 102 minutes.[3] In 1986, MPI Home Video released an abridged 49-minute version (with the Newman Introduction) under the title McCarthy, Death of a Witch Hunter: a Film of the Era of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.[4] Point of Order! was released on DVD by New Yorker Films in 2005, in its original 97-minute cut.[5]
Reception[edit]
De Antonio wrote that Point of Order! "may have been the first political documentary in the U.S. after World War II as well as a documentary which, in opposition to prevailing trends, also changed the form of documentary."[6]
Critical reception to the film was largely positive. Among its proponents were Dwight MacDonald, Susan Sontag, Brendan Gill, and Stanley Kaufman. Even Roy Cohn wrote about the film's historical significance, despite disagreement over the film's portrayals of him and Senator McCarthy.[1] Some film critics felt that what de Antonio made was different from what most understood as a documentary. Judith Crist wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that "the producers have excerpted a superdocumentary instead of creating one of their own."[7]
Book tie-in[edit]
In 1964, W.W. Norton & Company published the book Point of Order! A Documentary of the Army-McCarthy Hearings, in book form. The 108-page book featured still photos captured from the kinescopes of CBS. David T. Bazelon wrote the introduction and epilogue.[8]
Honors[edit]
In 1993, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[9]
See also[edit]
Joseph McCarthy
Roy Cohn
Army-McCarthy hearings
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Lewis, Randolph (2000). Emile de Antonio: Radical Filmmaker in Cold War America. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 29–41. ISBN 0-299-16910-3.
2.Jump up ^ de Antonio, Emile (2000), "The Point of View in Point of Order", in Kellner, Douglas; Streible, Dan, Emile de Antonio: A Reader, Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, pp. 149–151
3.Jump up ^ "Point of order (VHS tape, 1984)". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
4.Jump up ^ "McCarthy, death of a witch hunter : a film of the era of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (VHS tape, 1986)". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
5.Jump up ^ "Point of order (DVD video, 2005)". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
6.Jump up ^ de Antonio, Emile (2000), "Letter to Hubert Bals and Wendy Lidell", in Kellner, Douglas; Streible, Dan, Emile de Antonio: A Reader, Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, p. 156
7.Jump up ^ Crist, Judith (2000), "Re-creating the Incredible McCarthy Days", in Kellner, Douglas; Streible, Dan, Emile de Antonio: A Reader, Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, pp. 152–153
8.Jump up ^ De Antonio, Emile (1964). Point of order!: a documentary of the Army-McCarthy hearings. New York: Norton.
9.Jump up ^ "National Film Registry (National Film Preservation Board, Library of Congress)". National Film Registry. Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
External links[edit]
Allmovie review of Point of Order! (via the New York Times)
Point of Order! at the Internet Movie Database
 


Categories: English-language films
1964 films
American films
American documentary films
United States National Film Registry films
Films directed by Emile de Antonio
Works about McCarthyism
Documentary films about American politics
1960s documentary films





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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_Order_(film)









Point of Order (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2013)

Point of Order!

Directed by
Emile de Antonio
Produced by
Emile de Antonio and Daniel Talbot
Edited by
Robert Duncan
Production
 company
Point Films

Distributed by
Continental Distributing
Release dates
January 14, 1964
Running time
97 minutes
Country
USA
Language
English
Point of Order! is a 1964 documentary film by Emile de Antonio, about the Senate Army-McCarthy Hearings of 1954.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Synopsis
3 Production
4 Exhibition
5 Reception
6 Book tie-in
7 Honors
8 See also
9 Notes
10 External links

Background[edit]
The Army-McCarthy Hearings came about when the Army accused Senator Joseph McCarthy of improperly pressuring the Army for special privileges for Private G. David Schine, formerly of McCarthy's investigative staff. McCarthy counter-charged that the Army was holding Schine hostage to keep him from searching for Communists in the Army. The hearings were broadcast live on television in their entirety and also recorded via kinescope. This film was created from those kinescope recordings.
Synopsis[edit]
The film uses selections from the hearings to show the overall development of the trial, beginning with introductions from several main participants, such as Joseph N. Welch and Joseph McCarthy. Each participant is shown in a still image with a brief audio recording, except for McCarthy, who is introduced with longer footage of a speech he made during the hearings.[1]
In a sequence titled "Charge and Countercharge," Senator Stuart Symington summarizes the principle charge and counter-charge of the case. This sequence includes questioning of Roy Cohn for allegedly threatening to "wreck the army" if David Schine were not made a general, a statement Cohn denies. The film follows with a scene in which the Army counsel questions the origin of a photograph of that shows Schine in a meeting with Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens; the photograph is shown to be cropped to suggest a closer relationship between Schine and Stevens, but McCarthy's counsel denies any knowledge of photographic alteration.[1]
A sequence titled "The Accusation" shows McCarthy accusing a member of Welch's law firm of membership in the National Lawyer's Guild, which McCarthy and others accused of serving the interests of the Communist Party USA. The sequence includes a frequently quoted exchange from the hearings: Welch asks McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"[1]
The film ends with a heated exchange between Symington and McCarthy that occurred when the hearings were about to adjourn for the day. Symington sharply questions the handling of McCarthy's secret files by his staff. McCarthy calls this a "smear" against the men on his staff, and as Symington starts to leave, McCarthy accuses him of using "the same tactics that the Communist Party has used for too long." Symington returns to the microphone and says: "Apparently every time anybody says anything against anybody working for Senator McCarthy, he is declaring them and accusing them of being Communists!" Symington leaves and the hearings adjourn. McCarthy continues his passionate but repetitious defense of his staff and his attack on Symington, speaking to an increasingly empty chamber. Although this is the finale of the film, this exchange actually occurred in the middle of the hearings. The actual end to the hearings, in which McCarthy was cleared of any wrongdoing, does not appear in the film.[1]
Production[edit]
Point of Order! was first imagined by Emile de Antonio and Daniel Talbot in 1961. De Antonio and Talbot thought a film about the Army-McCarthy Hearings could be successful at Henry Rosenberg's New Yorker Theater. De Antonio persuaded Richard Ellison at CBS to help him find footage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings; Ellison informed de Antonio that the network held a complete set of kinescopes for the hearings. These kinescopes totaled nearly 188 hours. Talbot initially asked Orson Welles, then Irving Lerner to direct the film, but neither man agreed to do so. Talbot hired Paul Falkenberg to edit the film, and Falkenberg asked Richard Rovere to write narration for the film, to be read by Mike Wallace. However, when Falkenberg screened a rough cut of the film for the producers, they did not approve and decided to start over. De Antonio offered to direct the film for free, which Talbot accepted.[1]
De Antonio hired a young editor named Robert Duncan to help edit the film. Their plan was to remove any narration, music, or added scenes and create a documentary using only the footage from the kinescopes of the hearings. This approach to filmmaking—which de Antonio would use on later films—was similar to the use of assemblage in the works of modern artists like Robert Rauschenberg, who was a friend of de Antonio.[1] De Antonio said that his two main decisions with regard to making the film were "only footage from the actual hearings would be used" and "no preaching."[2]
Exhibition[edit]
The film premiered in New York City on January 14, 1964. It was first distributed by Continental Distributing in 103 theaters nationwide. In 1968 it was recut and shown on television, with an added introduction by Paul Newman, to provide context for audiences unfamiliar with the Army-McCarthy hearings.[1]
Several versions of Point of Order! have appeared on the home video market in the United States. The version with the Newman introduction was released by Zenger Video in 1984, with added instructional materials for classroom use. This version ran 102 minutes.[3] In 1986, MPI Home Video released an abridged 49-minute version (with the Newman Introduction) under the title McCarthy, Death of a Witch Hunter: a Film of the Era of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.[4] Point of Order! was released on DVD by New Yorker Films in 2005, in its original 97-minute cut.[5]
Reception[edit]
De Antonio wrote that Point of Order! "may have been the first political documentary in the U.S. after World War II as well as a documentary which, in opposition to prevailing trends, also changed the form of documentary."[6]
Critical reception to the film was largely positive. Among its proponents were Dwight MacDonald, Susan Sontag, Brendan Gill, and Stanley Kaufman. Even Roy Cohn wrote about the film's historical significance, despite disagreement over the film's portrayals of him and Senator McCarthy.[1] Some film critics felt that what de Antonio made was different from what most understood as a documentary. Judith Crist wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that "the producers have excerpted a superdocumentary instead of creating one of their own."[7]
Book tie-in[edit]
In 1964, W.W. Norton & Company published the book Point of Order! A Documentary of the Army-McCarthy Hearings, in book form. The 108-page book featured still photos captured from the kinescopes of CBS. David T. Bazelon wrote the introduction and epilogue.[8]
Honors[edit]
In 1993, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[9]
See also[edit]
Joseph McCarthy
Roy Cohn
Army-McCarthy hearings
Notes[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Lewis, Randolph (2000). Emile de Antonio: Radical Filmmaker in Cold War America. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 29–41. ISBN 0-299-16910-3.
2.Jump up ^ de Antonio, Emile (2000), "The Point of View in Point of Order", in Kellner, Douglas; Streible, Dan, Emile de Antonio: A Reader, Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, pp. 149–151
3.Jump up ^ "Point of order (VHS tape, 1984)". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
4.Jump up ^ "McCarthy, death of a witch hunter : a film of the era of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (VHS tape, 1986)". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
5.Jump up ^ "Point of order (DVD video, 2005)". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
6.Jump up ^ de Antonio, Emile (2000), "Letter to Hubert Bals and Wendy Lidell", in Kellner, Douglas; Streible, Dan, Emile de Antonio: A Reader, Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, p. 156
7.Jump up ^ Crist, Judith (2000), "Re-creating the Incredible McCarthy Days", in Kellner, Douglas; Streible, Dan, Emile de Antonio: A Reader, Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, pp. 152–153
8.Jump up ^ De Antonio, Emile (1964). Point of order!: a documentary of the Army-McCarthy hearings. New York: Norton.
9.Jump up ^ "National Film Registry (National Film Preservation Board, Library of Congress)". National Film Registry. Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
External links[edit]
Allmovie review of Point of Order! (via the New York Times)
Point of Order! at the Internet Movie Database
 


Categories: English-language films
1964 films
American films
American documentary films
United States National Film Registry films
Films directed by Emile de Antonio
Works about McCarthyism
Documentary films about American politics
1960s documentary films





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Symphony Six
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The Symphony Six were a group of Canadian musicians under contract to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra who were denied entry to the United States for a concert tour in November 1951. The six musicians – Ruth Budd, Dirk Keetbaas, William Kuinka, Abe Mannheim, John Moskalyk, and Steven Staryk – were denied visas on the suspicion of being involved in leftist activities. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra sent other musicians in their place and completed its tour. The six musicians resumed playing with the orchestra upon its return to Canada.
At the end of the 1951-1952 season, the orchestra refused to renew the contracts of these musicians, stating that they had not fulfilled their contractual agreements. The six musicians appealed this decision to its union, the Toronto Musicians' Association; the Mayor of Toronto; the Canadian Civil Liberties Association; and many other bodies, without success. They received support from the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Canada Council for the Arts, but not from the Canadian Congress of Labour. The incident garnered extensive media coverage in both Canada and the United States, and sparked a protest against the orchestra's decision. The orchestra's director, Ernest MacMillan, did not speak about the matter in public, which also prompted criticism. The six musicians were viewed with suspicion by their colleagues and people avoided them to protect themselves from guilt by association. Budd and Staryk later returned to the orchestra, while the four other musicians continued their careers elsewhere.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Event
3 Refusal to renew contracts
4 Aftermath
5 See also
6 References
7 Bibliography

Background[edit]
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was founded by Luigi von Kunits in 1922.[1] From 1931 to 1966 it was conducted by Sir Ernest MacMillan, who achieved renown as "the leading figure in Canadian music".[1] By the 1940s the orchestra's popularity had increased, but its financial condition didn't allow it to tour or invite many guest conductors and soloists.[2] In 1951-52 it received only CA$56,000 in donations and grants.[2] Some of the orchestra's musicians freelanced for the CBC Symphony Orchestra and a few of them even left the orchestra to work for the CBC.[2] MacMillan hoped that the orchestra could boost its reputation through international engagements.[2][3]
Event[edit]
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform at the Detroit Masonic Temple auditorium on November 27, 1951 as part of the Major Symphony Series, which also featured the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Orchestra director MacMillan viewed this first-ever US invitation as a golden opportunity to garner more international invitations for the orchestra.[1] He added vocal soloist Lois Marshall to the orchestra, as well as a piece by an American composer, Herbert Elwell's work Pastorale, and Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, to the repertoire.[1][4]
At this time in the United States, McCarthyism had generated suspicion of people with real or suggested links to left-wing politics.[5] The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was required to submit to United States immigration authorities all the names of its musicians and other staff who would be accompanying the tour.[6] The immigration department approved visas for all but seven musicians, suspecting them of leftist activities.[7] One of the musicians was later cleared, leaving six musicians who were denied entry.[1][6]
These six musicians, who became known as the Symphony Six,[8] were:
Ruth Budd, double bassist. Born in Winnipeg, she joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1947, becoming Canada's first professional female bassist.[7][9]
Dirk Keetbaas, Jr., principal flautist.[10][11] Born in the Netherlands, Keetbaas was a naturalized Canadian citizen. He also performed in the CBC Symphony Orchestra and in chamber music groups.[12] He joined the orchestra in 1949.[11]
William Kuinka, double bassist.[13] Born in British Columbia, he had served in the Second World War. He was self-taught in mandolin and guitar as well.[14] The 1951-1952 season was his first and last year in the orchestra.[15]
Abe Mannheim, bassist.[13]
John Moskalyk, violinist.[13] He joined the orchestra in 1945.[15]
Steven Staryk, violinist. Born in Toronto, he studied violin as a child with, among others, John Mosklyk,[16] and performed in his first recital on CBC Radio at the age of 14. He joined the orchestra in 1950 when he was still in his teens.[17][16]
The six musicians had ostensibly associated with communist or communist front organizations for the purposes of artistic collaboration, but denied the charges of political involvement.[5] Staryk related that he had played at Ukrainian and other ethnic events, and Budd admitted to being a member of a left-wing youth group. John Moskalyk's surname was listed in the orchestra's programs as "Moscow";[15] he had conducted the Budapest orchestra for two concert performances in August 1949.[18] Keetbaas could not recall any association with left-wing groups.[1] Harry Freedman, who was on the board of the Toronto Musicians' Association at the time and whose vote thwarted unanimous decisions against the Symphony Six, stated that he was not aware of any of the six musicians promoting communism. Later, he felt that he should have taken "more direct action".[10]
MacMillan himself had been involved in the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship in the 1940s, though he had quit that organization. In 1950, with an eye to taking the orchestra on international tours, he had written a letter to the American consul in Toronto admitting his former affiliation. He received his visa in November 1951 without any difficulties.[1][19] After the six musicians were denied entry and before the orchestra had left for the United States, MacMillan solicited help for them from the Canadian ambassador in Washington, but his plea was unsuccessful.[19] In January 1952 he wrote to US immigration officials trying to clear Staryk's name, lauding him as "an exceptionally talented violinist and valuable member of the orchestra. I have no reason to doubt that he has no Communist affiliations other than that he played from ages twelve to fourteen with a Ukrainian orchestra that is under some suspicion". [19] His entreaties on behalf of Staryk did not help to exonerate the musician.[19]
The board of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra sent other musicians in place of the six who had been denied visas, and the concert went on as planned.[1] The orchestra's performance was a success and received positive reviews from both the American and Canadian press.[6] After the orchestra returned to Canada, the six musicians resumed their positions with it.[1]
Refusal to renew contracts[edit]
At the end of the 1951-1952 season, with more American concerts planned for the orchestra in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia in the coming season,[20] the Toronto Symphony Orchestra did not renew its contracts with all six musicians.[21][22] Jack Elton, the orchestra's manager, discussed the problem of these six players with the orchestra's board in a meeting held on April 21, 1952. At the meeting, Elton said that "for artistic reasons there could be no substitutes for such an important concert". The board agreed with Elton's arguments and contended that the six musicians had not fulfilled their contractual agreement to join the orchestra on international tours, and that being barred from entering the United States would prevent them from joining the orchestra in future US appearances.[21] Ernest MacMillan was not present at the meeting.[23]
The incident and the board's decision not to renew the musicians' contracts created controversy when it became public, garnering media attention both nationally and internationally.[5][21] Many people wrote letters to the orchestra and some subscribers even cancelled their subscriptions.[1] The orchestra's board blamed the newly established Canadian television for the unprecedented decline in its subscriptions.[24]
The board gave orchestra manager Jack Elton the authority to decide what steps should be taken. Elton asked the Toronto Musicians' Association to intervene. The union upheld the board's decision. The six musicians appealed but the union turned them down, stating that they had not fulfilled their contractual agreements and so the orchestra had the right not to renew their contracts.[21] Walter Murdoch, president of the Toronto Musicians' Association, said that it was "a straight contractual matter" and "there is nothing wrong in the orchestra's not rehiring musicians".[1]
On May 26, 1952 twelve members of the orchestra's board met to review their decision to not renew the contracts. Nine of the members voted in favor of the decision while three voted against it. It was decided that the contracts would not be renewed, but if the United States immigration officials would issue entry permits to the six musicians by September 1, the orchestra would renew the contracts.[8] This decision created a controversy and a split within the orchestra's board, which eventually led to the resignation of two members, Mrs. Edmund Boyd and Mrs. R. B. Whitehead, although these two remained members of the orchestra's women's committee.[25]
The Assembly for the Canadian Arts called a rally in support of the Symphony Six on May 29. The Toronto Musicians' Association instructed its members not to attend and sent members to stand outside the entrance "to intimidate members from entering".[1] Aspersions were cast on the Assembly for the Canadian Arts as being a communist front organization, and the Toronto Evening Telegram called the gathering "a communist meeting".[26] Several members of the Assembly left the group in fear "of being labelled communists".[26]
On June 4 the United Church of Canada called on the orchestra's board to reconsider its decision.[26]
The controversy continued into the orchestra's 1952-1953 season. The six musicians appealed again to the orchestra board and the Toronto Musicians' Association, but made no headway. The musicians also held meetings with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Toronto Board of Control,[27] and pleaded their case to the Mayor of Toronto, Allan A. Lamport, and the American Federation of Musicians, without success.[28] While the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Canada Council for the Arts supported the six musicians, the Canadian Congress of Labour rejected a proposal to back them.[28] In 1952 then-Canadian foreign minister Lester Pearson was quoted as saying that it would not "serve any useful purpose to take the matter up again".[28] Pearson blamed the Cold War for such incidents, and added that the Canadian government was also denying entries to people wishing to attend communist meetings and was providing US officials with "security information".[28]
MacMillan stayed out of the matter; he did not attend meetings of the orchestra board and maintained a public silence through the spring and summer of 1952.[19] His correspondence, however, indicates that he supported the board's decision not to rehire the six musicians.[21]
While the Symphony Six garnered support from many corners, they did not receive support from their peers. Orchestra members publicly shunned them for fear of being perceived as communist sympathizers and losing their own jobs.[1][26]
Aftermath[edit]
Only two of the Symphony Six eventually returned to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Ruth Budd and Stephen Staryk. After her contract was not renewed, Budd played with orchestras in Halifax and other Canadian cities.[7] She was rehired by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1964 and continued as a double bassist until 1989,[29] becoming "one of the most beloved members of the orchestra".[10] Staryk played in the CBC Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1956[16] and then traveled to London, where he was appointed concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.[30] In 1960 he became concertmaster of Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra[30] and toured the US with them, although he had not been officially cleared by the US immigration department.[31] Staryk was the first Canadian concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1967.[16] He returned to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1982, serving as concertmaster until 1986.[1]
Keetbaas became the principal flautist for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra from 1953 to 1968. From 1956 to 1966 he directed and performed with the Dirk Keetbaas Players, a wind quintet featuring flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn.[32]
Kuinka performed with the Toronto Renaissance Quintet from 1963 to 1965. In 1964 he formed the Toronto Mandolin Chamber Ensemble, which existed until 1969.[14] He also performed with the orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada.[33] He received a research grant from the Canada Council to study European teaching methods and repertoire in 1966.[14]
Mannheim later performed in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.[1]
Moskalyk joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto and also became a faculty member of The Royal Conservatory of Music.[34]
The orchestra board had not renewed the musicians' contracts hoping that it would receive more concert invitations from the United States. However, it received only eight invitations in the following four years, all from the state of Michigan.[35] The eighth tour had to be cancelled because of a snowstorm.[28]
In a letter written to Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' President Dan Cameron in November 1952, MacMillan reflected that "the orchestra, far from suffering musically, has in some respects improved."[36]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Canada portal
Portal icon 1950s portal
Human rights in Canada
MacCarthyism
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Plummer, Kevin (24 March 2012). "Historicist: The Symphony Six". The Torontoist. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d Schabas 1994, p. 225.
3.Jump up ^ Pitman 2006, p. 84.
4.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 226.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Pitman 2006, p. 85.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Warren 2002, p. 51.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Heller, Matt (2014). "The Orchestra Mender: OCSM founder Ruth Budd". Organization of Canadian Symphonies Musicians'. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Schabas 1994, p. 228.
9.Jump up ^ Sleeman 2001, pp. 80-81.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Pitman 2006, p. 86.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Warren 2002, p. 237.
12.Jump up ^ "Dirk Jr Keetbaas". The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c Scher 1992, p. 29.
14.^ Jump up to: a b c Hale, Marjorie. "Kuinka, William". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c Warren 2002, p. 240.
16.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Steven Staryk". The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
17.Jump up ^ Warren 2002, p. 245.
18.Jump up ^ "Studies in Music from the University of Western Ontario". Studies in Music from the University of Western Ontario (Department of Music History, University of Western Ontario) 9: 12. 1985.
19.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Schabas 1994, p. 231.
20.Jump up ^ "Toronto Symphony Orchestra". The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
21.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Warren 2002, p. 52.
22.Jump up ^ Ford, Clifford; King, Betty Nygaard. "Toronto Symphony Orchestra". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
23.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 227.
24.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 236.
25.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 233.
26.^ Jump up to: a b c d Schabas 1994, p. 229.
27.Jump up ^ Warren 2002, pp. 53-54.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Schabas 1994, p. 234.
29.Jump up ^ Sleeman 2001, p. 80.
30.^ Jump up to: a b Warren & 2002 147.
31.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 238.
32.Jump up ^ King, Betty Nygaard; Ford, Clifford. "Keetbaas, Dirk Jr". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
33.Jump up ^ "William Kuinka". Toronto Star. April 12, 2008.
34.Jump up ^ Klymasz, Robert (2010). "Ukraine". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
35.Jump up ^ Pitman 2006, p. 87.
36.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 231-232.
Bibliography[edit]
Warren, Richard S. (2002). Begins with the Oboe: A History of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802035884.
Pitman, Walter (2006). Music Makers: The Lives of Harry Freedman & Mary Morrison. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-55002-589-7.
Schabas, Ezra (1994). Sir Ernest MacMillan: The Importance of Being Canadian. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-2849-5.
Scher, Len (1992). The Un-Canadians: true stories of the Blacklist Era. Lester Pub.
Sleeman, Elizabeth (2001). The International Who's Who of Women 2002. Psychology Press. ISBN 1857431227.
 


Categories: Classical music in Canada
History of human rights in Canada
Canada–United States relations
Works about McCarthyism


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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_Six












 



 
   
   




        
Symphony Six
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The Symphony Six were a group of Canadian musicians under contract to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra who were denied entry to the United States for a concert tour in November 1951. The six musicians – Ruth Budd, Dirk Keetbaas, William Kuinka, Abe Mannheim, John Moskalyk, and Steven Staryk – were denied visas on the suspicion of being involved in leftist activities. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra sent other musicians in their place and completed its tour. The six musicians resumed playing with the orchestra upon its return to Canada.
At the end of the 1951-1952 season, the orchestra refused to renew the contracts of these musicians, stating that they had not fulfilled their contractual agreements. The six musicians appealed this decision to its union, the Toronto Musicians' Association; the Mayor of Toronto; the Canadian Civil Liberties Association; and many other bodies, without success. They received support from the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Canada Council for the Arts, but not from the Canadian Congress of Labour. The incident garnered extensive media coverage in both Canada and the United States, and sparked a protest against the orchestra's decision. The orchestra's director, Ernest MacMillan, did not speak about the matter in public, which also prompted criticism. The six musicians were viewed with suspicion by their colleagues and people avoided them to protect themselves from guilt by association. Budd and Staryk later returned to the orchestra, while the four other musicians continued their careers elsewhere.


Contents  [hide]
1 Background
2 Event
3 Refusal to renew contracts
4 Aftermath
5 See also
6 References
7 Bibliography

Background[edit]
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was founded by Luigi von Kunits in 1922.[1] From 1931 to 1966 it was conducted by Sir Ernest MacMillan, who achieved renown as "the leading figure in Canadian music".[1] By the 1940s the orchestra's popularity had increased, but its financial condition didn't allow it to tour or invite many guest conductors and soloists.[2] In 1951-52 it received only CA$56,000 in donations and grants.[2] Some of the orchestra's musicians freelanced for the CBC Symphony Orchestra and a few of them even left the orchestra to work for the CBC.[2] MacMillan hoped that the orchestra could boost its reputation through international engagements.[2][3]
Event[edit]
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform at the Detroit Masonic Temple auditorium on November 27, 1951 as part of the Major Symphony Series, which also featured the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Orchestra director MacMillan viewed this first-ever US invitation as a golden opportunity to garner more international invitations for the orchestra.[1] He added vocal soloist Lois Marshall to the orchestra, as well as a piece by an American composer, Herbert Elwell's work Pastorale, and Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, to the repertoire.[1][4]
At this time in the United States, McCarthyism had generated suspicion of people with real or suggested links to left-wing politics.[5] The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was required to submit to United States immigration authorities all the names of its musicians and other staff who would be accompanying the tour.[6] The immigration department approved visas for all but seven musicians, suspecting them of leftist activities.[7] One of the musicians was later cleared, leaving six musicians who were denied entry.[1][6]
These six musicians, who became known as the Symphony Six,[8] were:
Ruth Budd, double bassist. Born in Winnipeg, she joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1947, becoming Canada's first professional female bassist.[7][9]
Dirk Keetbaas, Jr., principal flautist.[10][11] Born in the Netherlands, Keetbaas was a naturalized Canadian citizen. He also performed in the CBC Symphony Orchestra and in chamber music groups.[12] He joined the orchestra in 1949.[11]
William Kuinka, double bassist.[13] Born in British Columbia, he had served in the Second World War. He was self-taught in mandolin and guitar as well.[14] The 1951-1952 season was his first and last year in the orchestra.[15]
Abe Mannheim, bassist.[13]
John Moskalyk, violinist.[13] He joined the orchestra in 1945.[15]
Steven Staryk, violinist. Born in Toronto, he studied violin as a child with, among others, John Mosklyk,[16] and performed in his first recital on CBC Radio at the age of 14. He joined the orchestra in 1950 when he was still in his teens.[17][16]
The six musicians had ostensibly associated with communist or communist front organizations for the purposes of artistic collaboration, but denied the charges of political involvement.[5] Staryk related that he had played at Ukrainian and other ethnic events, and Budd admitted to being a member of a left-wing youth group. John Moskalyk's surname was listed in the orchestra's programs as "Moscow";[15] he had conducted the Budapest orchestra for two concert performances in August 1949.[18] Keetbaas could not recall any association with left-wing groups.[1] Harry Freedman, who was on the board of the Toronto Musicians' Association at the time and whose vote thwarted unanimous decisions against the Symphony Six, stated that he was not aware of any of the six musicians promoting communism. Later, he felt that he should have taken "more direct action".[10]
MacMillan himself had been involved in the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship in the 1940s, though he had quit that organization. In 1950, with an eye to taking the orchestra on international tours, he had written a letter to the American consul in Toronto admitting his former affiliation. He received his visa in November 1951 without any difficulties.[1][19] After the six musicians were denied entry and before the orchestra had left for the United States, MacMillan solicited help for them from the Canadian ambassador in Washington, but his plea was unsuccessful.[19] In January 1952 he wrote to US immigration officials trying to clear Staryk's name, lauding him as "an exceptionally talented violinist and valuable member of the orchestra. I have no reason to doubt that he has no Communist affiliations other than that he played from ages twelve to fourteen with a Ukrainian orchestra that is under some suspicion". [19] His entreaties on behalf of Staryk did not help to exonerate the musician.[19]
The board of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra sent other musicians in place of the six who had been denied visas, and the concert went on as planned.[1] The orchestra's performance was a success and received positive reviews from both the American and Canadian press.[6] After the orchestra returned to Canada, the six musicians resumed their positions with it.[1]
Refusal to renew contracts[edit]
At the end of the 1951-1952 season, with more American concerts planned for the orchestra in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia in the coming season,[20] the Toronto Symphony Orchestra did not renew its contracts with all six musicians.[21][22] Jack Elton, the orchestra's manager, discussed the problem of these six players with the orchestra's board in a meeting held on April 21, 1952. At the meeting, Elton said that "for artistic reasons there could be no substitutes for such an important concert". The board agreed with Elton's arguments and contended that the six musicians had not fulfilled their contractual agreement to join the orchestra on international tours, and that being barred from entering the United States would prevent them from joining the orchestra in future US appearances.[21] Ernest MacMillan was not present at the meeting.[23]
The incident and the board's decision not to renew the musicians' contracts created controversy when it became public, garnering media attention both nationally and internationally.[5][21] Many people wrote letters to the orchestra and some subscribers even cancelled their subscriptions.[1] The orchestra's board blamed the newly established Canadian television for the unprecedented decline in its subscriptions.[24]
The board gave orchestra manager Jack Elton the authority to decide what steps should be taken. Elton asked the Toronto Musicians' Association to intervene. The union upheld the board's decision. The six musicians appealed but the union turned them down, stating that they had not fulfilled their contractual agreements and so the orchestra had the right not to renew their contracts.[21] Walter Murdoch, president of the Toronto Musicians' Association, said that it was "a straight contractual matter" and "there is nothing wrong in the orchestra's not rehiring musicians".[1]
On May 26, 1952 twelve members of the orchestra's board met to review their decision to not renew the contracts. Nine of the members voted in favor of the decision while three voted against it. It was decided that the contracts would not be renewed, but if the United States immigration officials would issue entry permits to the six musicians by September 1, the orchestra would renew the contracts.[8] This decision created a controversy and a split within the orchestra's board, which eventually led to the resignation of two members, Mrs. Edmund Boyd and Mrs. R. B. Whitehead, although these two remained members of the orchestra's women's committee.[25]
The Assembly for the Canadian Arts called a rally in support of the Symphony Six on May 29. The Toronto Musicians' Association instructed its members not to attend and sent members to stand outside the entrance "to intimidate members from entering".[1] Aspersions were cast on the Assembly for the Canadian Arts as being a communist front organization, and the Toronto Evening Telegram called the gathering "a communist meeting".[26] Several members of the Assembly left the group in fear "of being labelled communists".[26]
On June 4 the United Church of Canada called on the orchestra's board to reconsider its decision.[26]
The controversy continued into the orchestra's 1952-1953 season. The six musicians appealed again to the orchestra board and the Toronto Musicians' Association, but made no headway. The musicians also held meetings with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Toronto Board of Control,[27] and pleaded their case to the Mayor of Toronto, Allan A. Lamport, and the American Federation of Musicians, without success.[28] While the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Canada Council for the Arts supported the six musicians, the Canadian Congress of Labour rejected a proposal to back them.[28] In 1952 then-Canadian foreign minister Lester Pearson was quoted as saying that it would not "serve any useful purpose to take the matter up again".[28] Pearson blamed the Cold War for such incidents, and added that the Canadian government was also denying entries to people wishing to attend communist meetings and was providing US officials with "security information".[28]
MacMillan stayed out of the matter; he did not attend meetings of the orchestra board and maintained a public silence through the spring and summer of 1952.[19] His correspondence, however, indicates that he supported the board's decision not to rehire the six musicians.[21]
While the Symphony Six garnered support from many corners, they did not receive support from their peers. Orchestra members publicly shunned them for fear of being perceived as communist sympathizers and losing their own jobs.[1][26]
Aftermath[edit]
Only two of the Symphony Six eventually returned to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Ruth Budd and Stephen Staryk. After her contract was not renewed, Budd played with orchestras in Halifax and other Canadian cities.[7] She was rehired by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1964 and continued as a double bassist until 1989,[29] becoming "one of the most beloved members of the orchestra".[10] Staryk played in the CBC Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1956[16] and then traveled to London, where he was appointed concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.[30] In 1960 he became concertmaster of Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra[30] and toured the US with them, although he had not been officially cleared by the US immigration department.[31] Staryk was the first Canadian concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1967.[16] He returned to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1982, serving as concertmaster until 1986.[1]
Keetbaas became the principal flautist for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra from 1953 to 1968. From 1956 to 1966 he directed and performed with the Dirk Keetbaas Players, a wind quintet featuring flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn.[32]
Kuinka performed with the Toronto Renaissance Quintet from 1963 to 1965. In 1964 he formed the Toronto Mandolin Chamber Ensemble, which existed until 1969.[14] He also performed with the orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada.[33] He received a research grant from the Canada Council to study European teaching methods and repertoire in 1966.[14]
Mannheim later performed in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.[1]
Moskalyk joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto and also became a faculty member of The Royal Conservatory of Music.[34]
The orchestra board had not renewed the musicians' contracts hoping that it would receive more concert invitations from the United States. However, it received only eight invitations in the following four years, all from the state of Michigan.[35] The eighth tour had to be cancelled because of a snowstorm.[28]
In a letter written to Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' President Dan Cameron in November 1952, MacMillan reflected that "the orchestra, far from suffering musically, has in some respects improved."[36]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Canada portal
Portal icon 1950s portal
Human rights in Canada
MacCarthyism
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Plummer, Kevin (24 March 2012). "Historicist: The Symphony Six". The Torontoist. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d Schabas 1994, p. 225.
3.Jump up ^ Pitman 2006, p. 84.
4.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 226.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Pitman 2006, p. 85.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c Warren 2002, p. 51.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Heller, Matt (2014). "The Orchestra Mender: OCSM founder Ruth Budd". Organization of Canadian Symphonies Musicians'. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Schabas 1994, p. 228.
9.Jump up ^ Sleeman 2001, pp. 80-81.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Pitman 2006, p. 86.
11.^ Jump up to: a b Warren 2002, p. 237.
12.Jump up ^ "Dirk Jr Keetbaas". The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c Scher 1992, p. 29.
14.^ Jump up to: a b c Hale, Marjorie. "Kuinka, William". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014.
15.^ Jump up to: a b c Warren 2002, p. 240.
16.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Steven Staryk". The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
17.Jump up ^ Warren 2002, p. 245.
18.Jump up ^ "Studies in Music from the University of Western Ontario". Studies in Music from the University of Western Ontario (Department of Music History, University of Western Ontario) 9: 12. 1985.
19.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Schabas 1994, p. 231.
20.Jump up ^ "Toronto Symphony Orchestra". The Canadian Encyclopaedia. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
21.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Warren 2002, p. 52.
22.Jump up ^ Ford, Clifford; King, Betty Nygaard. "Toronto Symphony Orchestra". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
23.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 227.
24.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 236.
25.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 233.
26.^ Jump up to: a b c d Schabas 1994, p. 229.
27.Jump up ^ Warren 2002, pp. 53-54.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Schabas 1994, p. 234.
29.Jump up ^ Sleeman 2001, p. 80.
30.^ Jump up to: a b Warren & 2002 147.
31.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 238.
32.Jump up ^ King, Betty Nygaard; Ford, Clifford. "Keetbaas, Dirk Jr". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
33.Jump up ^ "William Kuinka". Toronto Star. April 12, 2008.
34.Jump up ^ Klymasz, Robert (2010). "Ukraine". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
35.Jump up ^ Pitman 2006, p. 87.
36.Jump up ^ Schabas 1994, p. 231-232.
Bibliography[edit]
Warren, Richard S. (2002). Begins with the Oboe: A History of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802035884.
Pitman, Walter (2006). Music Makers: The Lives of Harry Freedman & Mary Morrison. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-55002-589-7.
Schabas, Ezra (1994). Sir Ernest MacMillan: The Importance of Being Canadian. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-2849-5.
Scher, Len (1992). The Un-Canadians: true stories of the Blacklist Era. Lester Pub.
Sleeman, Elizabeth (2001). The International Who's Who of Women 2002. Psychology Press. ISBN 1857431227.
 


Categories: Classical music in Canada
History of human rights in Canada
Canada–United States relations
Works about McCarthyism


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Witness 11
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for films. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "Witness 11" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images (January 2014)

Witness 11

Directed by
Sean Mitchell
Produced by
Helen Jang Mitchell and Sean Mitchell
Written by
Sean Mitchell
Starring
Oleg Liptsin
 Paul Guadarrama
Music by
Larry Groupe
Cinematography
Chris Lawing
Production
 company
Metaphora Studios

Release dates
2012
Country
United States
Language
English
Witness 11 is a 2012 short dramatic film based on the testimony of renowned German poet and playwright, Bertolt Brecht, during the height of the 1940s Red Scare. It was directed by Sean Mitchell,[1] and stars Oleg Liptsin, Paul Guadarrama and Matt Shelton.
The film was shot in 2012 at the Berkeley City Club in Berkeley, California.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 References
4 External links

Plot[edit]
Called before the House Un-American Activities Committee.[3] (HUAC) during their notorious Hollywood Ten investigation, famed German playwright Bertolt Brecht must choose between betraying himself and his friends, and imprisonment. In the end, Brecht testified that he had never been a member of the Communist Party.[3]
Cast[edit]
Oleg Liptsin as Bertolt Brecht
Paul Guadarrama as Robert E. Stripling
Matt Shelton as Dalton Trumbo
Tatjana Dzambazova as Helene Brecht
Dean Enciroli as J. Parnell Thomas
Philip Estrin as Green
John Scacco as Rep. Vail
Steven Mann as Herbert Biberman
Fritz Zimmerman as Baumgardt
David Rosenthal as John Howard Lawson
Bret Grantham as Bartley Crum
Juliet Hilton as Barbara Brecht
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Sanchez, Don (20 March 2012). "Berkeley filmmaker raising money for short online". ABC 7 News (KGO-TV). Retrieved 21 January 2014.
2.Jump up ^ Taylor, Tracey (20 March 2012). "Film about Bertolt Brecht being shot at Berkeley City Club". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Brecht_HUAC_hearing
External links[edit]
Witness 11 at the Internet Movie Database



Stub icon This 2010s drama film–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




 


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Witness 11
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for films. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "Witness 11" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR · free images (January 2014)

Witness 11

Directed by
Sean Mitchell
Produced by
Helen Jang Mitchell and Sean Mitchell
Written by
Sean Mitchell
Starring
Oleg Liptsin
 Paul Guadarrama
Music by
Larry Groupe
Cinematography
Chris Lawing
Production
 company
Metaphora Studios

Release dates
2012
Country
United States
Language
English
Witness 11 is a 2012 short dramatic film based on the testimony of renowned German poet and playwright, Bertolt Brecht, during the height of the 1940s Red Scare. It was directed by Sean Mitchell,[1] and stars Oleg Liptsin, Paul Guadarrama and Matt Shelton.
The film was shot in 2012 at the Berkeley City Club in Berkeley, California.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 References
4 External links

Plot[edit]
Called before the House Un-American Activities Committee.[3] (HUAC) during their notorious Hollywood Ten investigation, famed German playwright Bertolt Brecht must choose between betraying himself and his friends, and imprisonment. In the end, Brecht testified that he had never been a member of the Communist Party.[3]
Cast[edit]
Oleg Liptsin as Bertolt Brecht
Paul Guadarrama as Robert E. Stripling
Matt Shelton as Dalton Trumbo
Tatjana Dzambazova as Helene Brecht
Dean Enciroli as J. Parnell Thomas
Philip Estrin as Green
John Scacco as Rep. Vail
Steven Mann as Herbert Biberman
Fritz Zimmerman as Baumgardt
David Rosenthal as John Howard Lawson
Bret Grantham as Bartley Crum
Juliet Hilton as Barbara Brecht
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Sanchez, Don (20 March 2012). "Berkeley filmmaker raising money for short online". ABC 7 News (KGO-TV). Retrieved 21 January 2014.
2.Jump up ^ Taylor, Tracey (20 March 2012). "Film about Bertolt Brecht being shot at Berkeley City Club". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Brecht_HUAC_hearing
External links[edit]
Witness 11 at the Internet Movie Database



Stub icon This 2010s drama film–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




 


Categories: English-language films
Kickstarter projects
2012 films
American short films
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Works about McCarthyism
Films about writers
Films shot in California
Cinema of the San Francisco Bay Area
American historical films
2010s drama films
2010s drama film stubs







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This page was last modified on 6 August 2014 at 11:19.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
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Contact Wikipedia
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Powered by MediaWiki
 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witness_11