High Noon--The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic, written by Glenn Frankel, published by Bloomsbury, 2017.
High Noon is a retrospective review of the legendary 1952 film by the same name which the author, Glenn Frankel, describes as an "allegory" about the "Red Scare" and the "Hollywood Blacklist." Much of the author's argument is based upon his detailed familiarity with Carl Foreman, a one-time admitted member of the Communist Party who wrote the screenplay. As background, before he wrote the screenplay, Foreman had been called upon by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to "name names" of those he knew to be members of the Communist Party. Foreman refused to do so even though it meant his dismissal from his position with the Stanley Kramer Company and subsequent "blacklisting." The author suggests Foreman did not receive an Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1953 because of his prior affiliation with the Communist Party. Gary Cooper received an Oscar as Best Actor for his depiction of "a man too proud to run." Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington won Oscars for their theme song, "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin." And Elmo Williams and Harry Gerstad won Oscars for Best Film Editing. Best Picture Award, however, went to Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth while Best Screenplay was awarded to Charles Schnee for The Bad and the Beautiful." Stanley Kramer, the producer, later said that "politics had defeated High Noon."
Using the movie as backstory, the author proceeds to examine the activities of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the Hollywood Ten hearings, and the "blacklist" imposed by a consensus of forty-seven studio executives of the Motion Picture Association in a meeting at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on November 24, 1947. At that time, the studios pledged not to "knowingly employ a Communist or any member of a group or party that advocated the overthrow of the government." The author's research is impeccable and his opinions are artfully echoed in the words and sentiments of key participants to the topics of discussion. Of interest, Hollywood Party, written by Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley, published by Prima Publishing, 1998, includes a similar narrative description of High Noon by describing it as "a parable of someone who had stood up to the Committee." The distinction between the two books is that High Noon concentrates on the historical impact of the "blacklist" while Hollywood Party focuses on the historical threat posed by the Communist Party.
Share
Save
Follow Me