Noirlisted: Film Noir and The Hollywood Blacklist

above: THE PROWLER, written by Dalton Trumbo and directed by Joesph Losey, both of whom would face the Blacklist

In the late forties and early fifties, film noir was more impacted by the Communist witch hunts in Hollywood than any other genre. I take a look at the reasons why, and take note of some lives affected (and, in some cases, ruined) by the Blacklist.

To check out "Noirlisted" you can head over to Criminal Element. 

Credit Where Credit is Due

above: John Garfield in He Ran All the Way


The blacklist of people suspected of harboring "un-American" attitudes or politics drove a lot of talent--especially writing talent--out of Hollywood in the late forties and early fifties. Still, movies need and writers, and writers have to work, so blacklisted talent like Dalton Trumbo and Carl Foreman either wrote under fake names or paid friends and/or colleagues to serve as 'fronts.'

In recent years, some of these writers have had credit given to them--often posthumously--on projects where they did most (sometimes all) of the writing. Here's a link to a list of corrected credits, many of them notable noirs.

For a case study of the Hollywood blacklist, here's a link to my essay on the making of He Ran All the Way, a noir at the center of the furor.

He Ran All The Way and the Hollywood Blacklist

One of the most sordid episodes of the 1950s was the House Un-American Activities Committee's investigation into "communist subversion" in Hollywood. This was the Red Scare in full swing. The Committee drug private citizens in front of Congress to give testimony about their political beliefs--and the political beliefs of their friends. Failure to testify landed you on a blacklist that prohibited you from working in films at the major studios. Careers went down in flames. Friends sold out friends. Interestingly, the communist witch hunts had a particularly deep impact on the community of writers, directors and stars who worked in film noir. Perhaps no other single film is more emblematic of this ugly bit of history than John Berry's He Ran All The Way, nearly all the major talents on which were affected directly or indirectly by the blacklist. Most notably, the blacklist marked the end of the career, and life, of star John Garfield, one of noir's great icons.

You can check out my essay on the repercussions of the Hollywood blacklist on the cast and crew of He Ran All The Way at the Film Noir Foundation.