Ha empezado una caza de brujas. No se trata de grupos callejeros al acecho con antorchas. Los cazadores son unos políticos ante los flashes de las cámaras en audiciones públicas convocadas por el Comité de Actividades Antiamericanas. Hollywood está siendo juzgado y a David Merrill -Robert De Niro- le piden dar nombres. Merrill es un director que encabeza la lista negra, y que puede salvar su carrera si testifica contra sus amigos sospechosos de ser comunistas.
El guionista Peter Appleton se ve obligado a huir de Hollywood a causa de la caza de brujas emprendida por el senador McCarthy en la década de 1950. Tras sufrir un accidente de coche que le provoca amnesia, es rescatado por los habitantes de un pueblo.
Biopic del famoso guionista Dalton Trumbo. En los años 40, Trumbo, el guionista mejor pagado de Hollywood, disfruta de sus éxitos. Pero entonces comienza la caza de brujas: la Comisión de Actividades Antiamericanas inicia una campaña anticomunista y Trumbo, uno de los llamados 'Diez de Hollywood', entra en la lista negra por sus ideas políticas.
Películas banales de género con cargas de profundidad al sistema capitalista, guionistas de estudio introduciendo entre líneas temas incómodos (racismo, homosexualidad, drogas, represión del sistema o el “sueño americano” como una gran mentira); mensajes subliminales cripto-comunistas, el cine de la Depresión, el de la Guerra Fría, La Caza de Brujas, los 10 protomártires de la Black Listed y los que dieron nombres (“para salvar sus piscinas” como afirmaba Orson Welles). Todo esto es Red Hollywood contado con fragmentos de films de la época, con entrevistas a implicados (Abraham Polonsky, Paul Jarrico, Ring Lardner Jr), caídas de pedestal de ciertos mitos y leyendas y verdades poco románticas.
The story of John Henry Faulk, a radio/TV personality of the 1950s, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Faulk sued the organization that was behind the blacklisting, and the resultant trial, and Faulk's victory, helped to put an end to the blacklisting period.
Biographical movie about the early 20th century broadway stars Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth.
An updated version of John Mulholland’s making-of documentary that explores the remarkable 1952 film starring Gary Cooper, and the gripping story behind its troubled production. Though High Noon was originally seen as an attack on the blacklisting witch hunt gripping Hollywood at the time, it is now recognized as a damning portrait of civic complacency, democracy in peril. High Noon is today considered a classic of American cinema.
In his hilarious, daring new show, Blah Blah Blacklist, Daliso Chaponda looks at disgraced blacklisted celebrities and historical figures we're ashamed we once admired and who now have let us down. There's also the small matter of family member arrests, exploding buildings in his home country, the enterprising Malawian who tried to blackmail Daliso and being accused by some of his own community that he's 'not Black enough'...
An inventive remembrance of the impact of the Hollywood blacklist on two American classics, rendered as a visually mesmerizing dialogue between Carl Foreman and Elia Kazan.
Documentary about the blacklisted folk group The Weavers, and the events leading up to their triumphant return to Carnegie Hall.
Jimmy McNamara is an ex-writer and WWII vet turned accountant who receives a call from Vivian, his ex-fiance and nightclub singer. Vivian got a Hollywood contract and is taking Jimmy with her. All he has to do is retrieve the negatives of compromising pictures that put her bright future in danger. But Jimmy's mission might not be as simple as it seems.
Interviews, archival footage and home movies are used to illustrate a social history of folk artists Pete Seeger.
Paul Robeson was a celebrated African-American Actor, Athlete, Singer, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist. Robeson's many achievements are chronicled in this program, ranging from playing with the NFL to graduating from Columbia Law School, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films to founding the American Crusade against Lynching as well as Council on African Affairs. Robeson was one of the most talented performers of his time and a dedicated humanitarian who ultimately sacrificed fame and fortune for what he believed in. His association with Leftist Politics during the era of the Cold War, and frequent denouncing of American political parties led to his eventual blacklisting with other prominent writers and artists during the McCarthy Era. His talents in all areas are remarkable, and his dedication to attaining a peaceful coexistence between all the people of the world is truly admirable.