One of the Hollywood Ten (2000) User Reviews

interesting story, pedestrian treatment

[cherold · 6/10 · 13 June 2004]

It's interesting reading the comments for this movie here. Some are rather bizarre; an actor with a non-speaking part complains that he wasn't directed well and someone manages to watch this whole movie and still believes fervently in the blacklist. So I'll add my own thoughts to the mix.

The first part of the movie, which deals with the effects of the blacklist on a few people, is a little dull. The subject has been tackled much better often over the years. The performances are good but it's all rather lacklustre. There are also these rather jarring little hops in time that are meant to add punch but just seem slightly off.

The second part, involving the filming of Salt of the Earth, is more interesting, because it's something new and it is pretty shocking what lengths the government went to to stop this little movie. It could have been done better, and still feels a little lacklustre, but it's an interesting side story of the blacklist. The movie would have been better off just rushing through the early part and devoting the movie entirely to Salt of the Earth.

Perhaps the movie can be understood through it's title, "One of the Hollywood Ten." What a lame title. It's like they couldn't bother to come up with a real title and just figured they'd name it something that would let people know the subject matter. Personally, I think I would have been more inclined to call it "8000 Feet of Freedom," (something said in the movie) although there's probably a better title out there.

I would like to see a documentary on the same subject to see what really happened (while I know from googling around that a fair amount of what is in the film happened in real life, I don't know if it happened so melodramatically; perhaps it did).

Salt of the Earth, by the way, is an interesting movie. A little stilted in places, but affecting, with a feminist slant that proves there was more progressive intelligence in the country than you ever could have guessed from Hollywood offerings.

bit off more than it could chew

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 25 December 2005]

"One of the Hollywood Ten" attempts to tell two fascinating stories: one about writer/director Herbert Biberman and the other about the filming of "Salt of the Earth." This film could not have had a very big budget, and the direction is not very good, so how anyone expected to accomplish these massive feats is anyone's guess.

I am at a disadvantage: I can't possibly write anything that can compare to the comments about this film posted on IMDb, and I haven't seen Salt of the Earth. I did, however, grow up amidst the Red Scare. We in Catholic schools were warned by the nuns that the commies were coming. They would hold guns to our heads, ask us our religion, and when we answered "Catholic" (like we were all going to be real anxious to do that), we'd be shot. Communism was going to destroy the world, there were Communists under every bed, and everybody was insane on the subject. I have read and seen a good deal on HUAC, the McCarthy hearings, and Red Channels. Am I an expert? No.

I will reference a couple of the IMDb postings. One states that Gale Sondergaard was NOT a major actress and that Biberman was a minor writer. I'm unsure of the implication the poster was trying to make, but I venture to say that if Biberman and Sondergaard (who were married for 40 years, until Biberman's death in 1971) had been allowed to work for the next 20 years or so, who knows what might have happened to their careers? This insanity ruined lives.

Another poster made a comparison to tactics used by today's government. Well, I'll second that emotion. As he states, freedom of speech is not to be taken lightly. No, it isn't. And if anyone believes there isn't a move afoot to squelch it today, they're wrong.

Others mentioned inaccuracies. I'll bring up one. According to writer Patricia Bosworth, whose father, attorney Bartley Crum, defended the Hollywood Ten, the "Hollywood Ten" were not friends, and in fact, many of them did not know one another. Crum advised them all to tell the truth at the hearings -- that when asked if they were now or had been a member of the Communist party, to disarm the committee by answering truthfully. This was shot down by whomever their adviser was because asking about anyone's political leadings is unconstitutional, and the Ten wanted to fight the hearings on constitutional grounds. In the film, one got the impression they were all friends. Crum, by the way, labeled a subversive, was haunted by the FBI until he finally got rid of them by killing himself in 1959. Also, I know this is off topic a bit, but the FBI's largest file was on Frank Sinatra, who was believed to have been sent by the communists to influence the youth of America. Great group.

As far as this film, the stories were interesting, the direction was detached, and overall, it's not great. Jeff Goldblum is marvelous as Biberman, and there are some other excellent performances as well. I think the most important thing were the points made on the chirons at the end, one of which is that Salt of the Earth is the only film ever to be blacklisted. I am so grateful that it was; otherwise, we would all be communists today. Right.

A tasteful and emotional treatment of a dark time.

[netsmith2001 · 7/10 · 17 May 2004]

I thought this film did a fine job of portraying the ugliness of the US government in the repressive McCarthy era. Goldblum is excellent in his depiction of the courage it took to stand up to this tyranny and I found it very inspirational. In particular his attempt to confront the panel during the hearings in Washington was very well handled and it made me deeply consider how I would hold up in similar circumstances. I also appreciated the tenderness and commitment the he and his wife showed to each other. A mature portrayal. I recommend it. 7 stars out of 10.

a complex history, fatally dumbed down

[paulet · 23 July 2001]

The movie tries to tell two stories, related but distinct: the story of the Hollywood ten and the blacklist, and the story of how Herbert Biberman came to make "Salt of the Earth" after serving his sentence for contempt of Congress. It does a fair job of telling the second story--but only fair; it does a terrible, dumbed-down job at the first. And the same defects mar both of them.

Start with a trivial, nitpicky error: the name of the striking union in "Salt." It was in fact the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers. The movie calls it International Minemill Union or something of the kind. Why does this detail matter?

It matters because Mine Mill (as it was known) was a real union, with a real history. Its roots were in the early 20th century Western Federation of Miners, a union once close to the IWW, which waged bitter struggles against the copper bosses and was ultimately destroyed. Mine Mill itself was founded as a CIO union which by 1952--when "Salt" was filmed--had been expelled from the CIO, along with the West Coast longshoremen and others, essentially for refusing to purge the Communists and endorse Cold War foreign policy.

In other words the union had a context, which included the Communist Party, which was (after all) what Biberman et al. were being punished for refusing to abjure. It wasn't fortuitous that he and the blacklisted writer and producer Michael Wilson and Paul Jarrico decided to film a Mine Mill strike story. It was part of the resistance of the Communist-influenced Left to being forced out of the labor movement and out of popular consciousness,

marginalized and demonized and rendered utterly ineffectual.

But in the movie the union and the strike seem to have sprung from nowhere, the union members and leaders are brave innocents who don't know about movies and the Cold War, and they're rescued from an FBI-led vigilante mob by--the New Mexico State troopers! (I knew something was terribly wrong when some people in the audience actually cheered the cops' arrival.)

And the Ten have no context either. All the political and legal strategic decisions seem to be made by an informal gathering at a writers' hangout where Dalton Trumbo--sorry, "Dalton Trumbo"--and Biberman make ponderous little speeches about Jefferson and the fascist danger. I don't doubt that those guys were capable of pomposity--I don't object that they're portrayed unflatteringly. But they were, in fact, CPUSA members, mostly of long standing, and that's not how decisions were made.

Nor were decisions made in the vocabulary of civil libertarianism. This vocabulary *was* deployed in public statements, but part of the problem (which, by 1949, at least three of the Ten--Lardner, Maltz, and Trumbo--were keenly aware of) was the disconnect between this Jeffersonian rhetoric and the actual ideas of Marxism-Leninism (not to mention the actual conditions obtaining in Stalin's USSR.)

Near the end, a vigilante accuses Biberman of echoing Marx; no, comes the answer, it's Jefferson. In the popular Front years the CPUSA had put forward the slogan "Communism is 20th Century Americanism." By 1952 the Popular Front was a distant memory, yet this movie "Biberman" seems to have out-Browdered Browder and dropped the Communism part altogether.

So the movie gives us, not the Ten, but the version of the Ten that the Party hoped would rally timid liberals to their aid. It was a fairly hollow construct 55 years ago; are today's audiences really so thick-headed that they won't see through it?

With cardboard heroes, a cardboard villain: Edward Dmytryk, who "named names" *after* serving his time, is presented as justifying his decision purely so he can go back to making movies. Now this may have been his real motive--certainly Lester Cole and Paul Jarrico, among others, believed it was. But it *wasn't* the motive he presented. He claimed that he had become disillusioned with Communism and couldn't see the point of sacrificing his career to a cause he had come to oppose. A rationale?--maybe. That's something people do, and audiences get to evaluate their sincerity or insincerity. But villains don't, as in the old Western formula, get off the stagecoach and immediately kick a puppy.

A friend of mine defended the movie on the ground that people know nothing about the Ten, so anything is better than utter ignorance. Leaving aside the question whether this cartoon history isn't, in fact, the same thing as utter ignorance, what people are we talking about? This movie is not going to find a big audience. Most of the people who saw it in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival were, um, well stricken in years and politically knowledgeable (if not necessarily very bright, cf. their reaction to the State Trooper sequence mentioned above.) And dammit, it's unforgivably patronizing to take the attitude that "Of course we know better, but this pabulum is good enough for--" someone else.

Context, context, context. The prison mess hall is shown as racially integrated--in 1949! In truth Lardner and Cole successfully challenged the segregated chow line in the prison at Danbury but this was a quirky exception. But this anachronism, like the error about the union's name, gives the game away: this is a movie about history that doesn't respect history, or the audience's ability to comprehend it. Is that because the filmmakers were too busy congratulating themselves on their nobility for making the movie at all? Are they cynical, dumb, both? I don't think it matters much. I'm glad my friend Lester Cole wasn't depicted, because that would have caused me real pain.

How to Garble History Without Really Trying

[B24 · 7/10 · 4 August 2003]

The comments on this film to date are some of the most intelligent and knowledgeable I have yet to read anywhere on the imdb site. Even those who have little use for the ideologies of the original Hollywood Ten writers and directors present some views about the film itself that make sense. It is almost as if this drama within a movie production about another movie has taken on a life of its own.

I am particularly struck by the comments of people who actually knew either the real characters or the actors who portray them in this production. How often does one get to read that kind of material? Truly impressive.

The film itself is without much life, unfortunately. It looks about as much like the real Silver City as some place in South Africa, with extras frequently standing around ogling the camera while Goldblum et al. speechify. I knew it was made in Spain, but why? Even the Greyhound bus sign is completely bogus for its time. And there are very few real Mexican-Americans who look or act like Spaniards, even the criollo descendants of New Mexico colonists from the seventeenth century.

My own grandfather was a member of the union who worked the big copper pits near Silver City. He would have laughed his head off at this lame depiction of the ongoing troubles between labor and management that were far more complex and life-threatening than anything portrayed here. (And continue to a lesser scale in the mines around here even today.)

The real Gale Sondergaard I will always remember as the quintessential German spy who scared the life out of me back in the early 40's.

An interesting look during a time in history

[WadeVC-1 · 7/10 · 8 June 2008]

Although everything I know about this era comes from reading about it, nonetheless One of the Hollywood Ten seems to accurately depict a darker side of our history during the Cold War years when Communism was a threat to our country. (If this was real or a perceived threat is controversial).

However, One of the Hollywood Ten does accurately tell the story of Herber Bieberman and his trials and eventual conviction of being branded a communist by the US Government, and the ramifications this had to not only his life, but also that of his actress wife as well.

Well written and excellently acted, One of the Hollywood Ten is certainly worth watching.

This is the type of film that made the 10 so notorius

[jaybob · 7/10 · 25 June 2001]

My main objection to this movie is that it only shows one side of what the blacklist was all about. The men on the list wrote many films between them always showing one side of a story, making the little guy the victim & big business the villians, This is what irked the powers in both Washington & Hollywood, Since in the thirties & early forties,there many left wing sympathizers in Hollywood. There was an overraction by our government.& the reign of terror began. NONE of this is talked about, I liked Greta Saachi as Gale Sondergard WHO WAS NOT a major actress, She won here Oscar for her first performance & was in supporting roles ever since, I felt Goldblum was effective as Biberman also a minor writer of films,

as always

jay harris

Worth a look...

[max_the_dog · 7/10 · 29 November 2001]

This film tells the story of Herbert Biberman (Jeff Goldblum), who is blacklisted at the height of the anti-communism movement. Listed along with him are Michael Williams, a screenwriter (Geraint Wyn-Davies), producer Paul Jarrico (John Sessions, who does a fine American accent) and Edward Dmytryk (Sean Chapman). Biberman is thrown in prison because he and his wife, actress Gale Sondergaard (Greta Scacchi) refuse to "name names" of communist friends. Later on, the film deals with the making of "Salt of the Earth", which tells the story of Mexican mine workers who decided to strike due to unfair practices. Biberman first casts his wife in the lead role, then replaces her with Mexican actress Rosaura Revueltas (Angela Molina). Sondergaard, who has been unable to find work for years because of her husband, is very upset by this, but continues to stand by her husband. I think this is a story that needed to be told, but I think the direction could have been better. All of the performances were excellent. I don't think that this is a "must see" film, but it's worth seeing if you are interested in this period of history or are a fan of any of the actors in the film.

A master class in how NOT to direct a movie

[gray4000 · 1/10 · 15 November 2001]

Director Karl Francis once again totally fails to distinguish himself with this clumsily directed drama about McCarthy blacklisted writer-director, Herbert Biberman. Subtle and intelligent performances from Jeff Goldblum and Greta Scacchi are totally wasted in this otherwise uninspiring little film. The cinematography is fine; the editing makes the best of what it has to work with, which is not much. The problem lies entirely with the direction, which fails to pack even the slightest emotional punch, which is quite a feat considering the source material. What's worse is that it is liberally sprinkled with the kind of sickly B-movie idealism that I thought mainstream cinema had grown out of in the mid-seventies. The results come over as amateurish and basically unintelligent, not even worth a straight to video. This movie is a master class in how to ruin a great idea with incompetent direction. Please Mr Francis, just stop making films - nobody is interested.

Good Companion to Salt of the Earth

[jim-herb-williams · 7/10 · 15 November 2005]

Saw this film on TV. Came in about half-way. I met Juan and Virginia Chacon when I was organizing steelworkers in the southwest. I also met Francis Williams (no relation) an African-American cultural worker who played an important role in developing the script. yes, the movie is didactic and preachy--but so is Salt of the Earth. Unless you are Pauline Kael, you can't help but be moved by it.

I show Salt of the Earth to my students and I wonder how I can get a copy of this film to show them as well?

James H. Williams, PhD Department of Social Work Savannah State University Savannah, GA 31404

Amateurish and Preachy

[sheldonmandrake · 1/10 · 14 March 2002]

I saw this movie on the Starz channel. I'd never heard of it. I watched it because I thought that Jeff Goldblum, being a star, would pick good projects. This movie is one of his poorer choices.

Theres not much I can say about this film other than it was boring and preachy in a very amateurish kind of way, with B-movie style dialogue and unconvincing performances.

I walked away from watching this mess not giving a hoot or a holler about the Hollywood Ten, Salt of the Earth, the Blacklist and above all this dreadful "student" film.

In fact I hope I never hear about it ever, ever again!

A Very Good Film

[n.debrabant · 10/10 · 7 August 2001]

(Hopefully there are no spoilers, but I'm not sure and may let something slip)

After watching this film several times, I cannot imagine why it was not presented in theaters. It is an engrossing film set in an era that shames America and her reputation as a free nation. It is set during the cold war when the government was seeing reds under everyones bed.

Jeff Goldblum is wonderful as Herb. The whole cast is very good. This film points out how while the government was out hunting Communist, they were behaving exactly like the Communist they were so worried about and feared.

Everyone should view this film. It could happen again. Freedom of speech should not be taken lightly.

Good Money Poorly Invested

[marcusgoldman70 · 1/10 · 20 March 2002]

It was without lasting regret and with deep satisfaction that, last night, I buried "One of the Hollywood Ten" to the innermost depths of my mind, hopefully never to see the light of consciousness again. I had followed the progress of this production for some time and was curious as to the outcome. I won't spoil the film for the uninitiated, who love to waste their time, by editorialising the film's content, for there is hardly any content!

I knew very well of the Hollywood Ten and their struggle. But after 50 years and a couple of infinitely more superior movies I feel this topic has had its day and should, like the negative of this movie, be buried deep, deep underground.

I have two reasons to gripe about "One of the Hollywood Ten". Firstly, it is hideously amateurish and fatally miscast with awful, cliched one liners that haven't been heard since Roosevelt was inaugurated President. There is little or no dramatic build up and some of the performances are so bad they have to be seen to be believed. My other reason for disliking this film is that it was made with money that could have gone into productions run by younger, newer and more competent people.

Shame, shame, shame on the British Lottery rep who green lit this film for financial consideration. It really makes me question who is in charge of dispersing "film" lottery money. Did the BBC or the Lottery seriously think they would make a profit with this mess?

Modern, "hip" producers I am sure love to make fun at the British film industry of yesterday for creating in the 40s, 50s and 60s so called "mass entertainment". But Arthur Rank, Lew Grade etc knew how to entertain an audience, and the BBC and the British lottery could well take a leaf from their books.

With public money being spent on this preachy rubbish we don't deserve a film industry anymore.

DIRECTORS OF INTEGRITY

[caburns90 · 9/10 · 30 July 2002]

I thought this was a well-made film by a director of integrity about another director of integrity. It showed the devastating effects of HUAC witch-hunts on the careers and families of brilliant filmmakers in Hollywood, during the late '40s and early '50s. It exposed the split between those who were able to withstand the crass interrogations and those who failed. It was possible to identify with the tragedy of those who were jailed and feel joy when they found a way of escaping from their victimization. I attended a showing of the film with the director answering questions about his film. I was struck by his humility and empathy.

re: Sorry

[ltmunoz · 17 May 2004]

I'd like to make a note of this documentary. The user jlm-6 who wrote about the movie earlier obviously has no vision for the enrichment of history and only for his own glory. This documentary was based solely for the purpose of history and documentation. It shows what it took to film "Salt of the Earth" and how this government infringed on the lives of American citizens, by using the same tactics that are still in use today. (Bribery, Deceit, Fear and most of all taking away our Constitutional Rights). So if this person cannot see the bigger picture, then it's probably a good thing he did not post his name here, otherwise he too would be blacklisted!.

I am a survivor of one of the people this movie "Salt of the Earth" was made about. I cannot say the documentary of the making of it is quality Hollywood, but I can say I completely appreciate seeing the points of history leading up to the making of the movie and all that was involved.

If I may suggest, see this documentary and then see the movie. You'll appreciate what kind of struggles people of non-Hollywood, non-white and white collar backgrounds had to endure to survive.

The man's betrayed you. . He's sewn up his veins and opened up yours!

[sol1218 · 8/10 · 25 July 2005]

(There May be Spoilers)Freed after doing a six-month stretch in a federal prison for contempt of congress Hollywood writer/directer Herbert Biberman, Jeff Goldblum, as well as his actress wife Gale Sondergaard, Greta Scacchi,future in the world of the movies and theater in America is all but over.

Being the most out-spoken of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" Herbert was especially singled out by the US State Department with him having his passport revoked making it impossible for Herbert to even get work as a writer and director of movies in friendly countries overseas.

Herbert is in for one the biggest surprises of his life later in the movie when his friend and fellow Hollywood Ten, and fellow prisoner, film director Edward Dmytryk, Sean Chapman, became a friendly witness to the HUAC Committee and ratted out six fellow travelers, members or former members of the Communist party, with him being one of them.This just about sealed Herbert's coffin with no way from him to redeemed himself from his past activities and being branded a "Dirty Commie Rat" for the rest of his life.

It so happened that the year 1954 was a year of destiny for both Herbert Biberman and Edward Dmytryk with both of them directing a movie of high quality that stood the test of time over the years.Edward Dmytryk directed "The Caine Mutiny" for a major Hollywood studio with top stars like Humpret Bogart Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray. Herbert Biberman directed a film about the true story of a labor strike in Silver City New Mexico by low-paid and overworked Mexican zinc mill workers with a cast of non-actors but the very workers and their families as the stars.

Baseicaly a movie within a movie "One of the Hollywood Ten" zeros in on the efforts it took to film and later release the ground-breaking "Salt of the Earth" and how the FBI together with a bunch of paid-off local goons tried to prevent that film from ever seeing the light of day.

Herbert who was socially conscious all his life and joined the Communist party back in the 1930's. Not because Herbert had any love for Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union but believed, unrealistically, that Communisum was the only way that those hundreds of millions exploited by the big corporations can get their share of the wealth that they provided for them with their hard and back-breaking labor which they got paid next to nothing for.

The filming of the movie "Salt of the Earth" was constantly harassed by the US government with it's star Mexican peasant Rosaura Reweitas, Angela Molina, being kicked out of the US, on a bogus passport violation. This had Herbret film Rosaura's scenes in Mexico and had them smuggled back into the US to be edited into the movie. Rosaura final scene in the film is so touching simple and powerful that it ranks right up there with the final scene in "Grapes of Warth" with Henry Fonda.

It took until 1965,over ten years, for "Salt of the Earth" to be released in the United States. "salt of the Earth" showed the American people how the mass hysteria of the late 1940's and 50's Communist witch hunts did far more damage to the American way of life and US Consitution then what all the subversive activities of all the Soviet agents in the US combined could have done.

Meet the `Jeffersonian Americans'

[Zen Bones · 23 May 2003]

Unfortunately, any film chronicling a specific period in history that most Americans are only barely knowledgeable about is going to have to be somewhat pedantic. To encompass the varied complexities of those `Reds' in Hollywood would come off as a history lesson that would last longer than `The Wings of War'. So a made-for-cable film like this must brush its canvas with wide strokes. This film focuses not so much on the agenda of the HUAC -for that I recommend "Tail Gunner Joe" and "Citizen Cohn"-, but on a select few of the victims of their persecution. For the most part, this film succeeds in showing what it was that these people, and other leftists in this country believed in (and still believe in). There's a great line in this film by the owner of the land where the director Biberman wants to film. He says, `I'm a Jeffersonian American'. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." That form of liberty and equality has been a fight by the Left in this country for every generation since this country's inception. There has always been and always will be tyrants (fascists) who will try to squash that, and other tyrants (communists) who will promise liberty and equality in order to get the people to embrace their brand of tyranny. No doubt, there were many communist dupes in this country. There certainly were communist spies lurking in this country, and Stalinist and Maoist communism were verifiable threats the world over. But in post-WWII America, tyranny was used against the people in order to fight the THREAT of tyranny against the people. The principles that this country claimed to be so frightened of losing were tossed out altogether. In the USSR, people who didn't name names were sent to Siberia or executed. In the USA, the penalties were much less severe, but the process of unveiling ‘dissidents' was the same. Plus, there was the very audacious fact that most of those brought up in front of the HUAC were in fact the `real' Americans; the Jeffersonian Americans who believed in democracy and the principles of liberty and equality.

`One of the Hollywood Ten' is a good introduction to those who wanted desperately to bring those principles to every American. They knew that a country that is oppressive and does not value equal rights for all is perfect bait for communism (as well as for fascism –the two are strikingly similar in practice). They also knew that if they didn't present the populace with the very real struggle that the millions of oppressed people in this country faced, those oppressed people might very well embrace the false liberty that communists promised. Everyone is aware of the fact that the silver screen (broadened today by TV) is a very powerful tool. But it cannot be manipulated to make people join another system of government if their own system government is sound. The left wing of Hollywood set to make it sound (something that people who opposed free speech, integration and decent housing and safe working environments did not want to see). Had the Hollywood Ten been able to continue their mission, perhaps the equalities and freedoms we enjoy today would have come sooner. And there would have been more great cinematic achievements like `Salt of the Earth'. I do think that `One of the Hollywood Ten' should have shown more of the conditions in this country that were so perfectly depicted in `Salt of the Earth' (such as racism, shameful poverty, and unsafe working conditions). But it does at least give us a valued glimpse of the hearts and minds of those who retained this country's greatness in its darkest hour.

The Hollywood Ten

[caburns90 · 9/10 · 16 July 2006]

I can't understand why this film made in 2000 directed by Karl Francis hasn't been made into a video or DVD. It shows the problems of The Hollywood Ten without preaching to the converted, and is very moving and well acted. We sympathise with those characters who are caught up in the tragic McCarthy era and imprisoned for their left wing views. It could well have failed as it is a hackneyed subject but the director managed to give it a fresh, humanitarian perspective. Once the cast enters into making a film or their own, The Salt of the Earth, the rhythm shifts and the relief is immense that they are safe from persecution. At the preview, the director's integrity matched the heroism of the lead actor. I strongly recommend it.

Great film

[buffy-40 · 30 November 2000]

This is a superb film about Blacklisting of Hollywoods writers/directors and actors. Jeff Goldblum is fantastic as Director Herbert Biebelmen who made the acclaimed film "Salt Of The City". This is a very powerful film superbly Directed by veteran Welsh film maker Karl Francis. It also features a great supporting cast. Possible Oscar noms for this film.

Goldblum Shines in Poorly Directed Film

[lbarbuckle · 21 November 2000]

Movie buffs and DeNiro fans will recall "Guilty By Suspicion". A story of how the HUAC witch hunts of the 1950s ripped apart the lives of many of Hollywood's writing and directing talent. Newcomer Karl Francis's movie treads along similar lines, focusing in on blacklisted director Herbert Biberman's attempt to make "Salt of the Earth" with a cast of unknowns and a blacklisted crew. Without spoiling this movie for the unacquainted I will end this synopsis here......however.... This is a European film, partially backed by the Welsh Arts Council. With all the talent and longing for local film production in the UK, why would the Arts Council plough money into an old pair of panty-linen like this? An American story shot entirely in Spain with a cast mainly of unknown actors. Jeff Goldblum does well, as ever, as Biberman....but so what? Most of the dialogue is so thin and hackneyed you could smell the dampness. I would suggest that the BBC or the Arts Council of Great Britain in future put their money where they'll find an audience and possibly a return on their investment, which I am sorry to say will not be happening with this boring mis-directed edsel.

Fair Movie Not an Oscar Contender

[suzannecole2000 · 3 December 2000]

I recently saw One of the Hollywood Ten at a screener. I think Jeff Goldblum does an exceedingly good job as Herbert Biberman as were some of the supporting players, especially the Spanish actors. I did have a problem with the overall style of the film which played more like a set of moving images rather than a "movie". Photographed quite beautifully by Nigel Walters but ultimately rather loosely and sloppily directed (almost amateurishly) with a number of obvious Brits putting on American accents, namely the usually brilliant John Sessions! This may win awards in the Icelandic Film Festival but Oscar will look the other way.

Time To Get Over It

[vox-sane · 27 June 2001]

One of the most overblown times in American history is when the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities was in full swing. The left has been using it to raise paranoia (and thus votes for them) for fifty years. The fact that a fellow who got leadership was a fruitcake himself and made mockery of a serious affair by his crass stupidity hasn't helped matters.

In fact, there was extensive Soviet espionage and undermining of the American system of freedom in the 1950s. Icons of the left like Harry Hopkins, the Rosenbergs, and Alger Hiss, are now proven by Soviet records to have been agents, to their own degree, to Communist/Socialist masters.

Hollywood was rife with Communists who were perfect stooges for Stalin and his crew. Many of the same people who were in the forefront of condemning Hitler turned a blind eye to Soviet Gulags.

Although McCarthy had nothing to do with Hollywood, the "blacklisting" that went on to keep Communists who might be subversive from attempting propaganda on the screen is the part of the anti-Communist crusade that has received the most attention. Hollywood blacklisting and prejudice are usually behind the scenes, but that this was carried on openly was injurious to the American values it sought to protect.

The "Hollywood Ten" were a group of "unfriendly witnesses", who are usually made out to be talent suppressed at this period (Billy Wilder, I think, had the famous line to the effect that, only a couple of them had any real talent, the others were just unfriendly.

While a good movie can be made out of this material, this isn't it. The game cast -- including Jeff Goldblum, John Sessions, and Greta Scacchi -- try to breathe life into it, but perhaps the paranoia raised by the whole mess is finally running out of steam of its own accord.

Sorry!

[jlm-6 · 9 November 2002]

Why, sorry? Because I played a part in this (call it a) movie and cannot be proud that I did.

This was my second piece in a movie. Not a word to speak, but a name part, all the same. At first, I was thrilled... For, yes, it really was a privilege, having Jeff Goldblum's fine FINE work to watch and learn from, over the three days that I was on set. And, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and working with names I had long known, such as Shane Rimmer (Out of Africa, The Spy Who Loved Me) Greta Scacchi (Presumed Innocent, Le Violon Rouge) and Peter Bowles (To The Manor Born, The Irish R.M.). And, I'll, certainly, never forget comedian John Sessions' hilarious impersonations - between takes - of Robert de Niro, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Pesci and Roger Moore.

However, I am forever embarrassed and disgusted with myself at not having trusted my own judgement and at having, instead, allowed "director" Carl Francis to "not direct" me. I would have used "misdirect", only all I saw him do (over three days) was pout and moan, but never once direct nor even misdirect the actors. I should have known not to trust him when, having been auditioned by Mr Francis, in person, I was called in to play some guy called Ring Lardner, though not told till the day before and - because I had no lines to speak - was ignored and given no background material on the character. The character, I found out, later, just happened to be one of lead character Herbert Biberman's closest friends!! Instead, I was just told to "stand there" or "sit there", with only my common sense and inexperience to rely on (I had only had a played another minor film role, prior to this).

My part may have been insignificant compared to, say, Jeff Goldblum's Biberman or, indeed, compared to anyone else's. But when a director and his team decide to overlook the supposed "minor" details, you can be sure they do so because they're having trouble coping with the "bigger" stuff. And, if you ever waste a second of your life watching "One of the Hollywood Ten" you'll see what I mean!

This film is a free-for-all; a riot, in the saddest sense of the word. If you had the vast self-assuredness and professional aplomb of someone like Mr Goldblum or Ms Scacchi, you were sure to do a good job (no-one to stop you!) even if your effort was later completely wasted or misplaced within the haphazard confines of Mr Francis' movie. If, on the other hand, you were a beginner, then, you were finished before you'd even had a chance to start. A cast brimming with professionals might just have made it happen, regardless of the movie's directing. Sadly, however, this was not the case, for many of the "minor" parts in the cast (and there were many slightly-above-extra roles in this film) had been filled with inexperienced English-speaking film actors, such as myself, most of us living here, in cheap-labour Spain, which is where most of the film was shot.

As with any society, a film is a universe, where everything - from its subatomic particles, through to its larger atoms and, even, the greater moons and planets - needs to feel it has its place; an orbiting code. Without codes, chaos and voids appear.

This film is a chaos and a void. Avoid this film!

Waste of Money and Talent

[lesliejoanne · 1 February 2001]

"One of the Hollywood Ten" isn't a film worth wasting your money and time one. If this is the state of "mature" British film making then will someone please send me back to the nursery. The tiresome, unwatchable performances creak of another era: the 1980s! This is a "perfect" example of boring, unentertaining, left-wing film making. The kind that had too much to say for it's own good. Frankly I'd rather watch a repeat of "Thunderbirds". They weren't nearly as wooden as this bunch.

an amazing amount of vitriol aimed at an obscure little film

[Sleepy-17 · 7 June 2003]

There were an awful lot of angry comments aimed at this "direct-to-TV" movie. Interesting...

Nobody points out how much better the original "Salt of the Earth" was, and how much fun it is to watch, not because of its limp direction, but because of the spirit of the acting. And nobody commented on how the Mexican leads in this new version don't really look Mexican, even though they have Spanish surnames. Hmmm...is this because the new version was made in Spain? Or why? It seemed contrary to the point the the main character Biberman was trying to make.

As far as the theme, lots of people are losing their jobs right now for reasons a lot more unfair than their lack of cooperation with a government committee. And at the same time as these historical incidents, Black people were being lynched for next to nothing.

Anyway, this is an amusing story-behind-the-movie about the making of the indelible original "Salt of the Earth."