Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Adrian Scott

Adrian Scott was the producer of the film noirs Murder, My Sweet (1944), Cornered (1945), and Crossfire (1947), all of which were directed by Edward Dmytryk. Crossfire was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In October 1947, Scott was called to testify during the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) hearings on Hollywood but - as did nine others - refused to testify and was sentenced to jail. Edward Dmytryk, another of these Hollywood Ten, later, in 1951 testified before the HUAC that Scott pressured him to put communist propaganda in his films.


Here is a clip from Crossfire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dRDINoVTec&feature=related

1972 The Great Man's Whiskers (TV movie) (play)
1960 Conspiracy of Hearts (story / front Dale Pitt)
1955 The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)
1946 Miss Susie Slagle's (adaptation)
1943 Mr. Lucky (screenplay)
1941 We Go Fast (screenplay)
1940 Keeping Company (screenplay)

Dalton Trumbo

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z_Wk8Dz2n8




Trumbo
http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=Y-Fb1bL67J8&feature=mv_sr



Dalton Trumbo

Trumbo with wife Cleo at House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, 1947






James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter and novelist. As one of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry. Trumbo won two Academy Awards while blacklisted; one was originally given to a front writer, and one was awarded to Robert Rich, Trumbo's pseudonym.

Blacklisting effectively ended in 1960 when it lost credibility. Trumbo was publicly given credit for two blockbuster films: Otto Preminger made public that Trumbo wrote the screenplay for the smash hit, Exodus, and Kirk Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus. Further, President-elect John F. Kennedy crossed picket lines to see the movie.

His son Christopher Trumbo wrote a play based on his letters during the period of the blacklist, entitled Red, White and Blacklisted (2003), produced in New York in 2003. He adapted it as a film, adding material from documentary footage, Trumbo (2007).

On December 19, 2011, The Writers Guild of America announced that Trumbo will get full credit for his work on the screenplay of the 1953 romantic comedy Roman Holiday, sixty years after the fact.

Spartacus - Dalton Trumbo



Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Anthony Mann
(uncredited)
Produced by Edward Lewis
Kirk Douglas
(executive)
Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo
Based on Spartacus by
Howard Fast
Narrated by Vic Perrin
Starring Kirk Douglas
Laurence Olivier

Peter Ustinov

John Gavin

Jean Simmons

Charles Laughton

Tony Curtis
Music by Alex North
Cinematography Russell Metty
Stanley Kubrick (uncredited)
Editing by Robert Lawrence
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) October 7, 1960 (1960-10-07)
Running time 184 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $12 million
Box office $60,000,000
Original 1960 theatrical release poster

Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast. The life story of the historical figure Spartacus and the events of the Third Servile War were adapted by Dalton Trumbo as a screenplay.

The film stars Kirk Douglas as rebellious slave Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as his foe, the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus. Co-starring are Peter Ustinov (who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as slave trader Lentulus Batiatus), John Gavin (as Julius Caesar), Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, John Ireland, Herbert Lom, Woody Strode, Tony Curtis, John Dall and Charles McGraw. The film won four Oscars in all.

The titles were designed by Saul Bass, who also has a credit as "visual consultant".

Anthony Mann, the film's original director, was replaced by Douglas with Kubrick after the first week of shooting.

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted at the time as one of the Hollywood Ten. Kirk Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus, and President-elect John F. Kennedy crossed picket lines to see the movie, helping to end blacklisting.

Film Clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8h_v_our_Q

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Hollywood Ten: Murrow vs. McCarthy

From Documentary Excerpt Dawn of the Eye

Hollywood Ten Testimony

Testimony

Howard Biberman



Dalton Trumbo

History of the Hollywood Ten

We shall watch this film today and discuss it.


Hollywood Ten - Climate of Fear

Let's put the events in context. Time travel with me now.