Noir, Reds, Blacklists

1
Noir, Reds, Blacklists
2
Quiz 4

• How, according to Naremore, did films of the
  1940s depict "sexual intercourse"?
  
• Under what unusual arrangement did Raymond
  Chandler complete his script for The Blue Dahlia?
  And what did it have to do with the line
  "Bourbon with a bourbon chaser"?
• According to Naremore, what role did the "Red
  generation of the 1940s" play in film noir?
  
• Thom Anderson coined what term (similar to film
  noir) to refer to films noirs by filmmakers who
  were Leftist or Communist?

3
Censorship in Hollywood

• 1922 After a number of Hollywood scandals, Will
  Hays, prominent Republican former Postmaster
  General of the US, became head of the Motion
  Picture Producers and Distributors Assn (MPPDA).
  
• 1930 MPPDA established The Production Code (or
  "Hays Code"), which regulated conduct in
  Hollywood films.
  
• Although adopted in 1930, the Code was not really
  enforced until 1934, when Joseph Breen become
  head of the Production Code Administration or PCA
  (often called the Breen Office).
• The period before 1934 is usually referred to as
  Pre-Code era.

4
Censorship and Noir

• The Production Code prohibited not only sexual
  depictions but also certain political ideas
  banned depictions critical of police, government,
  clergy required criminality not be triumphant,
  etc.
• This led to a variety of strange repressions and
  contradictions.
  
• In Noir films, sexuality was often implied by
  omission, and critiques of police, government
  could not be explicit, but expressed only
  implicitly.
• Yet, as we have seen, critiques of society, of
  the "fairy tale" version of middle-class morality
  and values, were central to Noir attitudes, but
  often had to be conveyed through suggestion
  style.

5
Red Noir

• Naremore argues that we can see "two major
  branches in the 'family tree' of noir" a
  cynical pessimistic view of world a more
  politically engaged, Leftist community.
• Cynical view sees world as inherently corrupt,
  etc. ("original sin"?)
  
• Politically-engaged view crime, corruption are
  not inherent, but societal.
  
• This Leftist perspective at times borders on a
  critique of capitalism itself.
  
• And number of writers, actors, directors who
  worked in Film Noir (and hard-boiled writing)
  were Leftist or Communist in their politics.

6
Red Noir

• Films of Left group called by Thom Anderson
  "film gris" to distinguish from more general film
  noir.
  
• But Naremore points out the many problems with
  this term, and argues that contributions from
  these Leftists are essential to film noir
  
• "Without the Red generation of the 1940s, the
  tradition of film noir would hardly exist"
  
• But, of course, such critiques of society would
  draw criticism from the Right as the country
  turned anti-Communist after the War.

7
Reds in Hollywood?

• In 1947, the House UnAmerican Activities
  Committee (HUAC) began to investigate Hollywood
  for "communist influences."
  
• This would lead to the jailing of the Hollywood
  Ten and the subsequent blacklisting of more than
  300 people.
  
• Hollywood vulnerable to anti-communist (and
  anti-liberal) crusaders because of the supposed
  link between communism and Jews (in fact, many of
  those blacklisted were Jewish), and the number of
  studio moguls who were Jewish.

8
Red Hollywood?

• Hollywood, however, could hardly be seen as
  liberal or Leftist. Most of the studio heads
  were extremely conservative and the Production
  Code limited open criticisms of business,
  government, and so forth.
• Worth noting that much of the criticism of
  Communism Leftism was aimed at reversing
  policies of Roosevelt's New Deal, which were
  often seen by the Right wing as "socialist."
• But even anti-racist and anti-semitic sentiments
  were seen as suspect by Right.

9
Force of Evil (1948)

• In this atmosphere, it is remarkable that a film
  such as Force of Evil could have been
  distributed.
  
• In fact, made by John Garfield's own production
  company on a miniscule budget.
  
• Garfield, who also starred in the noir The
  Postman Always Rings Twice was Jewish, noted for
  his Leftist politics. Blacklisted.
  
• First film directed by Abraham Polonsky, who
  wrote script for Body and Soul, starring
  Garfield also blacklisted, openly Communist.

10
Force of Evil (1948)

• Andrew Sarris called Force of Evil "one of the
  great films of the modern American cinema."
  
• Jonathan Rosenbaum has called it a masterpiece.
• Martin Scorsese "Force of Evil has been a major
  influence on my work . . ."

11
Noir, Crime, and Capitalism

• Abraham Polonsky "All films about crime are
  about capitalism, because capitalism is about
  crime. I mean 'quote unquote,' morally speaking."
  
• Naremore "The despairing tone of films such as
  Force of Evil is clearly related to the politics
  and historical circumstances of individual
  writers, directors, and stars."
• Naremore "After 1947, many leftist filmmmakers
  were treated as outlaws, and it is not surprising
  that they made some of their best pictures from
  the point of view of criminals."

12
Sexual Disturbance Gilda (1946)

• Directed Charles Vidor.
• Starring Rita Hayworth as Gilda. Also Glenn
  Ford.
  
• In terms of sexuality and gender relations, one
  of the oddest films of its time.
  
• Gilda as the fascinating but apparently
  disturbing object of the male gaze (both the
  protagonist and the audience).