England / Spain,
2000, 105 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
-
Karl Francis
- prod
-
Karl Francis, Juan Gordon, Stuart Pollok
- scr
-
Karl Francis
- cam
-
Nigel Walters
- editor
-
John Richards
- mus
-
James Barrett
- cast
-
Jeff Goldblum, Greta Scacchi, Angela Molina, Christopher Fulford
- source
-
Alibi Films International, 12 Maiden Lane, London WC2E 7NA, England. FAX: 44-207-836-6919
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
OTHER
This absorbing treatment of one of the darkest periods in Hollywood—and United States—history goes beyond the usual portrayals of anticommunist hysteria to explore the making of Salt of the Earth, the groundbreaking classic film about striking New Mexico miners. Opening at the 1937 Academy Awards, where actress Gale Sondergaard calls on her fellow artists to fight fascism, the action quickly moves to 1947, when a group of mainly Jewish figures—including Sondergaard and her husband, director Herbert J. Biberman—are accused of being Communists by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Refusing to name names, Biberman is jailed for six months and subsequently blacklisted by the studios. Unable to find work but with their ideals intact, Biberman and his wife launch their own independent project, Salt of the Earth, with a cast of Mexican American miners and their families, hoping to use the film to point out the labor unfairness and difficult living conditions of the workers. Continually coming under attack from the FBI, local “moral crusaders” and racist vigilantes, the crew struggles to finish the film, all the while dealing with their own infighting, jealousies and love interests. With a flair for the period’s uncertainties and fears, Hollywood Ten shows that their struggles were not in vain.
FACTOID #175
In 1967, two years prior to her death, the Festival honored Judy Garland in the first (according to the program note) American homage of her work. Garland was unable to attend.
