Film
The film is an excellent additional text for
the elective, particularly if supplemented with Bruce Cook’s biography TRUMBO (1977) which was recently
reprinted by Two Roads to coincide with the release of the film.
Starring Bryan Cranston (of Breaking Bad fame) as Dalton Trumbo, the
film begins in 1947 as Trumbo is about to be questioned as part of the
Hollywood 10 by the House of Un-American Activities (HUAC) about his membership
of the Communist Party and his inclusion of communist propaganda in his films.
The film follows Trumbo’s Court strategies, his eventual imprisonment and his career
as a screenwriter after he is blacklisted by the main Hollywood studios and
beyond.
The film is largely chronological in structure
and requires some pre-knowledge of the events to better appreciate the
significance of Trumbo’s courageous struggle. Cranston as the eccentric and
brilliant Trumbo is outstanding. The best part of the film is how Trumbo tirelessly
works under assumed names with the other Hollywood 10 and how they eventually
break the ban in 1960. Although she is not mentioned in Bruce Cook’s bio, Helen
Mirren is represented as the staunch but highly satirised anti-communist
Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hooper.
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trumbo/
Biography
Bruce Cook wrote this bio in 1976 when Dalton
Trumbo was an ill old man. Cook interviewed Trumbo and many of his
contemporaries to piece together his life story. Cook would show up at their
house and largely lets them tell their connection to Trumbo and what he was
like.
The relevant chapters to the Cold War include (pages
207-355):
7 The Ten
8 The Blacklist Begins
9 Ten Months in Kentucky
10 “Engaged in Selling”
11 Breaking the Blacklist
The writer of the TRUMBO film script, John McNamara, provides an insightful Foreward
to the biography ‘THE BOOK AND I.’ He takes us through his love of the bio, the
development of the script and the selection of the actors.
The book, of course, details in far greater
detail the events of the blacklisting of the Hollywood 10, but what stands out
more than in the film is Trumbo’s tenacity, integrity, and in particular, his
shrewd combatative nature in trying to deal with overwhelmingly powerful
political forces of government.
Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Trumbo
Documentary
Film
Trumbo
(2007) is available on Netflix
and on YouTube. It is based on the letters of Dalton Trumbo and directed by
Peter Askin. It will add another layer to your understanding of this complex
and exceptional man.
Find the doco here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I51_OsdZFes
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