Northwest Film Forum

Thom Andersen and Noël Burch's provocative documentary looks with fresh eyes at "Red" Hollywood—films by screenwriters and directors who were communists, ex-communists or sympathizers, and who were in some way implicated by the Hollywood investigations of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Drawing on their extensive research and an array of arresting film clips, as well as on the reminiscences of blacklisted artists Paul Jarrico, Ring Lardner, Jr., Alfred Levitt, and Abraham Polonsky, the video reveals the degree to which the Hollywood left was able to tint movies with its political convictions.

Taking issue with Billy Wilder's oft-quoted put-down, "Of the Unfriendly Ten, only two had talent, the other eight were just unfriendly," Red Hollywood reveals a largely neglected Hollywood legacy: films committed to raising questions regarding class, gender and racism, and films that questioned "the system" itself—whether capitalism or the studio—and were answered with the blacklist.

"A must-see: Offers some invaluable clues about how we might start reconstructing our view of Hollywood movies made since the birth of talkies...Simply by broaching the question of political content in Hollywood movies at all, [Red Hollywood] defies a major taboo in most mainstream writing about current movies." —Jonathan Rosenbaum

"Peerless...Offers a rational, objective look at the recurrent themes and perspectives of movies penned by Reds. “Red Hollywood:” is what sharing the fruits of film scholarship is all about." —Seattle Post Globe