- 258 pages
- English
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About this book
The film critic’s sweeping analysis of American cinema in the Cold War era is both “utterly compulsive reading [and] majestic” in its “breadth and rigor” (Film Comment).
An Army of Phantoms is a major work of film history and cultural criticism by leading film critic J. Hoberman. Tracing the dynamic interplay between politics and popular culture, Hoberman offers “the most detailed year-by-year look at Hollywood during the first decade of the Cold War ever published, one that takes film analysis beyond the screen and sets it in its larger political context” (Los Angeles Review of Books).
By “tell[ing] the story not just of what’s on the screen but of what played out behind it,” Hoberman demonstrates how the nation’s deep-seated fears and wishes were projected onto the big screen. In this far-reaching work of historical synthesis, Cecil B. DeMille rubs shoulders with Douglas MacArthur, atomic tests are shown on live TV, God talks on the radio, and Joe McCarthy is bracketed with Marilyn Monroe (The American Scholar).
From cavalry Westerns to apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars; from movies to media events, congressional hearings and political campaigns, An Army of Phantoms “remind[s] you what criticism is supposed to be: revelatory, reflective and as rapturous as the artwork itself” (Time Out New York).
“An epic . . . alternately fevered and measured account of what might be called the primal scene of American cinema.” —Cineaste
“There’s something majestic about the reach of Hoberman’s ambitions, the breadth and rigor of his research, and especially the curatorial vision brought to historical data.” —Film Comment
An Army of Phantoms is a major work of film history and cultural criticism by leading film critic J. Hoberman. Tracing the dynamic interplay between politics and popular culture, Hoberman offers “the most detailed year-by-year look at Hollywood during the first decade of the Cold War ever published, one that takes film analysis beyond the screen and sets it in its larger political context” (Los Angeles Review of Books).
By “tell[ing] the story not just of what’s on the screen but of what played out behind it,” Hoberman demonstrates how the nation’s deep-seated fears and wishes were projected onto the big screen. In this far-reaching work of historical synthesis, Cecil B. DeMille rubs shoulders with Douglas MacArthur, atomic tests are shown on live TV, God talks on the radio, and Joe McCarthy is bracketed with Marilyn Monroe (The American Scholar).
From cavalry Westerns to apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars; from movies to media events, congressional hearings and political campaigns, An Army of Phantoms “remind[s] you what criticism is supposed to be: revelatory, reflective and as rapturous as the artwork itself” (Time Out New York).
“An epic . . . alternately fevered and measured account of what might be called the primal scene of American cinema.” —Cineaste
“There’s something majestic about the reach of Hoberman’s ambitions, the breadth and rigor of his research, and especially the curatorial vision brought to historical data.” —Film Comment
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Information
INDEX
ABOVE AND BEYOND
ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC
Actors Laboratory Theater
Actors Studio
Adorno, Theodor
advertising: criticism of; for movies; for political purposes; in politics
African Americans: in The Americans; Communist Party efforts at equality for; in “Negro problem pictures,”; in “The White Negro,”. See also Civil Rights Movement; race and racism
Agee, James
Aldrich, Robert
alien invaders: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL; Indians as, in THE SEARCHERS; INVADERS FROM MARS; INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS; INVASION USA; IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE; KILLERS FROM SPACE; Ronald Reagan on; THE THING; UFO sightings/investigations
alienation
ALL THE KING’S MEN
Alland, William
Alldredge, Charles
Allen, Corey
Alpert, Hollis
Altman, Robert
American Federation of Labor
AN AMERICAN GUERRILLA IN THE PHILIPPINES
The Americans (Frank)
Anderson, Lindsay
anti-Communist movies; as Cold War trend; BIG JIM MCCLAIN; I MARRIED A COMMUNIST; THE IRON CURTAIN; MY SON JOHN; THE RED MENACE
anti-fascism: in BATTLEGROUND; CHETNIKS!; CLOAK AND DAGGER; in A FACE IN THE CROWD; THE PROWLER; in THE ROBE; See also fascism
anti-Semitism: in CROSSFIRE; in GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT; and HUAC; in I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI; and MPA; and Soviet Union
APACHE
Argosy (production company)
Armendáriz, Pedro
Army-McCarthy hearings
Arnold, Jack
Atlas Shrugged (Rand)
atomic bomb. See nuclear weapons
THE ATOMIC CITY
Atomic Energy Commission
“The Avenging Texans” (Bellah)
BABY DOLL
Bacall, Lauren
BACK TO BATAAN
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Backus, Jim
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK
Ball, Lucille: HUAC testimony; support for Hollywood Fights Back; as Truman supporter
Barrymore, John, Jr.
dp n="391" folio="368" ?Barrymore, Lionel
Barzman, Ben
Battle of Burbank
THE BATTLE OF RUSSIA
BATTLEGROUND
Bazin, André
THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS
THE BEGINNING OR THE END
Bellah, James Warner; “Massacre”/FORT APACHE; “Mission with No Record”/RIO GRANDE; personal background; and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON; THIS IS KOREA
Benedek, Laslo
Bentley, Elizabeth
Bercovici, Leonardo
Bergman, Ingrid
Berkeley, Martin
Berlin airlift
Bernstein, Walter
Berry, Chuck
Bessie, Alvah
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
Bezzerides, A.I.
Biberman, Herbert
biblical movies
BIG JIM MCLAIN
THE BIG LIFT
THE BIG NIGHT
THE BIG SLEEP
Bikini Atoll
BLACKBOARD JUNGLE
blacklist. See Hollywood blacklist
Blaustein, Julius
THE BLUE DAHLIA
“Blue Suede Shoes,”
BODY AND SOUL
“The Body Snatchers” (Finney)
Bogart, Humphrey
Bohnen, Roman
Bond, Ward: acting roles; and MPA; political activity
Boone, Daniel
THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR
Boyd, William
Bozell, L. Brent
Bradbury, Ray
brainwashing/thought control
Brando, Marlon: and THE EGYPTIAN; on James Dean/THE WILD ONE; as nihilistic movement leader; and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE; in VIVA ZAPATA; in ON THE WATERFRONT; in THE WILD ONE
Brecht, Bertolt
Breen, Joseph
Breen office. See MPAA Production Code
Brewer, Roy
Bridges, Harry
Bridges, Lloyd
Bright, John
BROKEN ARROW
Broken Arrow (TV series)
Bromberg, J. Edward
Brooks, Richard
Browder, Earl
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
BRUTE FORCE
Buchman, Sidney
Buckley, William F.
Budenz, Louis
BUGLES IN THE AFTERNOON
A BULLET FOR JOEY
Bush, George W.
Butler, Hugo
Byron, Stuart
Cahiers du cinéma (magazine)
THE CAINE MUTINY
California: 1950 Congressional election; Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities
Camus, Albert
Canada and THE IRON CURTAIN
Capgras Syndrome
Capra, Frank: political activity; RIDING HIGH; in SDG; STATE OF THE UNION
THE CAPTIVE CITY
captivity stories
Carlson, Richard
dp n="392" folio="369" ?Carnovsky, Morris
Cassidy, Hopalong
Catholic Church
celebrity: and James Dean; and Lucille Ball; and Marilyn Monroe
censorship in movies
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): in Guatemala; in Iran; in Italy; and LSD; origin of; and STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND
Chamberlain, Howland
Chambers, Whittaker
Chaplin, Charlie
Chase, Borden
CHETNIKS!
China: Communism in; film industry in; in HELL AND HIGH WATER; and Korean War; McCarthy on; Soviet Union alliance; and STEEL HELMET
CHINA GATE
Christian Soldier archetype
Churchill, Winston
CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency
Cinerama (technology)
Civil Rights movement
Civil War movies; See also Confederate soldiers
Clinton, Bill
CLOAK AND DAGGER
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Cobb, Lee J.
Cohn, Harry
Cohn, Roy
Cold War allegories
Cole, Lester: anti-MPA activity; blacklisting of; and Communist Party; conviction; films of; and HUAC
Collins, Richard: and Communist Party; films of; and HUAC; See also Dorothy Comingore
combat movies. See war/combat movies
comic book investigation
Comingore, Dorothy
Committee for the First Amendment (CFA)
Communist Party: as alien invader; bill to outlaw; CSU support; demise; FBI break-ins; HUAC testimony about; in I WAS A SPY FOR THE COMMUNIST PARTY; in Iran; leadership; movie industry members; and Smith Act; Tenney Committee and See also anti-Communist movies; HUAC
Communist Political Association
Confederate soldiers: in THE FABULOUS TEXAN; in FORT APACHE; in ONLY THE VALIANT; rehabilitation of, as trend in Westerns; in RIO GRANDE; in ROCKY MOUNTAIN; in THE SEARCHERS; in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON; in TENNESSEE JOHNSON
Conference of Studio Unions (CSU)
CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY
The Confidence-Man (Melville)
conformity
THE CONQUEROR
Considine, Bob
Cooper, Gary: association with Carl Foreman; CLOAK AND DAGGER; DALLAS; THE FOUNTAINHEAD; HIGH NOON; SPRINGFIELD RIFLE; and MPA
Cooper, James Fenimore
COUNTER-ATTACK
counterculture
Crawford, Joan
crazes. See mass culture/mass media
crime committee. See Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce
Cromwell, John
Cronyn, Hume
dp n="393" folio="370" ?THE CROSS OF LORRAINE
CROSSFIRE
Crowther, Bosley : on A FACE IN THE CROWD; on AMERICAN GUERRILLA topicality; on BLACKBOARD JUNGLE; on THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL; on DESTINATION MOON; on THE EGYPTIAN; on THE FOUNTAINHEAD; on HELL AND HIGH WATER; on HIGH NOON; on HITLER - DEAD OR ALIVE; on HOME OF THE BRAVE; on introduction of Cinerama; and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS; on IRON CURTAIN; on LOST BOUNDARIES; on MONSIEUR VERDOUX; on MY SON JOHN; on NIGHT PEOPLE; on PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET; on REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE; on RETREAT, HELL!; on SPRINGFIELD RIFLE topicality; on STEEL HELMET; on STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND; on TWO FLAGS WEST; on VIVA ZAPATA!; on WALK EAST ON BEACON
The Crucible (Miller)
THE CRUSADES
Cruse, Harold
CSU (Conference of Studio Unions)
Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace
Curtiz, Michael
Cvetic, Matt
Czechoslovakia
Daily Worker: of 1948 presidential election; distaste for comics; HUAC coverage; on Khrushchev criticism of Stalin; on McCarthy; publishing of Duclos letter; rebuttal to “What Shall We Ask of Writers?”
Daily Worker movie reviews/news: AMERICAN GUERILLA; THE BEGINNING OR THE END; BODY AND SOUL; THE CROSS OF LORRAINE; on The Crucible; on CSU strike; on Davy Crockett craze; THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL; on FBI treatment of Dorothy Comingore; FIXED BAYONETS!; THE FOUNTAINHEAD; on Hollywood blacklist; HOUSE OF BAMBOO; on Kramer’s post-HUAC activity; on Marilyn Monroe; on MISSION TO MOSCOW; on MONSIEUR VERDOUX; on movie industry war mobilization; PANIC IN THE STREETS; THE PHENIX CITY STORY; PRISONER OF WAR; PROJECT X, 109; QUO VADIS; on QUO VADIS; reporting on I MARRIED A COMMUNIST
DALLAS
Darkness at Noon (Koestler)
Dassin, Jules
DAVID AND BATHSHEBA
Davies, Joseph E.
Davis, Bette
Davis, Nancy
DAVY CROCKETT, KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER
Davy Crockett craze
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
DAYS OF GLORY
Dean, James: death of; personality cult of; in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE
defeat in war movies
Dekker, Albert
DeMille, Cecil B.: as FBI informant; and HUAC; and MPA; SAMSON AND DELILAH; and SDG; support for Thomas E. Dewey; THE TEN COMMANDMENTS; in U.S. Information Agency
THE DESERT FOX
DESTINATION MOON
DESTINATION TOKYO
The Devil in Massachusetts (Starkey)
DEVIL’S DOORWAY
Dewey, Thomas E.
DGA (Directors Guild of America)
DIABOLIQUE
Dialectic of Enlightenment (Adorno and Horkheimer)
dp n="394" folio="371" ?difference, fear of
DiMaggio, Joe
Disney, Walt: and Davy Crockett craze; and Motion Picture Alliance; movies of; political activity
Disneyland (TV show)
Disneyland theme park
Dmytryk, Edward: blacklisting of; THE CAINE MUTINY; as Communist; CROSSFIRE; films of; and HUAC/FBI; TENDER COMRADE
D.O.A.
Dodd, Martha
DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK
Douglas, Gordon
Douglas, Helen Gahagan
DUCK AND COVER
Duclos, Jacques
Dunne, Irene
Dunne, Philip
EAST OF EDEN
EASY RIDER
Education for Death: The Making of a Nazi (Ziemer)
Egypt (moder...
Table of contents
- Title Page
- ALSO BY J. HOBERMAN
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PROLOGUE:
- I. - ALIENS AMONG US: HOLLYWOOD, 1946—47
- II. - FIGHTING FOR THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY, 1948—50
- III. - REDSKIN MENACE FROM OUTER SPACE: AMERICA AT WAR, 1950–52
- IV. - THE PAXAMERICANARAMA: EISENHOWER POWER, 1953–55
- V. - SEARCHIN’: AMERICA ON THE ROAD, 1955–56
- EPILOGUE:
- SOURCES
- INDEX
- Copyright Page