A riveting chronicle of Communist Party efforts to propagate Communism in the United States, concurrent with Hollywood's "Golden Age" of creativity that came to define classical Hollywood cinema.
From the Great Depression through World War II, the American Communist Party tried to take control of the motion picture industry. This comprehensive and chronological account of Communist influence in Hollywood surveys the topic from the Popular Front's fight against Fascism during the 1930s to the height of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in the late 1940s.
Birdnow, an established historian and chronicler of domestic Communism, outlines Communist International's organizational efforts promoting international communism, focusing on the work of Communist political activists such as Willi MĂźnzenberg, a media mogul with an international network; Gerhart Eisler, patron of a Hollywood composer; and Otto Katz, a high-profile publicist of the party line involved in movies in the 1930s and 1940s.
The book explores the covert ways in which Hollywood Communists and Soviet sympathizers attempted to tailor movie scripts to suit the Soviet agenda and discusses Communist front groups such as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League in great detail. Final chapters offer convincing proof that the directors, producers, and screenwriters blacklisted by studios for their possible Communist affiliations, known as the Hollywood Ten, were members of the Communist Party.

- 144 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1Â Â Â Origins of the Hollywood Communist Party
- Chapter 2Â Â Â The American Component
- Chapter 3Â Â Â CPUSA-Hollywood and the Popular Front Against Fascism
- Chapter 4Â Â Â Hollywood and the Good War
- Chapter 5Â Â Â Golden Age Sunset
- Chapter 6Â Â Â The HUAC Hearings
- Chapter 7Â Â Â Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author
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Yes, you can access The Subversive Screen by Brian E. Birdnow in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Film & Video. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.