Hollywood Divided (eBook)

The 1950 Screen Directors Guild Meeting and the Impact of the Blacklist

Kevin Brianton (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2016
174 Seiten
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-0-8131-6893-7 (ISBN)

Infos

"e;Brianton's well-documented study of a Hollywood controversy delves into one example of the post-WWII Red Scare"e; (Publishers Weekly).On October 22, 1950, the Screen Directors Guild (SDG) gathered for a meeting at the opulent Beverly Hills Hotel. Among the group's leaders were some of the most powerful men in Hollywood-John Ford, Cecil B. DeMille, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John Huston, Frank Capra, William Wyler, and Rouben Mamoulian-and the issue on the table was nothing less than a vote to dismiss Mankiewicz as the guild's president after he opposed an anticommunist loyalty oath that could have expanded the blacklist. The dramatic events of that evening have become mythic, and the legend has overshadowed the more complex realities of this crucial moment in Hollywood history.In Hollywood Divided, Kevin Brianton explores the myths associated with the famous meeting and the real events that they often obscure. He analyzes the lead-up to that fateful summit, examining the pressure exerted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Brianton reveals the internal politics of the SDG, its initial hostile response to the HUAC investigations, the conservative reprisal, and the influence of the oath on the guild and the film industry as a whole. Hollywood Divided also assesses the impact of the historical coverage of the meeting on the reputation of the three key players in the drama.Brianton's study is a provocative and revealing revisionist history of the SDG's 1950 meeting and its lasting repercussions on the film industry as well as the careers of those who participated. Hollywood Divided illuminates how both the press's and the public's penchant for the "e;exciting story"e; have perpetuated fabrications and inaccurate representations of a turning point for the film industry.Huffington Post Best Film Books of 2016Praise for Hollywood Divided"e;An authoritative reassessment of the meetings held by the Screen Directors Guild in 1950 to consider the adoption of a loyalty oath. Brianton traces the implications for the film industry and the reputations of key filmmakers, including Cecil DeMille and John Ford. He also offers sharp and illuminating reflections on the making of Hollywood history and myth."e; -Brian Neve, author of The Many Lives of Cy Endfield: Film Noir, the Blacklist and Zulu"e;A breakthrough book on a topic that historians, for the most part, have considered settled. Brianton's landmark study is fresh, thorough, and balanced, a model of Hollywood historiography. In clear prose, he takes the reader through the detailed twists and turns that created both the myth and the subsequent legend of the fateful Directors Guild Meeting that occurred during a critical time in American history."e; -James D'Arc, Curator, Cecil B. DeMille Papers, Brigham Young University

Autor

lt;P>Kevin Brianton is a lecturer in strategic communication at La Trobe University.

Inhalt

Introduction: The Myth of the Screen Directors Guild MeetingThe House Un-American Activities Commiittee Arrives in HollywoodThe Origins of the Screen Directors Guild MeetingThe Screen Directors Guild MeetingThe AftermathMankiewicz and the Making of the MythFord's Heroic StandDeMille as Anti-Communist OgreConclusion

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.11.2016
• Reihe/Serie: Screen Classics
• Verlagsort: Lexington
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Theater / Ballett
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Schlagworte: Blacklist • Cecil B. DeMille • communism • Hollywood • HUAC • John Ford • Joseph Mankiewicz • Red Scare
• ISBN-10: 0-8131-6893-7 / 0813168937
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-6893-7 / 9780813168937