Join hosts Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Tim Jones as they discuss Herbert J. Biberman's iconic independent masterpiece Salt of the Earth (1954). The film is based on the real-life Empire Zinc strike in 1951 in Grant County, New Mexico, and was self-financed and made entirely outside the studio system using mostly non-professional actors, many of them actual miners playing versions of themselves. Jason compares the the film to Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 masterpiece The Battle of Algiers in terms of its scrappy production, dialectical sctructure, and Marxist themes. (You can hear him gush about that film on another podcast, linked here.) Biberman was one of the Hollywood Ten and he was blacklisted, as were the screenwriter, Michael Wilson, and the producer, Paul Jarrico. The Hollywood apparatus and law enforcement attempted to sabotage the production of Salt of the Earth on numerous occasions, going as far as getting the lead actress, Rosaura Revueltas, deported to Mexico on trumped up charges. Although she was from a prominent family of artists and writers, she was blacklisted and never acted in another Mexican film.

As always please suscribe to the podcast if you like what you hear, and don't forget to leave us a review! Happy listening!

Join hosts Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Tim Jones as they discuss Irving Pichel's 1950 crime thriller Quicksand, starring Mickey Rooney, Peter Lorre, Jeanne Cagney, and Barbara Bates. The film's plot revolves around Rooney's character making one bad decision after another, shattering his moral compass along the way. The implicit message, heavy-handed in its delivery, is that poverty breeds crime. Pichel was one of the so-called "unfriendly nineteen" brought before HUAC hearings in 1947. That group was whittled down to ten and later dubbed the Hollywood Ten. Pichel was blacklisted along with the others who refused to testify.

We hope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe and rate the show if you feel so inclined. And if you have any comments, recomendations, or questions, feel free to email them to us at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. Happy listening!

Join hosts Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Tim Jones as they discuss Michael Gordon's 1951 drama I Can Get It for You Wholesale, a film that explores the cutthroat fashion industry in New York City's garment district. It was written by Abraham Polonsky and Vera Caspary and stars Susan Hayward, Dan Dailey, and George Sanders. Gordon and Polonsky were blacklisted during the infamous HUAC anti-communist hearings. After the blacklist lifted, Gordon returned to Hollywood to direct several light-hearted comedies. We hope you enjoy this episode and, as always, please subscribe and rate the show if you feel so inclined!