The Left Side of the Screen

Download or read book The Left Side of the Screen written by Bob Herzberg and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In examining the careers of communist and liberal actors, screenwriters, playwrights, and directors in Hollywood from the late 1920s to the present, this book uses studio and PCA correspondence, FBI files, film and theater reviews, and other sources to reveal how all of these artists were concerned with and active in the cinema of social protest. It covers the works of those liberal stars and directors who collaborated with communist artists in New York and Hollywood, including John Garfield, Canada Lee, Frances Farmer, Paul Robeson, James Edwards, and Paul Muni; liberal filmmakers like Philip Dunne; and ex-communists (and HUAC-friendly witnesses) like Elia Kazan, Edward Dmytryk, and Robert Rossen. It also looks at the activities of the Communist Party in Hollywood and the far-reaching influence of the Soviet Union.