Hollywood on Trial

1976 film

November 1976 (1976-11)

Running time

105 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Hollywood on Trial is a 1976 American documentary film directed by David Helpern.^[2]

Synopsis

The film chronicles the 1947 hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, with a focus on the Hollywood Ten directors, screenwriters and producers cited for contempt of Congress and blacklisted by the movie industry after refusing to answer questions about their alleged involvement with the Communist Party. The documentary is narrated by John Huston^[3] and includes archival footage from the hearings and interviews with key participants in the hearings and studio figures affected by those events.^[4]

Accolades

It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, but lost to Barbara Kopple's Harlan County USA.^[5]^[6]

Cast

John Huston - Narrator^[7]
Walter Bernstein - Himself
Alvah Bessie - Himself
Lester Cole - Himself
Gary Cooper - Himself (archive footage)
Henry Daniell - Himself (archive footage)
Howard Da Silva - Himself
Walt Disney - Himself (archive footage)
Edward Dmytryk - Himself
Will Geer - Himself
Millard Lampell - Himself
Ring Lardner Jr. - Himself
Albert Maltz - Himself
Ben Margolis - Himself
Louis B. Mayer - Himself (archive footage)
Joseph McCarthy - Himself (archive footage)
Zero Mostel - Himself
Otto Preminger - Himself
Ronald Reagan - Himself
Martin Ritt - Himself
Dore Schary - Himself
Gale Sondergaard - Herself
Leo Townsend - Himself
Dalton Trumbo - Himself

References

^ Documentary Winners: 1977 Oscars
^ MUBI
^ Turner Classic Movies
^ Emanuel Levy
^ "The 49th Academy Awards (1977) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
^ "NY Times: Hollywood on Trial". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2011. Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
^ BFI