Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies

by Paul M. Buhle, David Wagner

Radical Hollywood is the first comprehensive history of the Hollywood Left. From the dawn of sound movies to the early 1950s, Paul Buhle and Dave Wagner trace the political and personal lives of the screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers on the Left and the often decisive impact of their work upon American film's Golden Age. Full of rich anecdotes, biographical detail, and explorations of movies well known, unjustly forgotten, and delightfully bizarre, the book is "an intelligent, well argued and absorbing examination of how politics and art can make startling and often strange bedfellows" ( Publishers Weekly ). Featuring an insert of rare film stills, Radical Hollywood relates the story behind the story of films in such genres as crime, women's films, family cinema, war, animation, and, particularly, film noir.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History

460 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Now retired as Senior Lecturer at Brown University, Paul Merlyn Buhle is the author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of nonfiction comic art volumes.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The truth is hard to find when everyone has an agenda. Hollywood and politics have had a complicated relationship for many years, and this excellent book shows how Leftist influence (and the controversial blacklist) changed Hollywood during the 1920s through the 1950s. The authors mix research (a lot of interesting facts about the films, actors, and directors are scattered throughout the book) and political acumen to produce a detailed analysis of progressive politics and how they shaped the resulting films like Hopalong Cassidy, Public Enemy, and The Wizard of Oz. The authors have a real love of cinema, and this shows in the stills from the films as well as the detailed footnotes in each chapter.

[Lewis Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read about the nations politics and how Hollywood movies pleyed their part in our collective culture. From the Hayes Commission through the Blacklists that ruined the creative careers of the screenwriters, directors, and actors.

So many films to watch. This is a reference book.

[Caitlin]

Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies by Paul Buhle (2003)

[Tad Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, thorough research, and a good job of placing it in historical/cultural context.