One of the Hollywood Ten (2000)

Herbert Biberman struggles as a Hollywood writer and director blacklisted as one of The Hollywood Ten in the 1950s.

Director:

Karl Francis

Writer:

Karl Francis

Stars:

Jeff Goldblum, Greta Scacchi, Ángela Molina

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Goldblum	...	Herbert Biberman
Greta Scacchi	...	Gale Sondergaard
Ángela Molina	...	Rosaura Revueltas
Christopher Fulford	...	Riffkind
Antonio Valero	...	Juan Chacón
John Sessions	...	Paul Jarrico
Geraint Wyn Davies	...	Michael Wilson
Sean Chapman	...	Edward Dmytryk
Peter Bowles	...	Jack Warner
Jorge de Juan	...	Floyd
Teresa José Berganza	...	Henrietta Williams (as Teresa J. Berganza)
Jorge Bosch	...	Joe Morales
Daisy White	...	Sonya (as April Daisy White)
Luke Harrison Mendez	...	Dan (as Luke Harrison Méndez)
Trinidad Serrano	...	Joan

Storyline

Herbert Biberman struggles as a Hollywood writer and director blacklisted as one of The Hollywood Ten in the 1950s.

---

Plot Keywords:

academy awards ceremony | blacklist | anti fascism | number in title

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Spain UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 November 2001 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Hollywood Liste Rouge

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bloom Street Productions, Canal+ España, Morena Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Near the beginning of the movie, a scene set in the 1937 Academy Awards (taken from archive footage) shows a billboard reading "Edward G. Robinson in Scarlet Street.

---

Connections

References These Three (1936)

---

Soundtracks

"Twinkle in Your Eye"
Written by Richard Rodgers (as Rodgers) and Lorenz Hart (as Hart)

User Reviews

Meet the `Jeffersonian Americans'

Unfortunately, any film chronicling a specific period in history that most Americans are only barely knowledgeable about is going to have to be somewhat pedantic. To encompass the varied complexities of those `Reds' in Hollywood would come off as a history lesson that would last longer than `The Wings of War'. So a made-for-cable film like this must brush its canvas with wide strokes. This film focuses not so much on the agenda of the HUAC -for that I recommend "Tail Gunner Joe" and "Citizen Cohn"-, but on a select few of the victims of their persecution. For the most part, this film succeeds in showing what it was that these people, and other leftists in this country believed in (and still believe in). There's a great line in this film by the owner of the land where the director Biberman wants to film. He says, `I'm a Jeffersonian American'. It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." That form of liberty and equality has been a fight by the Left in this country for every generation since this country's inception. There has always been and always will be tyrants (fascists) who will try to squash that, and other tyrants (communists) who will promise liberty and equality in order to get the people to embrace their brand of tyranny. No doubt, there were many communist dupes in this country. There certainly were communist spies lurking in this country, and Stalinist and Maoist communism were verifiable threats the world over. But in post-WWII America, tyranny was used against the people in order to fight the THREAT of tyranny against the people. The principles that this country claimed to be so frightened of losing were tossed out altogether. In the USSR, people who didn't name names were sent to Siberia or executed. In the USA, the penalties were much less severe, but the process of unveiling ‘dissidents' was the same. Plus, there was the very audacious fact that most of those brought up in front of the HUAC were in fact the `real' Americans; the Jeffersonian Americans who believed in democracy and the principles of liberty and equality.

`One of the Hollywood Ten' is a good introduction to those who wanted desperately to bring those principles to every American. They knew that a country that is oppressive and does not value equal rights for all is perfect bait for communism (as well as for fascism –the two are strikingly similar in practice). They also knew that if they didn't present the populace with the very real struggle that the millions of oppressed people in this country faced, those oppressed people might very well embrace the false liberty that communists promised. Everyone is aware of the fact that the silver screen (broadened today by TV) is a very powerful tool. But it cannot be manipulated to make people join another system of government if their own system government is sound. The left wing of Hollywood set to make it sound (something that people who opposed free speech, integration and decent housing and safe working environments did not want to see). Had the Hollywood Ten been able to continue their mission, perhaps the equalities and freedoms we enjoy today would have come sooner. And there would have been more great cinematic achievements like `Salt of the Earth'. I do think that `One of the Hollywood Ten' should have shown more of the conditions in this country that were so perfectly depicted in `Salt of the Earth' (such as racism, shameful poverty, and unsafe working conditions). But it does at least give us a valued glimpse of the hearts and minds of those who retained this country's greatness in its darkest hour.