One of the Hollywood Ten (2000)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Karl Francis

Writer:

Karl Francis (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

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

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Punto de mira (Spain)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Spain | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Spain:7

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Bloom Street Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film depicts many 50-star United States flags (should be 48 in 1947).

Movie Connections:

References Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Soundtrack:

Twinkle in Your Eye

How to Garble History Without Really Trying

The comments on this film to date are some of the most intelligent and knowledgeable I have yet to read anywhere on the imdb site. Even those who have little use for the ideologies of the original Hollywood Ten writers and directors present some views about the film itself that make sense. It is almost as if this drama within a movie production about another movie has taken on a life of its own.

I am particularly struck by the comments of people who actually knew either the real characters or the actors who portray them in this production. How often does one get to read that kind of material? Truly impressive.

The film itself is without much life, unfortunately. It looks about as much like the real Silver City as some place in South Africa, with extras frequently standing around ogling the camera while Goldblum et al. speechify. I knew it was made in Spain, but why? Even the Greyhound bus sign is completely bogus for its time. And there are very few real Mexican-Americans who look or act like Spaniards, even the criollo descendants of New Mexico colonists from the seventeenth century.

My own grandfather was a member of the union who worked the big copper pits near Silver City. He would have laughed his head off at this lame depiction of the ongoing troubles between labor and management that were far more complex and life-threatening than anything portrayed here. (And continue to a lesser scale in the mines around here even today.)

The real Gale Sondergaard I will always remember as the quintessential German spy who scared the life out of me back in the early 40's.