blanche-2 "One of the Hollywood Ten" attempts to tell two fascinating stories: one about writer/director Herbert Biberman and the other about the filming of "Salt of the Earth." This film could not have had a very big budget, and the direction is not very good, so how anyone expected to accomplish these massive feats is anyone's guess.I am at a disadvantage: I can't possibly write anything that can compare to the comments about this film posted on IMDb, and I haven't seen Salt of the Earth. I did, however, grow up amidst the Red Scare. We in Catholic schools were warned by the nuns that the commies were coming. They would hold guns to our heads, ask us our religion, and when we answered "Catholic" (like we were all going to be real anxious to do that), we'd be shot. Communism was going to destroy the world, there were Communists under every bed, and everybody was insane on the subject. I have read and seen a good deal on HUAC, the McCarthy hearings, and Red Channels. Am I an expert? No.I will reference a couple of the IMDb postings. One states that Gale Sondergaard was NOT a major actress and that Biberman was a minor writer. I'm unsure of the implication the poster was trying to make, but I venture to say that if Biberman and Sondergaard (who were married for 40 years, until Biberman's death in 1971) had been allowed to work for the next 20 years or so, who knows what might have happened to their careers? This insanity ruined lives.Another poster made a comparison to tactics used by today's government. Well, I'll second that emotion. As he states, freedom of speech is not to be taken lightly. No, it isn't. And if anyone believes there isn't a move afoot to squelch it today, they're wrong.Others mentioned inaccuracies. I'll bring up one. According to writer Patricia Bosworth, whose father, attorney Bartley Crum, defended the Hollywood Ten, the "Hollywood Ten" were not friends, and in fact, many of them did not know one another. Crum advised them all to tell the truth at the hearings -- that when asked if they were now or had been a member of the Communist party, to disarm the committee by answering truthfully. This was shot down by whomever their adviser was because asking about anyone's political leadings is unconstitutional, and the Ten wanted to fight the hearings on constitutional grounds. In the film, one got the impression they were all friends. Crum, by the way, labeled a subversive, was haunted by the FBI until he finally got rid of them by killing himself in 1959. Also, I know this is off topic a bit, but the FBI's largest file was on Frank Sinatra, who was believed to have been sent by the communists to influence the youth of America. Great group.As far as this film, the stories were interesting, the direction was detached, and overall, it's not great. Jeff Goldblum is marvelous as Biberman, and there are some other excellent performances as well. I think the most important thing were the points made on the chirons at the end, one of which is that Salt of the Earth is the only film ever to be blacklisted. I am so grateful that it was; otherwise, we would all be communists today. Right.

sol1218 (There May be Spoilers)Freed after doing a six-month stretch in a federal prison for contempt of congress Hollywood writer/directer Herbert Biberman, Jeff Goldblum, as well as his actress wife Gale Sondergaard, Greta Scacchi,future in the world of the movies and theater in America is all but over. Being the most out-spoken of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" Herbert was especially singled out by the US State Department with him having his passport revoked making it impossible for Herbert to even get work as a writer and director of movies in friendly countries overseas.Herbert is in for one the biggest surprises of his life later in the movie when his friend and fellow Hollywood Ten, and fellow prisoner, film director Edward Dmytryk, Sean Chapman, became a friendly witness to the HUAC Committee and ratted out six fellow travelers, members or former members of the Communist party, with him being one of them.This just about sealed Herbert's coffin with no way from him to redeemed himself from his past activities and being branded a "Dirty Commie Rat" for the rest of his life. It so happened that the year 1954 was a year of destiny for both Herbert Biberman and Edward Dmytryk with both of them directing a movie of high quality that stood the test of time over the years.Edward Dmytryk directed "The Caine Mutiny" for a major Hollywood studio with top stars like Humpret Bogart Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray. Herbert Biberman directed a film about the true story of a labor strike in Silver City New Mexico by low-paid and overworked Mexican zinc mill workers with a cast of non-actors but the very workers and their families as the stars.Baseicaly a movie within a movie "One of the Hollywood Ten" zeros in on the efforts it took to film and later release the ground-breaking "Salt of the Earth" and how the FBI together with a bunch of paid-off local goons tried to prevent that film from ever seeing the light of day.Herbert who was socially conscious all his life and joined the Communist party back in the 1930's. Not because Herbert had any love for Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union but believed, unrealistically, that Communisum was the only way that those hundreds of millions exploited by the big corporations can get their share of the wealth that they provided for them with their hard and back-breaking labor which they got paid next to nothing for.The filming of the movie "Salt of the Earth" was constantly harassed by the US government with it's star Mexican peasant Rosaura Reweitas, Angela Molina, being kicked out of the US, on a bogus passport violation. This had Herbret film Rosaura's scenes in Mexico and had them smuggled back into the US to be edited into the movie. Rosaura final scene in the film is so touching simple and powerful that it ranks right up there with the final scene in "Grapes of Warth" with Henry Fonda. It took until 1965,over ten years, for "Salt of the Earth" to be released in the United States. "salt of the Earth" showed the American people how the mass hysteria of the late 1940's and 50's Communist witch hunts did far more damage to the American way of life and US Consitution then what all the subversive activities of all the Soviet agents in the US combined could have done.

jlm-6 Why, sorry? Because I played a part in this (call it a) movie and cannot be proud that I did.This was my second piece in a movie. Not a word to speak, but a name part, all the same. At first, I was thrilled... For, yes, it really was a privilege, having Jeff Goldblum's fine FINE work to watch and learn from, over the three days that I was on set. And, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and working with names I had long known, such as Shane Rimmer (Out of Africa, The Spy Who Loved Me) Greta Scacchi (Presumed Innocent, Le Violon Rouge) and Peter Bowles (To The Manor Born, The Irish R.M.). And, I'll, certainly, never forget comedian John Sessions' hilarious impersonations - between takes - of Robert de Niro, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Pesci and Roger Moore.However, I am forever embarrassed and disgusted with myself at not having trusted my own judgement and at having, instead, allowed "director" Carl Francis to "not direct" me. I would have used "misdirect", only all I saw him do (over three days) was pout and moan, but never once direct nor even misdirect the actors. I should have known not to trust him when, having been auditioned by Mr Francis, in person, I was called in to play some guy called Ring Lardner, though not told till the day before and - because I had no lines to speak - was ignored and given no background material on the character. The character, I found out, later, just happened to be one of lead character Herbert Biberman's closest friends!! Instead, I was just told to "stand there" or "sit there", with only my common sense and inexperience to rely on (I had only had a played another minor film role, prior to this).My part may have been insignificant compared to, say, Jeff Goldblum's Biberman or, indeed, compared to anyone else's. But when a director and his team decide to overlook the supposed "minor" details, you can be sure they do so because they're having trouble coping with the "bigger" stuff. And, if you ever waste a second of your life watching "One of the Hollywood Ten" you'll see what I mean!This film is a free-for-all; a riot, in the saddest sense of the word. If you had the vast self-assuredness and professional aplomb of someone like Mr Goldblum or Ms Scacchi, you were sure to do a good job (no-one to stop you!) even if your effort was later completely wasted or misplaced within the haphazard confines of Mr Francis' movie. If, on the other hand, you were a beginner, then, you were finished before you'd even had a chance to start. A cast brimming with professionals might just have made it happen, regardless of the movie's directing. Sadly, however, this was not the case, for many of the "minor" parts in the cast (and there were many slightly-above-extra roles in this film) had been filled with inexperienced English-speaking film actors, such as myself, most of us living here, in cheap-labour Spain, which is where most of the film was shot.As with any society, a film is a universe, where everything - from its subatomic particles, through to its larger atoms and, even, the greater moons and planets - needs to feel it has its place; an orbiting code. Without codes, chaos and voids appear.This film is a chaos and a void. Avoid this film!

sheldonmandrake I saw this movie on the Starz channel. I'd never heard of it. I watched it because I thought that Jeff Goldblum, being a star, would pick good projects. This movie is one of his poorer choices.Theres not much I can say about this film other than it was boring and preachy in a very amateurish kind of way, with B-movie style dialogue and unconvincing performances.I walked away from watching this mess not giving a hoot or a holler about the Hollywood Ten, Salt of the Earth, the Blacklist and above all this dreadful "student" film.In fact I hope I never hear about it ever, ever again!