Join hosts Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Tim Jones as they discuss Abraham Polonsky’s debut film FORCE OF EVIL, a 1948 crime picture starring John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, and Thomas Gomez. FORCE OF EVIL is one of thirteen movies the critic and filmmaker Thom Andersen identifies as film gris, or socially conscious crime cinema made from 1947 to 1951, during the height of the notorious House Un-American Activities hearings. In 1951, Polonsky refused to testify before his own HUAC hearing, and was subsequently blacklisted. He only directed two other films, Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969) and Romance of a Horsethief (1971), and remained a committed marxist all his life. We hope you enjoy this episode!

Join hosts Jason, Anthony, and Tim as they discuss Robert Rossen’s Body and Soul, a 1947 boxing film that critic Thom Andersen categorizes as film gris, or socially conscious crime cinema during the film noir years (1940s through the 1950s). Rossen testified at a HUAC hearing in 1951, pleaded the Fifth Amendment, and was blacklisted. Two years later, he testified again and this time he named 57 names and was given his career back in Hollywood. Rossen went on to direct several more features, including the celebrated pool epic The Hustler (1961) and Lilith (1964), starring Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg. We hope you enjoy!

Join hosts Jason, Anthony, and Tim as they discuss John Berry's He Ran All the Way, a 1951 crime drama in the film noir and film gris traditions. The film stars John Garfield, who was shortly thereafter blacklisted and died of a heart attack at age 39. The screenplay is written by Hugo Butler and Dalton Trumbo, both blacklisted, as was the director, John Berry.

We also discuss Berry's short documentary The Hollywood Ten (1950), a fundarising agitprop documentary about the ten Hollywood personnel jailed in federal prison for contempt of congress in 1050. Here are their names:

• Alvah Bessie, screenwriter
• Herbert Biberman, screenwriter and director
• Lester Cole, screenwriter
• Edward Dmytryk, director
• Ring Lardner Jr., screenwriter
• John Howard Lawson, screenwriter
• Albert Maltz, screenwriter
• Samuel Ornitz, screenwriter
• Adrian Scott, producer and screenwriter
• Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter

For more inormation on the 1945 "Black Friday" Hollywood strike that Tony references in the episode, check out this article he co-wrote with Gerald Horne!

We hope you enjoy!