“I used to think there was one America, but there are two. There's no place for me in McPherson's and Hearst's America, but there is in Lincoln's and Roosevelts!”

This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss Mikhaill Romm’s 1948 drama, The Russian Question. In this Soviet production, winner of the 1948 Stalin Prize and based on a play of the same name by Konstantin Siminov, a mendacious newspaper editor sends columnist Harry Smith to the Soviet Union to write a book critical of socialism. But when the principled columnist returns to the United States, he quickly realizes that the American press intends to turn the Russian question—whether the Russians want war—into a statement with dangerous geopolitical ramifications.

Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we consider:

• The role of editing or montage in the construction of political critiques in aesthetic form

• Why the President of the Motion Picture Association called this a “sneering, lying attack on the United States” and an “open bid to stir contempt and hatred for America on the part of the Russian audiences,” and why he got it all wrong

• How a Soviet film about a sensationalist American news media helps us understand our current political moment

_____________________

We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode:

Paul recommends Clarence Brown’s 1949 drama Intruder in the Dust.

Tony recommends Langston Hughes 1961 collection, Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz.

Jason recommends Mikhail Romm’s 1961 drama Nine Days in One Year.

_____________________

Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com.

To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at coldwarcinema.com, or find us online on Bluesky @coldwarcinema.com or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema.

In this crossover episode with Rakeem Shabazz of Wise the Dome TV, Cold War Cinema co-host Anthony Ballas discusses the recent documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (dir. Johan Grimonprez 2024). The documentary explores the weaponization of jazz music during the Cold War, the contradictions of using Black art to mask American imperialism, and the legacy of artists like Louis Armstrong, Max Roach, and Nina Simone. Ballas breaks down how the film links Cold War coups and cultural propaganda to present-day resource extraction in the Congo, and why the documentary’s archival style is itself a radical political act. Ballas also discusses his recent piece on the film (co-authored with Gerald Horne), "Antidote to Soft Power: Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack to a Coup d’État" for Scalawag Magazine.

Please subscribe to the podcast, and don't forget to leave a review!

Also, make sure you check out and subscribe to Wise the Dome TV.

_____________________

Logo by Jason Christian

Theme music by DYAD (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt).

Please drop us a line anytime at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com.

Happy listening!

This is a crossover episode with The Socialist Shelf podcast. Our co-host Jason and his wife, Ankita, were invited on the Socialist Shelf to dicuss a radical cinema educational project they run in Atlanta called Resistance Cinema, as well as the role that radical cinema plays in social movemets. Ankita is a Bollywood expert and the co-host of the The Desi Gaze, a podcast about overlooked Hindi cinema. We hope you enjoy this show! Don't forget to subscribe to The Socialist Shelf and The Desi Gaze, and leave us a review!

Jason's article referenced in the podcast is a review of the book Revolution in 35mm, co-edited by Andrew Nette and Samm Deighan. Jacob, from The Socialist Shelf, has written a novel, and you can pre-order it here. Music for The Socialist Shelf by Solo Monk (@SoloMonk256 on Twitter).