Propaganda masquerading as popular entertainment has rarely fooled the ticket-buying public. And American audiences in particular have rarely turned out in large numbers for politically themed movies with the rare exception of a surprise hit such as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Yet despite the dismal box office potential of most movies with a political agenda, that didn’t stop some studios or filmmakers from taking an ideological stand in the guise of a genre film. Take Howard Hughes for instance. When he assumed control of RKO studios in 1948, he was already a well-known eccentric with a paranoid fear of communist infiltrators in the industry. He immediately fired almost three-fourths of the RKO work force and had the remaining staff members investigated for their political affiliations. Some of the films produced under his reign also reflected his obsession with the “Red Menace” such as The Whip Hand (1951) and Jet Pilot (1957). The most notorious Hughes concoction, however, was The Woman on Pier 13 (1949) which was originally released as I Married a Communist, prior to Senator McCarthy’s investigation of communist activity within the U.S. army, and later, the entertainment industry.
Continue reading
Cinema Sojourns 