Gun Crazy (also known as Deadly Is the Female ) is a 1950 American crime film noir starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. It was directed by Joseph H. Lewis , and produced by Frank and Maurice King .
133-693: The screenplay by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (credited to Millard Kaufman because of the blacklist) and MacKinlay Kantor was based upon a short story by Kantor published in 1940 in The Saturday Evening Post . In 1998, Gun Crazy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Teenager Barton "Bart" Tare gets caught breaking
266-553: A 20 percent stake in the common shares of the joint venture, with the remaining 20 percent of common shares held by lawyer and advisor William Gibbs McAdoo . The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier. Already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work. They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over actor salaries and creative decisions,
399-711: A 65th-anniversary article in 2012, Wilkerson's son apologized for THR' s role in the blacklist and added that his father was motivated by revenge for his own thwarted ambition to own a film studio. In late September 1947, drawing upon the lists provided in The Hollywood Reporter , the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed forty-two persons working in the film industry to testify at hearings. The HUAC had declared its intention to investigate whether Communist agents were sneaking propaganda into American films. Of
532-553: A century later. Other successful projects backed in this period included the Pink Panther series, which began in 1964, and Spaghetti Westerns , which made a star of Clint Eastwood in the films of A Fistful of Dollars , For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly . In 1964, the French subsidiary, Les Productions Artistes Associés, released its first production That Man from Rio . In 1965, UA released
665-408: A conspiracy outside all the legal processes to undermine the very fundamental American concepts upon which our entire system of democracy exists. Stander was clearly speaking of the committee itself. The hunt for subversives extended into every branch of the entertainment industry. In the field of animation, two studios in particular were affected: United Productions of America (UPA) was purged of
798-427: A famous pro- Loyalist speech by La Pasionaria about it being 'better to die on your feet than to live on your knees' into a pep talk delivered by a football coach." Others have argued that Communists did affect the film industry by suppressing production of works they politically opposed. In a Reason magazine article entitled "Hollywood's Missing Movies", Kenneth Billingsley cites a case where Trumbo "bragged" in
931-480: A form of suicide on the installment plan." For all that transpired in the HUAC hearings, the proof that Communists actually used Hollywood films as vehicles for subversion remained hard to come by. Schulberg reported how his manuscript for the novel What Makes Sammy Run? (later a screenplay also) had been subject to ideological critique by Hollywood Ten writer John Howard Lawson , whose comments he had solicited. But
1064-409: A grocer, but Bart stops her in time. The couple have now been identified in national newspapers as notorious robbers. Bart says he is done with a life of crime. Laurie persuades him to take on one last big robbery so they can flee the country and live in peace and comfort. They get jobs at a meat processing plant and make detailed plans. When they hold up the payroll department, the office manager pulls
1197-399: A hardware store window to steal a gun. He is sent to reform school for four years despite the supportive testimony of his friends Dave and Clyde, his older sister Ruby and others. They claim he would never kill any living creature, even though he has had a fascination with guns even as a child. Flashbacks provide a portrait of Bart who, after killing a young chick with a BB gun at age seven,
1330-442: A large portion of its staff, while New York-based Tempo was entirely crushed. HUAC investigations sometimes had the effect of destroying families. For example, screenwriter Richard Collins , after a brief period on the blacklist, became a friendly witness and abandoned his wife, actress Dorothy Comingore , who refused to name names. After divorcing Comingore, Collins gained custody of the couple's young son as well. The family's story
1463-473: A local company. In 1941, Pickford, Chaplin, Disney, Orson Welles , Goldwyn, Selznick, Alexander Korda, and Wanger—many of whom were members of United Artists—formed the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP). Later members included Hunt Stromberg , William Cagney , Sol Lesser , and Hal Roach . The Society aimed to advance the interests of independent producers in an industry controlled by
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#17327940234151596-530: A man without any known political views or associations, suddenly had his career yanked out from under him because the American Legion confused him with Louis Pollack, a California clothier, who had refused to co-operate with HUAC." Orson Bean recalled that he had briefly been placed on the blacklist after dating a member of the Party, despite his own politics being conservative. During this same period,
1729-609: A new company with Darryl F. Zanuck , called Twentieth Century Pictures , which soon provided four pictures a year, forming half of UA's schedule. Schenck formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name. They began international operations, first in Canada, and then in Mexico. By the end of the 1930s, United Artists was represented in over 40 countries. When he
1862-464: A number of powerful newspaper columnists covering the entertainment industry, including Walter Winchell , Hedda Hopper , Victor Riesel , Jack O'Brian , and George Sokolsky , regularly suggested names that should be added to the blacklist. Actor John Ireland received an out-of-court settlement to end a 1954 lawsuit against the Young & Rubicam advertising agency, which had ordered him dropped from
1995-461: A process that evolved into the studio system . With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized. When he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland , head of Metro Pictures , apparently said, "The inmates are taking over the asylum." The four partners, with advice from McAdoo (son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson ), formed their distribution company. Hiram Abrams
2128-447: A profitable rental library, including Associated Artists Productions , owners of Warner Bros. pre-1950 features, shorts and cartoons and 231 Popeye cartoon shorts purchased from Paramount Pictures in 1958, becoming United Artists Associated , its distribution division. In 1963, UA released two Stanley Kramer films, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and A Child Is Waiting . In 1964, UA introduced U.S. film audiences to
2261-481: A substantial success, Moulin Rouge (1952). As well as The African Queen UA also had success with High Noon in their first year, earning a profit of $ 313,000 compared to a loss of $ 871,000 the previous year. Other clients followed, among them Stanley Kramer , Otto Preminger , Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions , and actors newly freed from studio contracts and seeking to produce or direct their own films. With
2394-513: A train and get off near Ruby's house. Clyde, then the local sheriff, notices that the house has the curtains drawn and the children are not in school. He informs Dave, and the two plead with Bart to give himself and Laurie up. Instead, the couple flee into the mountains. Pursued by police dogs, they are surrounded in reed grass the next morning. In dense fog, Dave and Clyde approach to try to reason with them. As soon as Bart sees Laurie preparing to gun them down, he shoots her and is, in turn, killed by
2527-542: A venture premised on allowing actors to control their own financial and artistic interests rather than being dependent upon commercial studios. After numerous ownership and structural changes and revamps, United Artists was acquired by media conglomerate Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1981 for a reported $ 350 million ($ 1.2 billion today). On September 22, 2014, MGM acquired a controlling interest in One Three Media and Lightworkers Media and merged them to revive
2660-402: A wild idea: let them take over United Artists for ten years. If UA was profitable in one of the next three years, they would have the option to acquire half the company by the end of the ten years and take full control. Fox Film Corporation president Spyros Skouras extended United Artists a $ 3 million loan through Krim and Benjamin's efforts. In taking over UA, Krim and Benjamin created
2793-545: A witch hunter if the witches are Communists. I am a Red-baiter . I would like to see them all back in Russia." Unlike the friendly witnesses, other leading Hollywood figures—including directors John Huston , Billy Wilder , and William Wyler ; and actors Lauren Bacall , Lucille Ball , Humphrey Bogart , Bette Davis , Henry Fonda , John Garfield , Judy Garland , Sterling Hayden , Katharine Hepburn , Danny Kaye , Gene Kelly , Myrna Loy , and Edward G. Robinson —protested
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#17327940234152926-417: Is a fairly literature business. Even if the young desperadoes aren’t motivated, apparently beyond Miss Cummins’ grim appreciation of money and her partner’s general restlessness, neither are they sentimentalized or offered as luckless tools of society. The dialogue is quite good and the photography is first-rate....The main drawbacks are the stars themselves, who look more like fugitives from a 4-H Club than from
3059-516: Is hesitant to shoot at anything, even a mountain lion with a bounty on its head. However, he is a dead shot with a handgun. After reform school and a stint in the Army teaching marksmanship, Bart returns home. He, Dave, and Clyde go to a traveling carnival in town. Once there, Bart challenges sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr ("Laurie") to a contest and wins. She gets him a job with the carnival and he becomes smitten with her. Their mutual attraction inflames
3192-584: Is really sportsmanlike. I don't think this is American. I don't think this is American justice. Parks ultimately testified, becoming, albeit reluctantly, a "friendly witness", and found himself blacklisted anyway. The legal tactics of those refusing to testify had changed by this time. Instead of relying on the First Amendment, they invoked the Fifth Amendment 's shield against self-incrimination (although, as before, Communist Party membership
3325-479: Is today referred to as the Waldorf Statement . The statement said the ten uncooperative witnesses would be fired or suspended without pay and not re-employed until they were cleared of contempt charges and had sworn that they were not Communists. The first Hollywood blacklist was in effect. The HUAC hearings failed to turn up any proof that Hollywood was secretly disseminating Communist propaganda, but
3458-622: The Daily Worker about quashing films with anti-Soviet content: among them were proposed adaptations of Arthur Koestler 's anti- totalitarian books Darkness at Noon and The Yogi and the Commissar , which described the rise of communism in Russia, and Victor Kravchenko 's I Chose Freedom . Authors Ronald and Allis Radosh make a similar point in Red Star over Hollywood that prominent anti-Communist books were only influential "in
3591-656: The Philadelphia City Paper , wrote in 2008: "The codes of the time prevented Lewis from being explicit about the extent to which their fast-blooming romance is fueled by their mutual love of weaponry (Arthur Penn would rip off the covers in Bonnie and Clyde , which owes Gun Crazy a substantial debt), but when Cummins' six-gun dangles provocatively as she gasses up their jalopy, it's clear what really fills their collective tank." The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of film critics gave
3724-457: The 1971 screen version of Fiddler on the Roof . However, the 1972 film version of Man of La Mancha was a failure. New talent was encouraged, including Woody Allen , Robert Altman , Sylvester Stallone , Saul Zaentz , Miloš Forman , and Brian De Palma . With UA being the distributor for Woody Allen's Bananas (1971), it started as the distributor for a series of Woody Allen films. With
3857-618: The FBI . The following year, the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA), a political action group co-founded by Walt Disney, issued a pamphlet written by Ayn Rand and entitled "Screen Guide for Americans". It advised film producers on the avoidance of "subtle communistic touches" in their films. The pamphlet's advice was encapsulated in a list of ideological prohibitions, such as "Don't Smear
3990-479: The Mirisch brothers , Billy Wilder , Joseph E. Levine and others. In 1961, United Artists released West Side Story , which won ten Academy Awards (including Best Picture ). In 1960, UA purchased Ziv Television Programs . UA's television division was responsible for shows such as Gilligan's Island , The Fugitive , Outer Limits , and The Patty Duke Show . The television unit had begun to build up
4123-674: The "alien minded Russian Jews in Hollywood." Mississippi congressman John E. Rankin , an HUAC member, held a press conference to declare that "one of the most dangerous plots ever instigated for the overthrow of this Government has its headquarters in Hollywood ... the greatest hotbed of subversive activities in the United States." Rankin promised, "We're on the trail of the tarantula now, and we're going to follow through." Reports of Soviet repression in Eastern and Central Europe in
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4256-635: The 1980s. As part of the deal, UA acquired MGM's music publishing operation, Robbins, Feist, Miller. In 1975, Harry Saltzman sold UA his 50 percent stake in Danjaq , the holding-company for the Bond films. UA released One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975, which won the Best Picture Academy Award and was UA's highest-grossing film, with a gross of $ 163 million. UA followed with
4389-479: The American , written by and starring Fairbanks, was a success. Funding for movies was limited. Without selling stock to the public like other studios, all United had for finance was weekly prepayment installments from theater owners for upcoming movies. As a result, production was slow, and the company distributed an average of only five films a year in its first five years. By 1924, Griffith had dropped out, and
4522-590: The Beatles by releasing A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965). At the same time, it backed two expatriate North Americans in Britain, who had acquired screen rights to Ian Fleming 's James Bond novels. For $ 1 million, UA backed Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli 's Dr. No in 1963 and launched the James Bond franchise . The franchise outlived UA's time as a major studio, continuing half
4655-539: The Constitution of the United States by depriving artists and others of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness without due process of law ... I can tell names and cite instances and I am one of the first victims of it ... [This is] a group of ex-Fascists and America-Firsters and anti-Semites, people who hate everybody, including Negroes, minority groups, and most likely themselves ... [T]hese people are engaged in
4788-865: The Free Enterprise System", "Don't Smear Industrialists", "Don't Smear Wealth", "Don't Smear the Profit Motive", "Don't Deify 'the Common Man'", and "Don't Glorify the Collective." On July 29, 1946, William R. Wilkerson , publisher and founder of The Hollywood Reporter (THR), titled his front-page "Tradeviews" column, "A Vote for Joe Stalin ". In the column, Wilkerson named as Communist sympathizers Dalton Trumbo , Maurice Rapf , Lester Cole , Howard Koch , Harold Buchman, John Wexley , Ring Lardner Jr. , Harold Salemson , Henry Meyers, Theodore Strauss, and John Howard Lawson . Over
4921-511: The HUAC and formed the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA). A sizable CFA delegation flew to Washington, D.C. on a chartered plane in October to voice their opposition to the government's political harassment of the film industry. A few CFA members, such as Hayden, had privately assured Bogart they were not Communists. During the HUAC hearings, a local Washington paper reported that Hayden
5054-658: The HUAC released a report in 1938 claiming that communism was pervasive in the movie industry. Two years later, Dies privately took testimony from a former Communist Party member, John L. Leech, who named forty-two movie professionals as Communists. After Leech repeated his charges in supposed confidence to a Los Angeles grand jury, many of the names were leaked to the press, including those of stars Humphrey Bogart , James Cagney , Katharine Hepburn , Melvyn Douglas and Fredric March , among other Hollywood figures. Dies said he would "clear" those who cooperated by meeting with him in what he termed "executive session". Within two weeks of
5187-612: The HUAC when it was discovered he had written some music reviews for a Communist newspaper. After he refused to name names, pointing out that he had never attended a Communist Party meeting, he found himself composing music for movies such as Cat Women of the Moon . While there were film artists like Parks and Dmytryk who eventually cooperated with the HUAC, other friendly witnesses gave damaging testimony with less apparent hesitation or reluctance, most notably director Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg . Their willingness to describe
5320-580: The House committee's investigation as unconstitutional – political pressure mounted on the film industry to demonstrate its "anti-subversive" bona fides. Late in the hearings, Eric Johnston , president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), vowed to the committee that he would never "employ any proven or admitted Communist because they are just a disruptive force, and I don't want them around." On November 17,
5453-560: The James Bond, Pink Panther, and Woody Allen films, UA had a series of films based on well known characters in the 1970s. In 1973, United Artists took over the sales and distribution of MGM 's films in Anglo-America . Cinema International Corporation assumed international distribution rights for MGM's films and carried on to United International Pictures (made from CIC and UA's International assets being owned by partner MGM) in
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5586-483: The King Brothers to make sows’ ears out of silk purses.” In his 1998 book Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir , critic and film historian Eddie Muller commends the production. "Joseph H. Lewis's direction", he notes, "is propulsive, possessed of a confident, vigorous simplicity that all the frantic editing and visual pyrotechnics of the filmmaking progeny never quite surpassed." Sam Adams, media critic for
5719-550: The May 1948 issue of Photoplay magazine, that vigorously denied he was a Communist sympathizer. The Tenney Committee , which had continued its state-level investigations, summoned songwriter Ira Gershwin to explain his involvement with the First Amendment Committee because involvement alone was sufficient to arouse suspicion. A number of non-governmental organizations participated in enforcing and expanding
5852-473: The Party's activities. Even during the period of its strictest enforcement from the late 1940s to late 1950s, the blacklist was rarely made explicit nor was it easily verifiable. Instead, it was the result of numerous individual decisions implemented by studio executives and was not the result of formal legal statute. Nevertheless, the blacklist directly damaged or ended the careers and incomes of scores of persons working in film, television, and radio. Although
5985-505: The Red-baiting activities of J. Edgar Hoover 's FBI. Adversaries of HUAC such as lawyer Bartley Crum – who defended Hollywood Ten members in front of the committee – were themselves branded as Communist sympathizers and targeted for investigation. The FBI tapped Crum's phones, opened his mail, and placed him under continuous surveillance. As a consequence, he lost most of his clients and, unable to cope with
6118-536: The Screen Actors Guild voted to make its officers swear a loyalty pledge asserting each was not a Communist. On November 24, the House of Representatives voted 346 to 17 to approve citations against the Hollywood Ten for contempt of Congress. The next day, after a meeting of 50 film industry executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, MPAA President Johnston issued a press release that
6251-526: The Screen Writers Guild or CPUSA, citing their First Amendment right to freedom of speech , opinion, and association. Most of the Ten challenged the legitimacy of the committee itself. John Howard Lawson said during his testimony: "I am not on trial here, Mr. Chairman. This committee is on trial here before the American people. Let us get that straight." Among the questions they declined to answer
6384-407: The U.S. Congress now under Democratic control, HUAC launched a second investigation of communism in Hollywood. As actor Larry Parks said when called before the panel, Don't present me with the choice of either being in contempt of this committee and going to jail or forcing me to really crawl through the mud to be an informer. For what purpose? I don't think it is a choice at all. I don't think this
6517-512: The anticipated George Stevens' production of The Greatest Story Ever Told and was at the time, the most expensive film which was budgeted at $ 20 million. Max Von Sydow, in the role of Jesus Christ, led an all-star cast which included Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Martin Landau, Dorothy McGuire, Sal Mineo, Ina Balin, Joanna Dunham, David McCallum, Nehemiah Persoff, Donald Pleasence, José Ferrer and Ed Wynn. The film did not make back its budget and
6650-447: The author was entirely free to accept it or reject it as he or she pleased without incurring the slightest "consequence" or sanction.'" Much of the onscreen evidence of Communist influence uncovered by the HUAC was flimsy at best. One witness remembered Stander, while performing in a film, whistling the left-wing " Internationale " as his character waited for an elevator. "Another noted that screenwriter Lester Cole had inserted lines from
6783-481: The back. Lewis kept the onscreen conversations fresh by having the actors improvise their dialogue. The New York Times wrote: “Even with some adroit camouflaging, the Palace’s new picture...is pretty cheap stuff. ‘Gun Crazy’ just about covers it....this spurious concoction is basically on par with the most humdrum pulp fiction....In all fairness to Mr. Kantor’s idea, the actual script, which he wrote with Millard Kuafman,
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#17327940234156916-495: The best known actors to name names. Time Out Film Guide argues that On the Waterfront is "undermined" by its "embarrassing special pleading on behalf of informers." United Artists United Artists ( UA ) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios . In its original operating period, UA was founded in 1919 by Charlie Chaplin , D.W. Griffith , Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as
7049-399: The blacklist had no official end date, it was generally recognized to have weakened by 1960, the year when Dalton Trumbo – a CPUSA member from 1943 to 1948 and one of the "Hollywood Ten" – was openly hired by director Otto Preminger to write the screenplay for Exodus (1960). Several months later, actor Kirk Douglas publicly acknowledged that Trumbo wrote
7182-430: The blacklist were played out metaphorically on the big screen in various ways. As described by film historian James Chapman, " Carl Foreman , who had refused to testify before the committee, wrote the western High Noon (1952), in which a town marshal (played, ironically, by friendly witness Gary Cooper ) finds himself deserted by the good citizens of Hadleyville (read: Hollywood) when a gang of outlaws who had terrorized
7315-634: The blacklist; in particular, the American Legion , the conservative war veterans' group, was instrumental in pressuring the studios to ban Communists and fellow travelers. In 1949, the Americanism Division of the Legion issued its own blacklist – a roster of 128 people who it claimed were part of the "Communist Conspiracy". Among the names on the Legion's list was that of playwright Lillian Hellman . Hellman had written or contributed to
7448-429: The blacklisted Dalton Trumbo inadvertently received screen credit for having written, years earlier, the story on which the screenplay for Columbia Pictures ' Emergency Wedding was based. But "lapses" of that kind were not repeated. There were no more instances of film accrediting of blacklisted individuals until 1960. For example, the name of Albert Maltz , who had written the original screenplay for The Robe in
7581-458: The burglar alarm and Laurie shoots her dead. While fleeing the plant, Laurie also kills a security guard. Bart does not realize at the time that both victims are dead, but learns about it later from a newspaper. Laurie then discloses she shot a man dead in St. Louis while she and Packett were attempting a hold-up. She claims that these murders happened because her fear makes her unable to think straight in
7714-642: The byline "A Transamerica Company" be removed on the prints and in all advertising. At one point, the parent company expressed its desire to phase out the UA name and replace it with Transamerica Films. Krim tried to convince Transamerica to spin off United Artists, but he and Transamerica's chairman could not come to an agreement. Finally in 1978, following a dispute with Transamerica chief John R. Beckett over administrative expenses, UA's top executives, including chairman Krim, president Eric Pleskow , Benjamin and other key officers walked out. Within days they announced
7847-468: The cases arrived before the Supreme Court . Among the submissions filed in defense of the Ten was an amicus curiae brief signed by 204 Hollywood professionals. After the court denied review, the ten men began serving their prison sentences in 1950. One of them, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo , said during an interview for the documentary film Hollywood On Trial (1976): As far as I was concerned, it
7980-416: The cast of the television sitcom The Aldrich Family , in which she had been cast as Mrs. Aldrich. NBC had received between 20 and 30 phone calls protesting her being in the show. General Foods , the sponsor, said that it would not sponsor programs in which "controversial persons" were featured. Though the company later received thousands of calls protesting the decision, it was not reversed. In 1951, with
8113-801: The committee in late September to testify about their Communist affiliations and associates. The contempt citation included a criminal charge that led to a highly publicized trial and conviction, with a maximum of one year in jail in addition to a $ 1,000 fine ($ 12,700 today). The Congressional action prompted a group of studio executives, acting under the aegis of the Association of Motion Picture Producers , to suspend without pay these ten film artists – initially labeled "The Unfriendly Ten" but soon changed to "The Hollywood Ten" – and to pledge that "thereafter no Communists or other subversives would 'knowingly' be employed in Hollywood." The blacklist eventually expanded beyond ten into
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#17327940234158246-415: The company was facing a crisis. Veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. He had produced pictures for a decade, and brought commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge , his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge , and his brother-in-law, Buster Keaton . Contracts were signed with independent producers, including Samuel Goldwyn , and Howard Hughes . In 1933, Schenck organized
8379-408: The company. The company made Marty which won 1955's Palme d'Or and Best Picture Oscar. 12 Angry Men (1957) which according to Krim before home video, was being seen on TV 24 hours a day, 365 days a year some place in the world. By 1958, UA was making annual profits of $ 3 million a year. United Artists went public in 1957 with a $ 17 million stock and debenture offering. The company
8512-631: The decade until reaching 66,000 in 1939. Although the CPUSA lost substantial support after the Moscow show trials of 1936–1938 and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, the organization's membership was still well above its pre-1933 levels. With this as a backdrop, the U.S. government began turning its attention to possible links between the CPUSA and Hollywood. Under then-chairman Martin Dies, Jr. ,
8645-624: The editors of Counterattack had direct access to the files of both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and HUAC; the results of that access became widely apparent with the June 1950 publication of Red Channels . This Counterattack spinoff listed 151 people in entertainment and broadcast journalism, along with records of their involvement in what the pamphlet meant to be taken as Communist or pro-Communist activities. A few of those named, such as Hellman, were already being denied employment in
8778-520: The film industry was a serious one, and he named specific ex-employees as probable Communists. Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild , testified that a small clique within his union was using "communist-like tactics" in attempting to steer union policy, but that he did not know if those (unnamed) members were Communists or not, and that in any case he thought the union had them under control. Adolphe Menjou declared: "I am
8911-435: The film making business, and put United Artists on the market. Kirk Kerkorian 's Tracinda Corp. purchased the company in 1981. Tracinda also owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1981, United Artists Classics, which formerly re-released library titles, was turned into a first-run art film distributor by Nathaniel T. Kwit, Jr. Tom Bernard was hired as the division director, as well as handling theatrical sales, and Ira Deutchman
9044-528: The first studio without an actual "studio". Primarily acting as bankers, they offered money to independent producers. UA leased space at the Pickford/Fairbanks Studio but did not own a studio lot. Thus UA did not have the overhead, the maintenance, or the expensive production staff at other studios. Among their first clients were Sam Spiegel and John Huston , whose Horizon Productions gave UA one major hit, The African Queen (1951) and
9177-410: The formation of Orion Pictures , with backing from Warner Bros . The departures concerned several Hollywood figures enough that they took out an ad in a trade paper warning Transamerica that it had made a fatal mistake in letting them go. Later that year, it entered into a partnership with Lorimar Productions , whereas United Artists would distribute Lorimar's feature films theatrically, while Lorimar
9310-457: The freshly revived banner. In 1918, Charlie Chaplin could not get his parent company First National Pictures to increase his production budget despite being one of their top producers. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks had their own contracts, with First National and Famous Players–Lasky respectively, but these were due to run out with no clear offers forthcoming. Sydney Chaplin, brother and business manager for Charlie, deduced something
9443-424: The good things in life, so he must join her in a career of crime or she will leave him. They hold up stores and gas stations, but the paltry take does not last long. While fleeing a police car Laurie tells Bart to shoot at the driver so they can escape, but he hesitates and becomes disoriented. Ultimately, he shoots the tire out and the car crashes. Later that day, at another robbery, Laurie intends to shoot and kill
9576-630: The grand jury leak, all those on the list except for actress Jean Muir had met with the HUAC chairman. Dies "cleared" everyone except actor Lionel Stander , who was fired by the movie studio, Republic Pictures , where he was under contract. Two major film industry strikes during the 1930s had exacerbated tensions between Hollywood producers and unionized employees, particularly the Screen Writers Guild , which formed in 1933. In 1941, producer Walt Disney took out an ad in Variety ,
9709-461: The group ceased operations. Needing a turnaround, Pickford and Chaplin hired Paul V. McNutt in 1950, a former governor of Indiana, as chairman and Frank L. McNamee as president. McNutt did not have the skill to solve UA's financial problems and the pair was replaced after only a few months. On February 15, 1951, lawyers-turned-producers Arthur B. Krim (of Eagle-Lion Films ), Robert Benjamin and Matty Fox approached Pickford and Chaplin with
9842-542: The group was consolidated into one entity as United Artists Records and in 1979, EMI acquired the division which included Blue Note Records . In 1959, after failing to sell several pilots, United Artists offered its first ever television series, The Troubleshooters , and later released its first sitcom, The Dennis O'Keefe Show . In the 1960s, mainstream studios fell into decline and some were acquired or diversified. UA prospered while winning 11 Academy Awards, including five for Best Picture, adding relationships with
9975-426: The hearings swept onto the blacklist those who had never even been politically active, let alone suspected of being Communists: [O]n March 21, 1951, the name of the actor Lionel Stander was uttered by the actor Larry Parks during testimony before HUAC. "Do you know Lionel Stander?" committee counsel Frank S. Tavenner inquired. Parks replied he knew the man, but had no knowledge of his political affiliations. No more
10108-399: The hearings – and (b) the graylist – those who were denied work because of their political or personal affiliations, real or imagined. The consequences of being on either list were largely the same. The graylist also refers more specifically to those who were denied work by the major studios but could still find jobs on Poverty Row : Composer Elmer Bernstein , for instance, was called before
10241-425: The hundreds. On June 22, 1950, a pamphlet-style book entitled Red Channels was published. Focused on the field of broadcasting, it identified 151 entertainment industry professionals as "Red Fascists and their sympathizers" who had infiltrated radio and television. It wasn't long before those named, along with a host of other artists, were barred from employment in the entertainment field. The Hollywood blacklist
10374-530: The industry trade magazine, declaring his conviction that "Communist agitation" was behind a cartoonists and animators' strike . According to historians Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, "In actuality, the strike had resulted from Disney's overbearing paternalism, high-handedness, and insensitivity." Inspired by Disney, California State Senator Jack Tenney , chairman of the state legislature's Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities , launched an investigation of "Reds in movies". The probe fell flat, and
10507-408: The industry was nonetheless transformed. The fallout from the inquiry was a factor in the decision by Floyd Odlum , the primary owner of RKO Pictures , to leave the industry. As a result, the studio passed into the hands of Howard Hughes . Within weeks of taking over in May 1948, Hughes fired most of RKO's employees and virtually shut the studio down for six months while he had the political views of
10640-444: The instability in the film industry due to theater divestment, the business was considered risky. In 1955, movie attendance reached its lowest level since 1923. Chaplin sold his 25 percent share during this crisis to Krim and Benjamin for $ 1.1 million, followed a year later by Pickford who sold her share for $ 3 million. In the late 1950s, United Artists produced two modest films that became financial and critical successes for
10773-419: The jealousy of their boss, Packett, who wants her for himself. When Packett tries to force himself on her, Bart fires a warning shot within an inch of his nose. Packet fires the couple, who leave together. Before they marry, Laurie warns Bart that she is "bad, but will try to be good". They embark on a carefree honeymoon on Bart's savings. When the money runs out, she gives Bart a stark choice: she wants to obtain
10906-685: The label was briefly rechristened in 1984 as MGM/UA Classics before it ceased operating in the late 1980s. The merged studios became known as the MGM/UA Entertainment Company and in 1982 began launching new subsidiaries: the MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group , MGM/UA Classics and MGM/UA Television Group . Kerkorian also bid for the remaining, outstanding public stock, but dropped his bid, facing lawsuits and vocal opposition. In 1981, Fred Silverman and George Reeves via InterMedia Entertainment struck
11039-455: The law. Just why two such clean-cut youngsters...should be so cast is something for the Sphinx, but they certainly give it the works. Looking as fragile as a Dresden doll, Miss Cummins bites into her assignment like a shark. Mr. Dall’s pluck is just as admirable, even when he’s nervously begging his soulmate to make their next robbery ‘the lahst one’....we must say that it takes more than crime and
11172-421: The lead role in a TV series it sponsored. Variety described it as "the first industry admission of what has for some time been an open secret – that the threat of being labeled a political non-conformist, or worse, has been used against show business personalities, and that a screening system is at work determining these [actors'] availabilities for roles." The Hollywood blacklist had long gone hand in hand with
11305-427: The mid-1940s, was nowhere to be seen when the movie was released in 1953. As William O'Neill notes, pressure was maintained even on those who had ostensibly been cleared: On December 27, 1952, the American Legion announced that it disapproved of a new film, Moulin Rouge , starring José Ferrer , who used to be no more progressive than hundreds of other actors and had already been grilled by HUAC. The picture itself
11438-472: The moment. To minimize the chances of being caught, the two decide to split up for a couple of months, but neither can bear to be away from the other. The FBI is brought in, and the fugitives become the targets of an intense manhunt. In California, Bart arranges for passage to Mexico, when the FBI finds them in a dance hall. Forced to run, they leave all their loot behind. With roadblocks everywhere, they jump on
11571-472: The motion picture, TV, and radio fields; the publication of Red Channels meant that scores more were placed on the blacklist. That year, CBS instituted a loyalty oath which it required of all its employees. Jean Muir was the first performer to lose employment because of a listing in Red Channels . In 1950, Muir was named as a Communist sympathizer in the pamphlet, and was immediately removed from
11704-493: The names of friends who posed as the actual writers (those who allowed their names to be used in this fashion were called "fronts"). Of the 204 who signed the amicus brief on behalf of the Hollywood Ten, 84 were themselves blacklisted. There was a general chilling effect in the entertainment business. Humphrey Bogart, who had been a key member of the Committee for the First Amendment, felt compelled to write an essay, printed in
11837-536: The next two months, Wilkerson published more columns containing names of other suspected Communists and " fellow travelers " working in Hollywood. His daily column earned the moniker "Billy's Blacklist" or simply "Billy's List". When Wilkerson died in 1962, his THR obituary stated that he had "named names, pseudonyms and card numbers and was widely credited with being chiefly responsible for preventing communists from becoming entrenched in Hollywood production – something that foreign film unions have been unable to do." In
11970-516: The next two years' Best Picture Oscar winners, Rocky and Annie Hall , becoming the first studio to win the award for three years running and also to become the studio with the most Best Picture winners at that time, with 11. However, Transamerica was not pleased with UA's releases such as Midnight Cowboy and Last Tango in Paris that were rated X by the Motion Picture Association of America . In these instances, Transamerica demanded
12103-629: The onset of the Cold War and Red Scare , and affected entertainment production in Hollywood , New York , and elsewhere. Actors , screenwriters , directors , musicians , and other professionals were barred from employment based on their present or past membership in, alleged membership in, or perceived sympathy with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), or on the basis of their refusal to assist Congressional or FBI investigations into
12236-402: The other committee members that "we oughta fold." Besides the twenty-three friendly witnesses, there were also nineteen "unfriendly" or "hostile witnesses" who announced they would not cooperate with the HUAC. Many of the nineteen were alleged to be CPUSA members. Thirteen of them were Jewish. When the hearings for the "Hollywood Nineteen" commenced on Monday, October 27, the nation's attention
12369-529: The people subpoenaed by the HUAC, twenty-three were deemed "friendly", some of whom had previously testified in closed HUAC sessions in Los Angeles. The October hearings in Washington, D.C. began with appearances by fourteen friendly witnesses, among them Walt Disney , Jack L. Warner , Gary Cooper , Ronald Reagan , Robert Taylor , and Adolphe Menjou . Disney asserted that the threat of Communists in
12502-408: The police. The screenplay was credited to Kantor and Millard Kaufman ; however, Kaufman was a front for Hollywood Ten outcast Dalton Trumbo , who considerably reworked the story into a doomed love affair. The film was budgeted at $ 400,000, and principal photography took 30 days. The picture originally was slated to be released by Monogram Studios . However, King Brothers Productions ,
12635-581: The political leanings of their friends and professional associates effectively brought a halt to dozens of careers and compelled a number of artists to depart for Mexico or Europe to find employment. Director Jules Dassin was among the best known of these. Briefly a Communist, he dropped out of the Party in 1939. He was blacklisted after Dmytryk and fellow filmmaker Frank Tuttle named him at HUAC hearings. Dassin left for France, and spent much of his remaining career in Greece. Scholar Thomas Doherty describes how
12768-409: The principal actors and people inside the bank alerted to the operation. This one-take shot includes the sequence of driving into town to the bank, distracting and then knocking out a patrolman, and making the get-away. This was done by simulating the interior of a sedan with a stretch Cadillac with room enough to mount the camera and a jockey's saddle for the cameraman on a greased two-by-twelve board in
12901-508: The producers, chose United Artists as the distributor. Gun Crazy enjoyed wider exposure because it was a United Artists release. The King Brothers originally announced they wanted Veronica Lake for the lead. In an interview with Danny Peary , director Joseph H. Lewis revealed his instructions to actors John Dall and Peggy Cummins: The bank heist sequence was shot entirely in one long take in Montrose, California , with no one besides
13034-457: The production a positive rating, one based on 64 reviews. In 1998, Gun Crazy was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist refers to the mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklist began at
13167-491: The rare intellectual atmosphere of the East Coast" but were kept apart from Hollywood's consideration. In 1952, the Screen Writers Guild – founded in 1933 by three future members of the Hollywood Ten – amended its screen credit rules to authorize the studios to omit the names of any individuals who had failed to clear themselves before Congress. This agreement prevented a recurrence of what happened in 1950. That's when
13300-486: The remaining employees investigated. Then, just as RKO swung back into production, Hughes made the decision to settle a long-standing federal antitrust suit against the Big Five studios . This was one of the crucial steps in the collapse of the studio system that had governed Hollywood for a quarter-century. In early 1948, all of the Hollywood Ten were convicted of contempt. Following a series of unsuccessful appeals,
13433-517: The resignation of Albeck, who was replaced by Norbert Auerbach. United Artists recorded a major loss for the year due almost entirely to the box-office failure of Heaven's Gate . It destroyed UA's reputation with Transamerica and the greater Hollywood community. However, it may have saved the United Artists name; UA's final head before the sale, Steven Bach , wrote in his book Final Cut that there had been talk about renaming United Artists to Transamerica Pictures. In 1980, Transamerica decided to exit
13566-757: The screenplay for Spartacus (1960). Despite Trumbo's breakthrough in 1960, other blacklisted film artists continued to have difficulty obtaining work for years afterward. The first systematic Hollywood blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947, the day after ten left-wing screenwriters and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The ten men— Alvah Bessie , Herbert Biberman , Lester Cole , Edward Dmytryk , Ring Lardner Jr. , John Howard Lawson , Albert Maltz , Samuel Ornitz , Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo —had been subpoenaed by
13699-499: The screenplays of approximately ten motion pictures up to that point; she was not employed again by a Hollywood studio until 1966. Another influential group was American Business Consultants Inc., founded in 1947. In the subscription information for its weekly publication Counterattack , "The Newsletter of Facts to Combat Communism", it declared that it was run by "a group of former FBI men. It has no affiliation whatsoever with any government agency." Notwithstanding that claim, it seems
13832-628: The significance of such interactions may have been exaggerated. As historian Gerald Horne notes, many Hollywood screenwriters had joined or associated with the local CPUSA chapter not because of allegiance to communism, but because the CPUSA chapter "offered a collective to a profession that was enmeshed in tremendous isolation at the typewriter. Their 'Writers' Clinic' had 'an informal "board" of respected screenwriters' – including Lawson and Ring Lardner Jr. – 'who read and commented upon any screenplay submitted to them. Although their criticism could be plentiful, stinging, and (sometimes) politically dogmatic,
13965-512: The stress of ceaseless harassment, committed suicide in 1959. Intimidating and dividing the left is now seen as a central purpose of the HUAC hearings. Fund-raising for once-popular humanitarian efforts became difficult, and despite the sympathies of many in the industry there was little open support in Hollywood for causes such as the Civil Rights Movement and the opposition to nuclear weapons testing . The struggles attending
14098-607: The studio system. SIMPP fought to end what were considered to be anti-competitive practices by the seven major film studios—Loew's (MGM), Columbia Pictures , Paramount Pictures , Universal Pictures , RKO Radio Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros./First National —that controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of motion pictures. In 1942, SIMPP filed an antitrust suit against Paramount's United Detroit Theatres . The complaint accused Paramount of conspiracy to control first-and subsequent-run theaters in Detroit. This
14231-614: The television production unit of United Artists as United Artists Media Group (UAMG). MGM itself acquired UAMG on December 14, 2015, and folded it into their own television division . MGM briefly revived the United Artists brand as United Artists Digital Studios for the Stargate Origins web series as part of its Stargate franchise , but retired the name after 2019 and instead used its eponymous brand for subsequent releases. A local joint distribution venture between MGM and Annapurna Pictures launched on October 31, 2017
14364-501: The town several years earlier (read: HUAC) returns." Cooper's lawman cleaned up Hadleyville, but Foreman was forced to leave for Europe to find work. Meanwhile, Kazan and Schulberg collaborated on a movie widely seen as justifying their decision to name names. On the Waterfront (1954) became one of the most honored films in Hollywood history, winning eight Academy Awards , including Oscars for Best Film, Kazan's direction, and Schulberg's screenplay. The film featured Lee J. Cobb , one of
14497-572: The war's aftermath added more fuel to what became known as the " Second Red Scare ". The growth of conservative political influence and the Republican triumph in the 1946 midterm elections , which saw the GOP take control of both the House and Senate , led to a major revival of institutional anti-communist activity, publicly spearheaded by the HUAC but with an investigative push by J. Edgar Hoover and
14630-456: The years passed, and the dynamics of the business changed, these "producing partners" drifted away. Samuel Goldwyn Productions and Disney went to RKO and Wanger to Universal Pictures . In the late 1930s, UA turned a profit. Goldwyn was providing most of the output for distribution. He sued United several times for disputed compensation leading him to leave. MGM's 1939 hit Gone with the Wind
14763-432: Was a completely just verdict. I had contempt for that Congress and have had contempt for several since. And on the basis of guilt or innocence, I could never really complain very much. That this was a crime or misdemeanor was the complaint, my complaint. In September 1950, Hollywood Ten member Edward Dmytryk announced that he had once been a Communist and was prepared to give evidence against others who had been as well. He
14896-542: Was also listed among the "Top 10 Films of the Year" by the National Board of Review . On the basis of its film and television hits, in 1967, Transamerica Corporation purchased 98 percent of UA's stock. Transamerica selected David and Arnold Picker to lead its studio. UA debuted a new logo incorporating the parent company's striped T emblem and the tagline "Entertainment from Transamerica Corporation". This wording
15029-481: Was averaging 50 films a year. In 1958, UA acquired Ilya Lopert 's Lopert Pictures Corporation , which released foreign films that attracted criticism or had censorship problems. In 1957, UA created United Artists Records Corporation and United Artists Music Corporation after an unsuccessful attempt to buy a record company. In 1968, UA Records merged with Liberty Records , along with its many subsidiary labels such as Imperial Records and Dolton Records . In 1972,
15162-442: Was based on the life of Toulouse-Lautrec and was totally apolitical. Nine members of the Legion had picketed it anyway, giving rise to the controversy. By this time, people were not taking any chances. Ferrer immediately wired the Legion's national commander that he would be glad to join the veterans in their "fight against communism". The group's efforts dragged many others onto the blacklist: In 1954, "[s]creenwriter Louis Pollock,
15295-400: Was denied an ownership share in 1935, Schenck resigned. He set up 20th Century Pictures ' merger with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox . Al Lichtman succeeded Schenck as company president. Other independent producers distributed through United Artists in the 1930s including Walt Disney Productions , Alexander Korda , Hal Roach , David O. Selznick , and Walter Wanger . As
15428-414: Was going wrong, and contacted Pickford and Fairbanks. Together they hired a private detective, who discovered a plan to merge all production companies and to lock in "exhibition companies" to a series of five-year contracts. Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith incorporated United Artists as a joint venture company on February 5, 1919. Each held a 25 percent stake in the preferred shares and
15561-488: Was hired as head of marketing. Later the division added Michael Barker and Donna Gigliotti . Deutchman left to form Cinecom , and Barker and Bernard formed Orion Classics and Sony Pictures Classics . The label mostly released foreign and independent films such as Cutter's Way , Ticket to Heaven and The Grey Fox , and occasional first-run reissues from the UA library, such as director's cuts of Head Over Heels . When Barker and Bernard left to form Orion Classics,
15694-567: Was in fact a Communist. After returning to Hollywood, Bogart shouted at Danny Kaye, "You fuckers sold me out." The CFA was attacked for being naïve. Under pressure from Warner Bros. to distance himself from the purported Hollywood Reds , Bogart negotiated a statement, syndicated in Hearst newspapers under the title "As Bogart Sees It Now", which did not denounce the CFA but said his trip to D.C. had been "ill-advised, even foolish." Billy Wilder told
15827-510: Was its first managing director, and the company established its headquarters at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City. The original terms called for each star to produce five pictures a year. By the time the company was operational in 1921, feature films were becoming more expensive and polished, and running times had settled at around ninety minutes (eight reels). The original goal was thus abandoned. UA's first production, His Majesty,
15960-421: Was later dramatized in the film Guilty by Suspicion (1991), in which the character based on Comingore "commits suicide rather than endure a long mental collapse." In real life, Comingore succumbed to alcoholism and died of a pulmonary disease at age 58. According to historians Paul Buhle and David Wagner, "premature strokes and heart attacks were fairly common [among blacklistees], along with heavy drinking as
16093-657: Was later shortened to "A Transamerica Company". The following year, in 1968, United Artists Associated was reincorporated as United Artists Television Distribution. In 1970, UA lost $ 35 million, and the Pickers were pushed aside for the return of Krim and Benjamin. UA released another Best Picture Oscar winner in 1967, In the Heat of the Night and a nominee for Best Picture, The Graduate , an Embassy production that UA distributed overseas. Other successful pictures included
16226-656: Was mocked in Variety headlines. The wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union brought the CPUSA newfound credibility. During the war, Party membership climbed back up to 50,000. As World War II drew to a close, however, perceptions changed again, with communism increasingly becoming a focus of American fears and hatred. In 1945, Gerald L. K. Smith , founder of the neofascist America First Party , began giving speeches in Los Angeles assailing
16359-481: Was not illegal). While this usually allowed a witness to avoid "naming names" without being indicted for contempt of Congress, "taking the Fifth" in one's HUAC testimony guaranteed membership on the industry blacklist. Historians sometimes distinguish between (a) the "official blacklist" – i.e., the names of those who were called by the HUAC and, in whatever manner, refused to cooperate or were identified as Communists in
16492-455: Was planning to produce television series and miniseries adaptations from UA's feature film library. Transamerica inserted Andy Albeck as UA's president. United had its most successful year with four hits in 1979: Rocky II , Manhattan , Moonraker , and The Black Stallion . The new leadership agreed to back Heaven's Gate , a project of director Michael Cimino , which vastly overran its budget and cost $ 44 million. This led to
16625-488: Was rebranded as United Artists Releasing on February 5, 2019, in honor of its 100th anniversary. However, Amazon , MGM's now-parent company, folded UAR into MGM on March 4, 2023, citing "newfound theatrical release opportunities" following the box-office opening success of Creed III . In July 2024, Amazon MGM Studios announced the company's revival, entering a multi-year first look deal with film producer Scott Stuber , who will also be involved with all releases under
16758-670: Was released early from jail. Following his 1951 HUAC appearance in which he described his past Party membership and named names, his directorial career recovered. The other nine remained silent and most were unable to obtain work in American film and television for many years. Adrian Scott , who had produced four of Dmytryk's films – Murder, My Sweet ; Cornered ; So Well Remembered ; and Crossfire – was one of those named by his former friend. Scott's next screen credit did not come until 1972 and he never produced another feature film. Some blacklisted writers managed to work surreptitiously, using pseudonyms or
16891-548: Was released to mixed critical receptions. But it has since been acclaimed as a classic by audiences around the world for being admirably inspired in its attempt to be faithful to the four books of the New Testament in the Holy Bible as well as the book of the same name by Fulton Oursler and the radio program which ran from 1947 to 1956. The Greatest Story Ever Told received five Academy Award nominations in 1965 and
17024-430: Was riveted, especially given the presence in Washington, D.C. of movie stars from the First Amendment Committee. As it turned out, only eleven of the nineteen were called to testify. One of them, émigré playwright Bertolt Brecht , decided after legal advice to answer the HUAC's questions, though he did so evasively and fled the U.S. the very next day, never to return. The other ten refused to answer whether they were in
17157-594: Was rooted in events of the 1930s and early 1940s, encompassing the depths of the Great Depression , the Spanish Civil War , and the U.S.-Soviet alliance in World War II . The widespread economic hardships in the 1930s, as well as the rise of fascism in the world, caused a surge in Communist Party USA (CPUSA) membership. Levels had remained below 20,000 until 1933 and then steadily grew during
17290-448: Was said about Stander either by Parks or the committee – no accusation, no insinuation. Yet Stander's phone stopped ringing. Prior to Parks's testimony, Stander had worked on ten television shows in the previous 100 days. Afterwards, nothing. When Stander himself appeared before the HUAC, he began by pledging his full support in the fight against "subversive" activities: I know of a group of fanatics who are desperately trying to undermine
17423-593: Was supposed to be a UA release except that Selznick wanted Clark Gable , who was under contract to MGM, to play Rhett Butler . Also that year, Fairbanks died. UA became embroiled in lawsuits with Selznick over his distribution of some films through RKO. Selznick considered UA's operation sloppy, and left to start his own distribution arm. In the 1940s, United Artists was losing money because of poorly received pictures. Cinema attendance continued to decline as television became more popular. The company sold its Mexican releasing division to Crédito Cinematográfico Mexicano,
17556-410: Was the first antitrust suit brought by producers against exhibitors that alleged monopoly and restraint of trade. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court Paramount Decision ordered the major Hollywood movie studios to sell their theater chains and to end certain anti-competitive practices. This court ruling ended the studio system. By 1958, SIMPP had achieved many of the goals that led to its creation, and
17689-570: Was the one now generally rendered as, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party ?". The HUAC formally charged the ten men with contempt of Congress and began criminal proceedings against them in the full House of Representatives . In light of the Hollywood Ten's defiance of the HUAC ;– in addition to refusing to answer questions, they also tried unsuccessfully to read opening statements decrying
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