This episode is a slight departure for this season—and we had fun with it. Rather than taking on a film directed by a blacklisted director, as usual, we're discussing a groundbreaking video essay about blacklisted directors. Thom Andersen's Red Hollywood (1996) discusses several of the directors and films we've discuss so far on the podcast. Andersen's goal in the film is to curate a list of overlooked films and demonstrate the bold themes that many of these directors were attempting to inject into some of them, much of which was later used as evidence against them in future HUAC hearings. The film features interviews with Abraham Polonsky, Ring Larnder, Jr., Paul Jarrico, and Alfred Levitt. Andersen (b. 1943) is the originator of the term "film gris," or socially conscious crime pictures from 1947 to 1952. He is perhaps most renowned for his experimental video essay Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003).

*Fact checking ourselves:

—Tim implies that Kafka (yes, Kafka) is Germany, but in fact he only wrote in German. He was from Prague of course.

—Jason says that he lived in communes for 15 years, but actually it was about ten (oops).

We hope you enjoy!

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!