Trumbo (2007/Magnolia DVD)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: B
The Hollywood Blacklisting in the 1950s is still not as
clearly understood or debated, even after the Bush II years in which some of
its aspects returned. In the 1940s,
Right Wing and some centrists in the U.S. Government decided to go after the
filmmaking capital of the U.S.
and the world searching for communists working inside the town. This was actually a witch-hunt for anyone
liberal or who had been involved in the U.S. Communist Party at times when the
U.S.S.R. was considered less relevant and even an ally during WWII. One of the targets of what became known as
the Hollywood Ten was Dalton Trumbo and his son Christopher created a play
simply called Trumbo to tell his
story.
Director Peter Askin has turned it into a documentary with
the participation of Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas,
Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, Donald
Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman and Danny Glover in a rich 95 minutes that shows how
one man paid a price for not bowing and scraping to a procedure that quickly
spun out of control and ruined millions of lives.
Trumbo was unapologetic and paid the price for never
apologizing or participating in what eventually became a sham and kangaroo
court. The debate aside, he suffered,
his family suffered, his dreams were never totally realized and it took until
1960 when he became the first of the blacklisted writers to get screen credit
again. Until then, they used fake names
(known as fronts) to write for TV, radio and features. But this is a character study that never
sells the history short, but keeps it in context.
All in all, it is yet another solid piece of evidence
explaining what really happened in what is still one of the most important
history lessons in U.S. History.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image can be a little
soft as the interviews (the majority of the content here) is shot in HD, but
film clips look good, as do stills. I
also liked the editing and pace. The
courtroom sequences are the muddiest.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and just fine for such a program,
with archival audio sounding as distorted as expected. Extras include trailers for other political
Magnolia releases, stills and readings of Trumbo’s work by Paul Giamatti (a
June 1955 letter to Ring Larder, Jr.) and Danny Glover (a December 1947 Letter
to Author, Film Associate).
- Nicholas Sheffo
