Red Hollywood

If not quite as brilliant as Andersen's 2003 masterpiece "Los Angeles Plays Itself" this is still an insightful, very smart and entertaining look at how Hollywood both reflects and changes society -- in this case how films with a leftist bent tried to get progressive social ideas across during the McCarthy era, as well as in the years just before and after.

Andersen divides his topics into areas like war, race, class and shows how communist and leftist writers tried to show their points of view, often views that while radical at the time, are seen as mainstream now (e.g. basic racial and sexual equality). Andersen also manages to be empathetic to the blacklist victims without making the film into a study of their martyrdom. That is worth exploring too, but here the focus is really on the attempt to add progressive ideas to Hollywood's then mostly mainstream-to-conservative bent.

Admirable, educational and enjoyable.

Follow note: It's thrilling that both this and "Los Angeles Plays…" have finally achieved a mainstream release on DVD and BR. For years their non-stop use of Hollywood film clips made licensing costs impossible. Bravo to those that put in the effort to get these films out there.