From Red Scare to Despair: Hollywood Movies 1951 – 1962

This fall we’ll be taking a look at Hollywood films of the 1950s. We’ll be examining the period from 1947 through 1963. This includes the key era of film noir, the red scare era, and the later period which was a mini Hollywood renaissance of cinema. I recently discovered the films that have been labeled Film Gris, which are similar to Film Noir, except the films explore some of the underlying social issues of the era.

Hollywood faced new challenges in the 1950s. The HUAC investigations led to blacklisting of hundreds of talented people. Even worse, many entertainment professionals were forced to name others who attended the same political meetings with them back in the 1930s. The blacklist remained in force for most of the 1950s, losing momentum, and eventually being dropped altogether by 1963.

The studio troubles didn’t end there. Television exploded in popularity, decimating revenues, eventually leading to several major bankruptcies. The studios responded with new technologies, offering features such as wide screens, stereo sound, and vibrant color. Some trends, like 3D and Cinerama, didn’t last. Others became fixtures in our current home entertainment systems. Despite these difficulties, great movies from Hitchcock, Kubrick, Sirk, Minnelli, Wilder, Ray, Kazan, and others were produced. While highly entertaining, these films often contained political subtexts about gay rights, sexism, the blacklist, moral hypocrisy, and the horrors of World War II.

I’ve prepared a preliminary list of films. The main question I have is whether to show all the important classics of the era. You know, Hitchcock, and all that. We’ll try squeezing it all into eight weeks. If most people have already seen these big films too many times we can focus on the more obscure ones. I’ll try and skip the ones we’ve already seen and concentrate on more obscure films.

Registration is open at:
https://www.pcc.edu/schedule/fall/tra/9wv620c/?crn=45916