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Hollywood's Spiritual Poison
By S. 3§m Eisenstein
S. M. Eisenstein, whose death is reported, was Russia's foremost movie-maker and one of the worh's great names among film directors. In this article, written shortly before his death, he accused the American film industry — recently examined publicly In the U.S. for al eged "Communistic influence" — of deliberately blinding audiences to the implications of I ve social issues by insidious ideological poise ing, even in such seemingly harmless and "charming" films as "Going My Way" and "Anna and the King of Siam ".
American movie production in ese days is not what it was 20 ars ago. Gone are the times hen we could shrug our shoulds and smile at the empty, harass entertainment of Robin Hood id the Thief of Baghdad or the orting achievements of Pearl hite. The pressure of reaction 1 the whole life of the country becoming more and more op•essive. Today the apprentices the Ku Klux Klan compile ack lists and include in them lose who. during the war, dared ) pronounce on the American reen lively, appealing words idressed to all humanity.
The thunderclouds of crazy ersecution are heard already gainst the most notable anti
fascist actors, and the American screen depicts more and more clearly the growing wave of reaction.
There have, of course, been not a few arrant ly reactionary films in the past, such as "The Birth Of A Nation" which praised the creation of the Ku Klux Klan, but there have also been truly exciting themes which viewed with unexpected objectivity 1hc— internal affairs of the United States. Such films as "The Big House", which showed conditions in American prisons; "I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang", an outspoken document exposing the lawlessness of some aspects of American justice; "Grapes of Wrath" and "Tobacco Road"
JTRIKE— A still from the film of that name directed by Eisenstein. /ivid detail, unusual angles and imaginative editing were his specialities
EISENSTEIN He was what many local film geniuses pretend to be
which threw a white light on unemployment and bestial backwardness among the under-possessed; these and others in the past were more or less convincing efforts in social objectivity.
SHAMELESS HYMNS
But they are being replaced by entirely different films. And even where these latter-day epics arc allegedly "non-political'', they carry the most insidious forms of ideological poisoning. No matter how hypocritically the films "uninask" gangsters, they still remain shameless hymns in praise of direct action, egotistic interest, and entire neglect of social welfare.
Then there are such "charming" pictures as "Going My Way", in which the catching nets for the audiences' hearts are so cunningly and musically arranged (it is no accident that the hero of the film is an uncommonly smart "catcher of human souls") that only after the film is finished does the spectator find himself querying the implications of the film.
In "Going My Way" are intertwined humour, patriotism and religious" singing, "devoted to hiding the true sources and tragedy of prostitution; and showing that juvenile delinquency is to
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