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Sign up for our monthly email alertsAyn Rand and Song of Russia
Communism and Anti-Communism in 1940s Hollywood
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SUBJECTS
History » American History » Twentieth Century
Literature » Literary Criticism
Film & Television » Film History
Film & Television » Film (General)
Film & Television » Film Studies
Literature » Literature (General)
REVIEWS
"...Mayhew feels passionately about his subject, which he presents in exhaustive detail."
— AMERICAN COMMUNIST HISTORY
DESCRIPTION
In October 1947, more than twenty years after leaving Russia, Ayn Rand testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which was investigating communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. The focus of that testimony was Song of Russia, a 1944 pro-Soviet film that Rand decried for its unrealistic, absurdly flattering portrait of life in the communist country.
Ayn Rand scholar Robert Mayhew focuses on this controversial period of American and Hollywood history by examining both the film and the furor surrounding Rand's HUAC testimony. His analysis provides the first detailed history of any of the pro-Soviet films to come out of 1940s Hollywood. Mayhew begins by offering a brief synopsis of the MGM film, followed by an account of its production, as well as its reception. Most significantly, Mayhew analyzes Rand's appearance before HUAC and discusses the response to her much-maligned testimony.
By carefully scrutinizing this one episode in the history of communism and anti-communism in 1940s Hollywood, Mayhew presents a more accurate picture of those times and the issues surrounding them. His study allows for a re-evaluation of the role of communism in Hollywood, the nature of the HUAC, and even the Hollywood Ten.
This book should be of interest to anyone interested in the life and thought of Ayn Rand, as well as to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood communism and of American film.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Mayhew is Professor of Philosophy at Seton Hall University. He has written two books on Aristotle, translated a play of Aristophanes, and edited four collections of works by or about Ayn Rand, including Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living (Lexington, 2004).
