High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic - Glenn Frankel
Veteran journalist Glenn Frankel tells the story of the 1952 classic film High Noon against the tumultuous backdrop of the era of the Red Scare and Hollywood blacklist. Influenced very much by those times, the movie was conceived as a Western parable with a quiet political message defying the reactionary, toxic spirit of the era. The film’s success surprised many people, including its creators, and bitter arguments ensued over who was actually responsible for its greatness. A dogged and meticulous researcher, Frankel sorts through these disputes and provides a number of fresh facts, a good deal of clarity, and lots of fascinating trivia. But the larger relevance of the book, especially given present-day echoes to the blacklist movement and its fears of an America being usurped by outsiders, is what the story illustrates about how our politics and our creative enterprises can play off each other.
