Don't know this one, decided to investigate- sounds like a "McCarthyism" parable- a boy is suspicious of a "strange new neighbor" (presumably foreign to boot, since he's played by Kurt Kasznar)- slanders him, the guy is of course innocent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_About_a_Stranger The director's background is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bradley_(director) Started promisingly with an artsy, well-made PEER GYNT independently-made feature (with a teenage Charlton Heston!), ended badly with a couple of dull SF movies, 12 TO THE MOON and MADMEN OF MANDORAS- the latter destined for infamy when it was re-edited and retitled for TV as THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN!
Did the FILM GUIDE go silent? Not that I'm complaining!
A Goldstein movie is a pro-communist movie, which depicts patriots as evil. Most of them were made during the blacklist era, by people who were crypto-communists--reds who never joined the party. Goldstein was based on Trotsky, by Orwell in 1984, who was the party's hate figure. However, no hate figure in a Goldstein movie was based on Trotsky, and they were not all based on one man. The most popular "Goldstein" was Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, but there was also Gen. Curtis LeMay, Gen. Edwin Walker, and gossip columnist Walter Winchell.
Thanks, NS. I thought maybe "Goldstein" was the new TCM host!
Might as well post this gripe here: Catherine O'Hara, an actress I never heard of, died, and the news is being treated as if she were Garbo or Hepburn (big attention over at the Commie Film Board, including a headline banner with her photo- BARBARA RUSH didn't get that kind of treatment!) Her big credits: SCTV (never watched it), BEETLEJUICE (saw it ages ago, made no great impression), HOME ALONE (which I HATED), and- this is what galls me- a TV series called- ready for this?- SCHITT'S CREEK. Something to be proud of??? I mean, she may well have been a good actress, but that list of titles doesn't impress me- and the last-mentioned is a real embarrassment. And the NYT is THRILLED to trumpet that in a headline! Another "icon" bites the dust.
I was reading about the famous mini-series RICH MAN, POOR MAN (needless to say, I never saw it), based on Irwin Shaw's novel. It was described as covering a span of decades, recounting great historical events and how they affected "the average person"- and what do you think was at the very top of the list? "MC CARTHYISM!" Now how in the world did the so-called "Blacklist" affect "the average person"? Unless you were a big fan of Phil Loeb, the one poor schnook who was the only real "victim" of blacklisting and became a martyr to the Cause by committing suicide...
What's a "Goldstein movie"?
ReplyDeleteDon't know this one, decided to investigate- sounds like a "McCarthyism" parable- a boy is suspicious of a "strange new neighbor" (presumably foreign to boot, since he's played by Kurt Kasznar)- slanders him, the guy is of course innocent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk_About_a_Stranger
The director's background is interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bradley_(director)
Started promisingly with an artsy, well-made PEER GYNT independently-made feature (with a teenage Charlton Heston!), ended badly with a couple of dull SF movies, 12 TO THE MOON and MADMEN OF MANDORAS- the latter destined for infamy when it was re-edited and retitled for TV as THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN!
Did the FILM GUIDE go silent? Not that I'm complaining!
-RM
A Goldstein movie is a pro-communist movie, which depicts patriots as evil. Most of them were made during the blacklist era, by people who were crypto-communists--reds who never joined the party. Goldstein was based on Trotsky, by Orwell in 1984, who was the party's hate figure. However, no hate figure in a Goldstein movie was based on Trotsky, and they were not all based on one man. The most popular "Goldstein" was Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, but there was also Gen. Curtis LeMay, Gen. Edwin Walker, and gossip columnist Walter Winchell.
ReplyDeleteThanks, NS. I thought maybe "Goldstein" was the new TCM host!
ReplyDeleteMight as well post this gripe here: Catherine O'Hara, an actress I never heard of, died, and the news is being treated as if she were Garbo or Hepburn (big attention over at the Commie Film Board, including a headline banner with her photo- BARBARA RUSH didn't get that kind of treatment!)
Her big credits: SCTV (never watched it), BEETLEJUICE (saw it ages ago, made no great impression), HOME ALONE (which I HATED), and- this is what galls me- a TV series called- ready for this?-
SCHITT'S CREEK.
Something to be proud of??? I mean, she may well have been a good actress,
but that list of titles doesn't impress me- and the last-mentioned is a real embarrassment. And the NYT is THRILLED to trumpet that in a headline!
Another "icon" bites the dust.
-RM
I was reading about the famous mini-series RICH MAN, POOR MAN (needless to say, I never saw it), based on Irwin Shaw's novel. It was described as covering a span of decades, recounting great historical events and how they affected "the average person"- and what do you think was at the very top of the list? "MC CARTHYISM!" Now how in the world did the so-called "Blacklist" affect "the average person"?
ReplyDeleteUnless you were a big fan of Phil Loeb, the one poor schnook who was the only real "victim" of blacklisting and became a martyr to the Cause by committing suicide...
-RM