Feb 21, 2020
This time on our Jennifer Jones ‘cast it's two movies based on novels by Communists, bafflingly made during the early Cold War era, one a failure and one a hit. We start with the failure, the original Dirtbag Left hang-out movie, John Huston's BEAT THE DEVIL (1953). It was based on a novel by Claud Cockburn (one-time Stalin apologist), with script contributions from Cockburn and a hot young novelist named Truman Capote. Then we turn to another critique of colonialism, Henry King's Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Han Suyin (future Mao apologist). It's a radical field day!
Time Codes:
0h 01m 00s: Beat the Devil (1953; dir: John Huston)
0h 39m 59s: Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955; dir: Henry King)
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Theme Music:
“What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre