List of films by the Hollywood Ten

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This article covers films connected to the Hollywood Ten, ten industry professionals who were cited for contempt of Congress and blacklisted after refusing to answer questions about their possible involvement with the Communist Party USA.

During the early hearings, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) looked at Hollywood films and especially focused on screenwriters. They worried that movies could shape people’s attitudes and influence politics, both abroad and at home. Nine of the Hollywood Ten were screenwriters, and several had worked on wartime films with clear anti-fascist messages. Some argued they had successfully embedded messages in sanctioned wartime projects like Tender Comrade, Sahara, Action in the North Atlantic, The Cross of Lorraine, None Shall Escape, and The Master Race, and they feared they could do the same in postwar films. Many believed the screenwriter’s guild was infiltrated by Communists trying to subvert American values.

Films deemed suspicious by HUAC could be rejected by audiences or pulled from circulation. A 1943 FBI report from Los Angeles identified several released films containing “Communist propaganda” and noted others in production that would contain propaganda, stating that the writers who produced propaganda materials were known Communists or followers of the Communist party line.

In response to the Hollywood Ten hearings, studios issued the Waldorf Statement, agreeing to blacklist Communists. Some blacklisted filmmakers continued to work; for example, Salt of the Earth, written by Herbert Biberman (one of the Hollywood Ten), was made outside Hollywood with support from the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers.