"Blocking "Blockade

In 1938 United Artists released Blockade (produced by Walter Wanger, directed by William Dieterle), considered by press of that day to be the first fiction film to deal at all seriously with Spanish Civil War.' Hollywood generally avoided directly dealing with this struggle while it was ongoing (1936-1939), principally because of potential to offend either Loyalist or Franco supporters.2 But offend Blockade did. Blockade managed to outrage simultaneously both pro-Loyalist and pro-Franco camps, providing ammunition for those who favored American interventionism and those who opposed it. Twelve countries banned film, and groups in many U.S. cities denounced, picketed, and censored it. Hollywood war pictures usually confined themselves to earlier, safer wars (as in Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on Western Front in 1930), but a war in which winning side was still uncertain was riskier to portray.3 Blockade was an influential early attempt to depict a current war in a Hollywood sound film. Blockade's handling and its subsequent treatment in marketplace provided a test case for Hollywood and its financiers in how to deal with politically contemporary issues.4 Many industry figures watched Blockade for cues on how box office would respond to political content. A front-page Variety article endorsed Blockade as the key to opening up of a vast source of screen material. Upon its success financially revolves plans of several of major studios heretofore hesitant about tackling stories which treat subjects of international economic and political controversy. 5 If Blockade could successfully negotiate domestic and foreign barriers, article suggests, other studios would be encouraged to experiment with nontraditional Hollywood themes. In fact, Blockade screenwriter and Hollywood Ten member John Howard Lawson suggested that furor over Blockade is no less than the beginning of drive against content in motion pictures which culminated in Washington hearings before House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947.6 In light of uproar over Blockade's controversial and meaningful content, one would justifiably expect to see evidence of

Art · Blockade · Blocking (statistics · Humanities · Political science · Cinema and Media Studies · Computer Science · European history and politics · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Medicine

• Hollywood y la Guerra Civil española

  Open Access•C Gomar•Estudios Humanísticos. Filología•2017

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