Trumbo (2015)

Dalton Trumbo: [challenging John Wayne] If you're gonna talk about World War II as if you personally won it, let's be clear where you were stationed - on a film set, shooting blanks, wearing makeup, and if you're going to hit me, I'd like to take off my glasses.

The 40’s and 50’s were a tough time for many in the Hollywood business.  Sure it was hard keeping the millions happy with a consistent flow of movies and battling the banter from movie critics and the public alike, however there was a much deeper unrest rearing its ugly head.

The background of the movie is quite a complicated story (a great outline can be read here on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist), however in basic terms, the 30’s saw the great recession where many lived in great poverty whilst no doubt some survived less affected.  Then came WW2 and communist Russia became an ally in the war against Germany and once the war had finished there was a fear in the late 40’s into the 50’s that communist ideas and thinking were making its way to the public through a very powerful medium...the movies. The US Government formed the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate people with possible links to communism who were previously or were currently involved in the Communist Party, had similar thinking or sympathy toward those ideas even minor ones such as equality among all people, workers’ rights etc.  The movie makers got involved especially when there were “equal workers’ rights” strikes being conducted and arranged by those who were thought to have current or previous involvement in the Party and so on.  This lead to blacklisting of 10 screenwriters (one of them being Dalton Trumbo) and eventually led to hundreds even thousands of people being affected and unable to find work in the movie industry and even outside of that.  Writers, Directors, Actors and Actresses (and others) were questioned in front of the Committee about involvement in communist activities or if they knew of people in the movie industry who may have had ties or even sympathy toward it.  These were then investigated and often added to the blacklist.  Some even had to flee the country to find work (such as the Director Jules Dassin).  This basically sets the background of the issues during these times.  The movie picks up just before the blacklisting occurred.

Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) and nine other screenwriters get unfavourable coverage as they start fighting for the rights of workers in the film industry.  Then come 1947 they get blacklisted and are unable to find work in the industry.  The movie essentially tells the story of not just the start of all this controversy but how they (particularly Dalton Trumbo) lived through it and what was the beginning of the end of this terrible time for many.  It’s a very interesting movie in many ways.  Firstly, we get to see actors portraying characters that we either know the names of or have heard of them such as John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, Hedda Hopper, Kirk Douglas, Otto Preminger plus original footage of some other characters of the time.  Secondly, we hear of movies that Trumbo secretly wrote but could not be acknowledged on screen at the time due to the blacklisting.  Thirdly, seeing how all this panned out and what real like characters had an important part to play in putting this whole fiasco to death is fascinating.  

The movie has a bunch of quality actors/actresses such as Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Stephen Root and others who do a fantastic job and even the John Wayne and Edward G. Robinson (the line he delivers at the committee hearing is a little different to what he said in real life) impersonators are convincing.  The movie is well paced and keeps you in throughout its 125 minutes and for me it was exciting to watch, but I must say that I know of and own some of the movies this fella wrote so seeing how they came to be just added to the enjoyment of it.

The Bluray is not available in Australia, so the review was based off the DVD which in all honesty delivers a fantastic (1.85:1 aspect ratio) image that is sharp and clean.  The great mostly Jazz soundtrack suites the movie perfectly and sounds great via the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.  There are also two short featurettes included in the DVD which are interesting but certainly not a making of doco.

Overall I very highly recommend the movie both as a part of what happened in movie history and simply as a quality movie.  You don’t have to be a fan of 40’s and 50’s movies to enjoy it as it’s one of those enjoyable “Based on a True Story” movie’s.  But it would be even more interesting if you knew of some of the characters being portrayed either by name or simply who starred in or made the movies you came to enjoy.  I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the movie as I do not recall it coming out at the cinema, but after seeing it I am more than certain that I will be watching it again.  Check out the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_Pj--igG4

Movie

Image

Disc