ABSTRACT
In 1944, a group of Hollywood conservatives, including John Wayne, Walt Disney, Gary Cooper, and a number of other actors, directors, and producers, formed the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. The group was formed, allegedly, to fight Communism rife among Hollywood screenwriters. There were left-wing screenwriters as well as other figures in the film business. Some of them were or had been members of the Communist Party. But the nature of the studio system, in which no single hand, short of the studio head and his delegated producer, had complete control over a film’s creation and production, did not permit any “Communist propaganda” to enter a film unmodified. Salt of the Earth was a film made by blacklisted filmmakers in spite of—in the face of—the blacklist. It was written by blacklisted Michael Wilson.
