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Chronicle Pepperpot July 19, 2015
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE ► From page XIII entered the Hollywood film industry as a studio assistant to 'B' films, until given his first opportunity in 1943 to direct an 'A' list film titled: 'Tender Comrade'. A film which, among others, ironically, would cause Dmytryk much distress and social instability half a dozen years later, when he was summoned and accused by the HUAC, 'House of Un-American Activities', of having Communist affiliations, and a sympathizer. By now this embarrassing era in Hollywood film history is a stale cliché, at least for those who pay close attention to the socially effective implications of cinematic art. But as regards the actual value and relevance of these suspected films like 'Tender Comrade' - including 'Walk on the Wild Side' of 1962 - to the social, racial, and moral problems of both North American and foreign societies, especially Guyanese society of today, these films are far from stale clichés, and remain on many levels, socially and morally relevant works of outstanding cinematic merit. AMERICA’S SOCIAL ERA A brief look at Dmytryk's life brings into focus the unique creative opportunity which the past Hollywood/American film industry allowed talented foreigners to develop both personally and socially for an international audience; at least those democratically allowed to be exposed to such films. At the same time it is realistic to assert the open-minded, even experimental, and moral influence of Franklin D. Roosevelt's government in its ten years of
extraordinary duration between the 1930s and 40s, when artists in all categories were encouraged to produce critical works of art, which coincided with a unique socialistic era in the history of the USA. Dmytryk's 'Tender Comrade' reflected the communal lifestyle and factory worker camaraderie pervasive among American women (and some men) left at home to continue in tight economic circumstances produced by the lack of prior paychecks from men now enlisted, fighting, and often dying overseas during the 2nd World War. SOCIALISTIC HOLLYWOOD FILMS Numerous Hollywood socialistic film classics of the 1940s Roosevelt era ► Continued on page XV