BONUS: The Phoenician Scheme (w/ guest Matthew Ellis)
Cold War Cinema
“Normal people want the basic human rights that accompany citizenship in any sovereign nation. I don't… I don't live anywhere; I'm not a citizen at all. I don't need my human rights.” The Cold War Cinema team is back with special guest Matthew Ellis, a researcher, artist, and cohost of the , for a special bonus episode covering Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme. Recently released on home video and streaming, the film follows the cunning, reprobate industrialist Zsa-zsa Korda (Bencio Del Toro) as he swindles his way into a massive infrastructure deal in the country of Upper...
info_outline
S2 Ep. 4: I Married a Communist A.K.A. The Woman on Pier 13 (Robert Stevenson, 1949)
Cold War Cinema
This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss Robert Stevenson’s 1949 drama, I Married a Communist, also known as Woman on Pier 13. This Hollywood production is one of the most storied—and notorious—anti-communist films of the early Cold War era. The movie revolves around a San Francisco shipping executive who worked his way up from the docks, as a stevedore, only to find himself embroiled in a Communist plot to sabotage a labor contract. Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we consider: How Hollywood colluded with the government to portray Communists as...
info_outline
S2 Ep. 3: The Russian Question (Mikhail Romm, 1948)
Cold War Cinema
“I used to think there was one America, but there are two. There's no place for me in McPherson's and Hearst's America, but there is in Lincoln's and Roosevelts!” This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss Mikhaill Romm’s 1948 drama, The Russian Question. In this Soviet production, winner of the 1948 Stalin Prize and based on a play of the same name by Konstantin Siminov, a mendacious newspaper editor sends columnist Harry Smith to the Soviet Union to write a book critical of socialism. But when the principled columnist returns to the United States, he quickly realizes that the...
info_outline
BONUS: Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (crossover episode w/ Wise the Dome TV)
Cold War Cinema
In this crossover episode with Rakeem Shabazz of , Cold War Cinema co-host Anthony Ballas discusses the recent documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (dir. Johan Grimonprez 2024). The documentary explores the weaponization of jazz music during the Cold War, the contradictions of using Black art to mask American imperialism, and the legacy of artists like Louis Armstrong, Max Roach, and Nina Simone. Ballas breaks down how the film links Cold War coups and cultural propaganda to present-day resource extraction in the Congo, and why the documentary’s archival style is itself a radical...
info_outline
BONUS: Resistance Cinema (crossover episode w/ The Socialist Shelf)
Cold War Cinema
This is a crossover episode with podcast. Our co-host Jason and his wife, Ankita, were invited on the Socialist Shelf to dicuss a radical cinema educational project they run in Atlanta called , as well as the role that radical cinema plays in social movemets. Ankita is a Bollywood expert and the co-host of the , a podcast about overlooked Hindi cinema. We hope you enjoy this show! Don't forget to subscribe to The Socialist Shelf and The Desi Gaze, and leave us a review! referenced in the podcast is a review of the book , co-edited by Andrew Nette and Samm Deighan. Jacob, from The...
info_outline
S2 Ep. 2: The Iron Curtain (William A. Wellman, 1948)
Cold War Cinema
Join hosts Jason and Paul for a discussion of William A. Wellman's 1948 spy thriller , starring Dana Andrews and Jean Tierney. Regarded as an anti-communist propaganda film, The Iron Curtain was the first major Hollywood studio production to engage directly with the Cold War. The story is based on the memoirs of the Russian spy Igor Gouzenko, who stole documents from the Soviet embasy in Ottawa, where he worked, and defected to Canada. This act of espionage led to the dismantling of a Soviet "atomic spy ring," and the arrests or numerous people both in Canada and the United States. At a time...
info_outline
S2 Ep. 1: Ivan the Terrible, Part 1 & 2 (Sergei Eisenstein, 1945/1958)
Cold War Cinema
Join hosts Jason, Tony, and our new co-host, Paul, on Episode One of Season Two! On this episode we discuss Sergei Eisenstein's epic two-part Soviet masterpiece Ivan the Terrible, released in 1945 and 1958 respectively. The films were commissioned by Joseph Stalin in 1941 as a means to rehabilitate Ivan the Terrible's image for a contemporary Soviet audience. Stalin celebrated Part 1, but the state banned Part 2. A third part had been in the works, but was abandoned by Eisenstein after the suppression of the second part. Our discussion touches on this history and many other topics, including...
info_outline
S1 Ep. 14: Cry, the Beloved Country (Zoltán Korda, 1951) w/ guest Felicia Maroni
Cold War Cinema
Join hosts Jason and Tony, as well as a new guest, Felicia Maroni, for the finale of Season One. On this episode we discuss Zoltán Korda's 1951 drama , a film shot on location in South Africa, starring Canada Lee and Sidney Poitier, which aimed to critique the brutal apartheid system just three years after it was codified into law. The film was based on a novel of the same name by Alan Paton, a white South African, and adapted to the screen by Paton and the blacklisted writer John Howard Lawson, who went uncredited. Book mentioned: Frantz Fanon's Felicia is the host of the wondeful...
info_outline
S1 Ep. 13: Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
Cold War Cinema
Grab your sandals and sword and get philosophical with Jason, Tony, and our guest Paul Klein, as we unpack the wonders of Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960). The film was adapted from Howard Fast's novel of the same title by Dalton Trumbo, and it is considered a major step in the end of the notorious Hollywood blacklist. The film is also read as an allegory for civil rights stuggles, the HUAC hearings, and "Third World" struggles. All of this and more is discussed in the episode. Books and articles mentioned: by Frances Stonor Saunders by Gerald Horne by Theodor Adorno by Susan...
info_outline
S1 Ep. 12: Monsieur Verdoux (Charlie Chaplin, 1947)
Cold War Cinema
Join hosts Jason Christian and Anthony Ballas, as well as a new guest, Paul Klein, as they discuss the iconic actor and director Charlie Chaplin and his late talkie masterpiece (1947). Paul is a film scholar who writes at the intersection of film and history. His research focuses on the cultural, political, and technological aspects of Hollywood and American filmgoing practices. He also write about how and why movies matter at (howtoreadmovies.com) As for Chaplin, he hardly needs an introduction, but many people don't realize that he was a victim of Red Scare harrassment from the...
info_outlineThis episode is a slight departure for this season—and we had fun with it. Rather than taking on a film directed by a blacklisted director, as usual, we're discussing a groundbreaking video essay about blacklisted directors. Thom Andersen's Red Hollywood (1996) discusses several of the directors and films we've discuss so far on the podcast. Andersen's goal in the film is to curate a list of overlooked films and demonstrate the bold themes that many of these directors were attempting to inject into some of them, much of which was later used as evidence against them in future HUAC hearings. The film features interviews with Abraham Polonsky, Ring Larnder, Jr., Paul Jarrico, and Alfred Levitt. Andersen (b. 1943) is the originator of the term "film gris," or socially conscious crime pictures from 1947 to 1952. He is perhaps most renowned for his experimental video essay Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003).
*Fact checking ourselves:
—Tim implies that Kafka (yes, Kafka) is Germany, but in fact he only wrote in German. He was from Prague of course.
—Jason says that he lived in communes for 15 years, but actually it was about ten (oops).
We hope you enjoy!