As a screenwriter, novelist, and political activist, Dalton Trumbo stands among the key American literary figures of the 20th century—he wrote the classic antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun, and his credits for Spartacus and Exodus broke the anticommunist blacklist that infected the movie industry for more than a decade. By defining connections between Trumbo’s most highly acclaimed films (including Kitty Foyle, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and Roman Holiday) and his important but lesser-known movies (The Remarkable Andrew, He Ran All the Way, and The Boss), the author identifies how for nearly four decades Trumbo used the archetype of the rebel hero to inject social consciousness into mainstream films.
This new critical survey—the first book-length work on Trumbo’s screenwriting career—examines the scores of films on which Trumbo worked and explores the techniques that made him, at the time he was blacklisted in 1947, Hollywood’s highest-paid writer. Hanson reveals how Trumbo dealt with major themes including rebellion, radical politics, and individualism—while also detailing lesser-known areas of Trumbo’s screenwriting, such as his troubling portrayal of women, the dichotomy between his proletarian attitude and bourgeois lifestyle, and the almost surreptitious manner in which he included antiestablishment rhetoric in seemingly innocuous scripts. An extensive filmography is included.

Peter Hanson is a director of films including Every Pixel Tells A Story (2002) and Stagehand (2006). He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Peter Hanson
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 255
Bibliographic Info: 25 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007 [2001]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3246-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1041-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi

Introduction      1

1 From Colorado to Hollywood (1905–1938)      11

2 The Part-Time Screenwriter (1938–1940)      26

3 The Path to Glory (1940–1942)      48

4 The “Good” War (1943–1946)      64

5 Going Underground (1947–1956)      92

6 Man with a Mission (1956–1959)      121

7 The Rebel Hero (1960)      135

8 Back in Business (1960–1961)      149

9 The Craftsman at Work (1962–1969)      165

10 Out of the Past (1970–1971)      185

11 Twilight (1971–1976)      196

Filmography      209

Notes      227

Bibliography      243

Index      245

Finalist, Theatre Library Association Award
“extensive research”—Choice; “intelligently written…useful”—Classic Images; “wonderfully documented…Trumbo stood head and shoulders above his peers…clearly details every facet of [his] career with warmth, praise, and intelligence…refreshing…marvelous”—Film & History.