Edward Dmytryk

Edward Dmytryk was one of the so-called “Hollywood Ten” jailed for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.

Finding himself blacklisted after his prison sentence and unable to operate under a pseudonym, he took the step of testifying and naming names to the Committee. His career resumed to considerable commercial success, but also to prolonged and bitter criticism from the left and persistent mistrust from the right. Acknowledged as one of the key figures in the development of the film noir genre, having directed one of its first films, Murder, My Sweet, Dmytryk has otherwise frequently been sidelined in critical studies because of the controversy. This book is the first to critically evaluate each of the dozens of films he made between the 1930s and the 1970s including The Young Lions, Crossfire and The Caine Mutiny, among many others.

Fintan McDonagh is a London-based writer on film and culture whose work has appeared in Sight & Sound, The Guardian and the website of the British Film Institute.

Fintan McDonagh
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 315
Bibliographic Info: 60 photos, filmography, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8092-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4314-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments v
Introduction 1
I. Rising Through the Ranks (1923–1942) 5
The Hawk (1935) (a.k.a. The Trail of the Hawk) 14
Million Dollar Legs (1939) 15
Television Spy (1939) 16
Emergency Squad (1940) 18
Golden Gloves (1940) 20
Mystery Sea Raider (1940) 22
Her First Romance (1940) 25
The Devil Commands (1941) 27
Under Age (1940) 30
Sweetheart of the Campus (1941) 32
The Blonde from Singapore (1941) 34
Secrets of the Lone Wolf (1941) and Counter-Espionage (1942) 35
Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941) 37
II. The RKO Years (1942–1947) 39
Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942) 45
Hitler’s Children (1943) 48
The Falcon Strikes Back (1942) 53
Captive Wild Woman (1943) 55
Behind the Rising Sun (1943) 56
Tender Comrade (1943) 61
Murder, My Sweet (1944) 67
Back to Bataan (1945) 75
Cornered (1945) 81
Till the End of Time (1946) 88
So Well Remembered (1947) 95
Crossfire (1947) 102
III. The HUAC Nightmare (1947–1951) 111
Obsession (1949) 120
Give Us This Day (1949) 124
IV. Stanley Kramer, Career Savior (1951–1954) 131
Mutiny (1952) 134
The Sniper (1952) 136
Eight Iron Men (1952) 142
The Juggler (1953) 146
The Caine Mutiny (1954) 151
V. Consolidation Across Continents (1954–1960) 157
Broken Lance (1954) 161
The End of the Affair (1955) 165
Soldier of Fortune (1955) 171
The Left Hand of God (1955) 175
The Mountain (1956) 181
Raintree County (1957) 190
The Young Lions (1958) 196
Warlock (1959) 204
The Blue Angel (1959) 209
VI. Sustaining Stardom (1961–1969) 213
Walk on the Wild Side (1962) 217
The Reluctant Saint (1962) 224
The Carpetbaggers (1964) 227
Where Love Has Gone (1964) 233
Mirage (1965) 237
Alvarez Kelly (1966) 242
Anzio (1968) 247
Shalako (1968) 255
VII. Out of Time (1970–1975) 260
Bluebeard (1972) 264
He Is My Brother (1975) 269
The “Human” Factor (1975) 270
Filmography 275
Chapter Notes 285
Bibliography 295
Index 299

“This book is a carefully researched and perceptive study of the work of one of Hollywood’s most controversial directors, whose career has long been crying out for sympathetic yet incisive re-evaluation. High on the list of any critic’s priorities should be a passionate engagement with the subject and, if necessary, a restoration of justice; and the author has risen impressively to the challenge.”—Neil Sinyard, emeritus professor of film studies, University of Hull, UK