Salt of the Earth: The Story of a Film [*SIGNED*]

Boston: Beacon Press. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. (c.1965). First Edition. Hardcover. [light soiling to top edge of text block, no other significant wear to book; the jacket has a bit of wear along the top edge, a tiny bit of paper loss at the upper right corner of the front panel, and a short vertical puncture tear at the left edge of the front panel]. (B&W photographs) INSCRIBED and SIGNED on the front endpaper by the author's wife, actress Gale Sondergaard: "to Lee Saltz / Gale Sondergaard Biberman." (Sondergaard, like her husband, was also blacklisted during the Fifties.) The story of the conception, planning, production and aftermath of the 1954 independent film SALT OF THE EARTH, and the political firestorm it occasioned. Made by a cadre of blacklisted filmmakers -- director Biberman, producer Paul Jarrico, and screenwriter Michael Wilson -- the film was shot on location in New Mexico using a largely non-professional cast (one exception being actor Will Geer, also blacklisted), and based on an actual miners' strike that had taken place in 1951. Branded as "subversive," the film was denounced by the U.S. House of Representatives and boycotted by the American Legion, and all but a dozen theatres in the U.S. refused to show it. In fact, even at the time this book was published, although the film had gained a reputation in Europe, it was still seldom screened in America. Most of the calumny visited upon the film has evaporated over time, however, and in 1992 it was added to the United States National Film Registry. The book also contains the complete screenplay of the film. Signed by Associated . (Inventory #: 30123)