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Salt of the Earth (1954 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Salt of the Earth' is a 1954 American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics..
The drama film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc", and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico". The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film.[Notes - TCM.com]
Plot
Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas) is a miner's wife in Zinc Town, New Mexico, a community which is essentially run and owned by Delaware Zinc Inc. Esperanza is thirty-five years old, pregnant with her third child and emotionally dominated by her husband, Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacn).[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/full-synopsis.html Full Synopsis - TCM.com]
The majority of the miners are Mexican-Americans and want decent working conditions equal to those of white, or "Anglo" miners. The unionized workers go on strike, but the company refuses to negotiate and the impasse continues for months. Esperanza gives birth and, simultaneously, Ramon is beaten by police and jailed on bogus assault charges following an altercation with a union worker who betrayed his fellows. When Ramon is released, Esperanza tells him that he's no good to her in jail. He counters that if the strike succeeds they will not only get better conditions right now but also win hope for their children's futures.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/full-synopsis.html Full Synopsis - TCM.com]
The company presents a Taft-Hartley Act injunction to the union, meaning any miners who picket will be arrested. Taking advantage of a loophole, the wives picket in their husbands' places. Some men dislike this, seeing it as improper and dangerous. Esperanza is forbidden to picket by Ramon at first, but she eventually joins the line while carrying her baby.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/full-synopsis.html Full Synopsis - TCM.com]
The sheriff, by company orders, arrests the leading women of the strike. Esperanza is among those taken to jail. When she returns home, Ramon tells her the strike is hopeless, as the company will easily outlast the miners. She insists that the union is stronger than ever and asks Ramon why he can't accept her as an equal in their marriage. Both angry, they sleep separately that night.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/full-synopsis.html Full Synopsis - TCM.com]
The next day the company evicts the Quintero family from their house. The union men and women arrive to protest the eviction. Ramon tells Esperanza that they can all fight together. The mass of workers and their families proves successful in saving the Quinteros' home. The company admits defeat and plans to negotiate. Esperanza believes that the community has won something no company can ever take away and it will be inherited by her children.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/full-synopsis.html Full Synopsis - TCM.com]
Cast
'Professional actors'
* Rosaura Revueltas as Esperanza Quintero
* Will Geer as Sheriff
* David Bauer as Barton (as David Wolfe)
* Mervin Williams as Hartwell
* David Sarvis as Alexander
'Non-professional actors'
* Juan Chacn as Ramon Quintero
* Henrietta Williams as Teresa Vidal
* Ernesto Velzquez as Charley Vidal
* ngela Snchez as Consuelo Ruiz
* Joe T. Morales as Sal Ruiz
* Clorinda Alderette as Luz Morales
* Charles Coleman as Antonio Morales
* Virginia Jencks as Ruth Barnes
* Clinton Jencks as Frank Barnes
* Vctor Torres as Sebasatian Prieto
* E.A. Rockwell as Vance
* William Rockwell as Kimbrough
* Floyd Bostick as Jenkins
* and other members of Mine-Mill Local 890
Production
The film was called 'subversive' and blacklisted because the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers sponsored it and many blacklisted Hollywood professionals helped produce it. The union had been expelled from the CIO in 1950, over the alleged domination of its leadership by communists.[http://film.society.tripod.com/nzffs/bib-salt-of-the-earth.htm Gross, Linda]. 'Los Angeles Times' (via FilmSociety - Tri-Pod web site), film review, July 2, 1976. Accessed: August 17, 2013.
Director Herbert Biberman was one of the Hollywood screenwriters and directors who refused to answer the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947 on questions of affiliation to the Communist Party USA. The 'Hollywood Ten' were cited and convicted for contempt of Congress and jailed. Biberman was imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institution at Texarkana for six months. After his release he directed this film.[http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/blacklist.html The Hollywood Ten]. University of California, Berkeley Library. Document maintained on server by Gary Handman, Head, Media Resources Center. Accessed: August 17, 2013. Other participants who made the film and were blacklisted by the Hollywood studios include: Paul Jarrico, Will Geer, Rosaura Revueltas, and Michael Wilson.
The producers cast only five professional actors. The rest were locals from Grant County, New Mexico, or members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 890, many of whom were part of the strike that inspired the plot. Juan Chacn, for example, was in real life a union local president. In the film he plays the protagonist, who has trouble dealing with women as equals.[http://www.vafilm.com/1995/thursday.html University of Virginia] . "A Nation of Immigrants", October 26, 1995. The director was reluctant to cast him at first, thinking he was too "gentle", but both Revueltas and the director's sister-in-law, Sonja Dahl Biberman, wife of Biberman's brother Edward, urged him to cast Chacn as Ramon.[http://www.historynet.com/salt-of-the-earth-the-movie-hollywood-could-not-stop.htm Boisson, Steve]. 'American History' (via HistoryNet web site), film article, "'Salt of the Earth': The Movie Hollywood Could Not Stop", February 2002 issue. Accessed: August 18, 2013.
The film was denounced by the United States House of Representatives for its communist sympathies, and the FBI investigated the film's financing. The American Legion called for a nationwide boycott of the film. After its opening night in New York City, the film languished for 10 years because all but 12 theaters in the country refused to screen it.
By one journalist's account: "During the course of production in New Mexico in 1953, the trade press denounced it as a subversive plot, anti-Communist vigilantes fired rifle shots at the set, the film's leading lady Rosaura Revueltas was deported to Mexico, and from time to time a small airplane buzzed noisily overhead ... The film, edited in secret, was stored for safekeeping in an anonymous wooden shack in Los Angeles."[http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/apr_03/apr_03_37.html Hockstader, Lee]. 'The Washington Post' (via Socialist Viewpoint web site), film article, "Blacklisted Film Restored and Rehabilitated," March 3, 2003. Accessed: August 18, 2013.
Reception
Critical response
The Hollywood establishment did not embrace the film at the time of its release.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/articles.html Articles - TCM.com]
Pauline Kael, who reviewed the film for 'Sight and Sound' in 1954, panned it as a simplistic left-wing "morality play" and said it was "as clear a piece of Communist propaganda as we have had in many years."'Culture Vulture,' ibid.
Bosley Crowther, film critic for 'The New York Times', reviewed the picture favorably, both for its screenplay and direction, writing: "In the light of this agitated history, it is somewhat surprising to find that 'Salt of the Earth' is, in substance, simply a strong pro-labor film with a particularly sympathetic interest in the Mexican-Americans with whom it deals....But the real dramatic crux of the picture is the stern and bitter conflict within the membership of the union. It is the issue of whether the women shall have equality of expression and of strike participation with the men. And it is along this line of contention that Michael Wilson's tautly muscled script develops considerable personal drama, raw emotion and power." Crowther called the film "a calculated social document".Crowther, Bosley. 'The New York Times', film review, [https://www.nytimes.com/1954/03/15/archives/the-screen-in-review-salt-of-the-earth-opens-at-the-grande-filming.html "'Salt of the Earth' Opens at the Grande -- Filming Marked by Violence,"] March 15, 1954. Accessed: April 28, 2019. Michael Wilson, who worked under a 'nom de plume' for some years afterwards, later won an Academy Award for the screenplay of 'Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957).[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/88949/Salt-of-the-Earth/articles.html Articles - TCM.com]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on eleven reviews.[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/salt_of_the_earth/ 'Salt of the Earth'] at Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed: November 29, 2009.
Accolades
* Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: Best Actress: Rosaura Revueltas; Crystal Globe Award for Best Picture, Herbert J. Biberman, received 'Ex aequo' also by 'True Friends'. Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czechoslovakia; 1954.'[http://www.kviff.com/en/about-festival/history-past-years/1954/ 8th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]'. kviff.com.* Academie du Cinema de Paris: International Grand Prize; 1955.'People's Weekly World Newspaper,' ibid.
* In 1992, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/descriptions-and-essays/ Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board]
* The film is preserved by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Later history
The film found an audience in both Western and Eastern Europe in the few years after its American release.[http://www.usfca.edu/pj/gender.htm Waring, Rob] . 'Picturing Justice', December 21, 1999. The story of the film's suppression, as well as the events it depicted, inspired an underground audience of unionists, leftists, feminists, Mexican-Americans, and film historians. The film found a new life in the 1960s and gradually reached larger audiences through union halls, women's associations, and film schools. The 50th anniversary of the film saw a number of commemorative conferences held across the United States.[http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/3503/1/164 Pecinovsky, Tony] , 'People's Weekly World Newspaper', May 22, 2003.
Around 1993, Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguistics professor and political commentator Noam Chomsky praised the film because of the way people were portrayed doing the real work of unions. According to Chomsky: "[T]he real work is being done by people who are not known, that's always been true in every popular movement in history...I don't know how you get that across in a film. Actually, come to think of it, there are some films that have done it. I mean, I don't see a lot of visual stuff, so I'm not the best commentator, but I thought 'Salt of the Earth' really did it. It was a long time ago, but at the time I thought that it was one of the really great moviesand of course it was killed, I think it was almost never shown."[http://www.chomsky.info/books/power02.htm Noam Chomsky] interview with political activists, excerpted from 'Understanding Power', The New Press, 2002.
The "Salt of the Earth Labor College" located in Tucson, Arizona is named after the film. The pro-labor institution (not a college 'per se') holds various lectures and forums related to unionism and economic justice. The film is screened on a frequent basis.[http://www.saltearthlaborcollege.org/ Salt of the Earth] Labor College web site.
Other releases
On July 27, 1999, a digitally restored print of the film was released in DVD by Organa through Geneon (Pioneer), and packaged with the documentary 'The Hollywood Ten', which reported on the ten filmmakers who were blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). This Special Edition with the Hollywood Ten film is still available through Organa at organa.com. In 2004, a budget edition DVD was released by Alpha Video. A laserdisc version was released by the Voyager Company in 1987 (catalog # VP1005L).[https://dadons.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=56907 Salt of the Earth Special Edition LaserDisc, Rare LaserDiscs, Criterion LaserDiscs]
Because the film's copyright was not renewed in 1982, the film is now in the public domain.
Adaptations
The film has been adapted into a two-act opera called 'Esperanza' (Hope). The labor movement in Wisconsin and University of WisconsinMadison opera professor Karlos Moser commissioned the production. The music was written by David Bishop and the libretto by Carlos Morton. The opera premiered in Madison, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2000, to positive reviews.[http://wisconsinlaborhistory.org/musical.html Wisconsin Labor History Society] web site.A documentary titled 'A Crime to Fit the Punishment', about the making of the film, was released in 1982 and was directed by Barbara Moss and Stephen Mack.
A drama film, based on the making of the film, was chronicled in 'One of the Hollywood Ten' (2000). It was produced and directed by Karl Francis, starred Jeff Goldblum and Greta Scacchi, and was released in European countries on September 29, 2000.[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9E00E5D91139F932A25752C0A9649C8B63&oref=slogin Holden, Stephen]. 'The New York Times', "Back to an Era of Slurs, Paranoia and Persecution," 11 January 2002. Last accessed: 22 November 2007.
A fictionalized account of the movie's production featured prominently in the Audible original podcast series, 'The Big Lie (2022)'. Based on source material written by Paul Jerrico, the production features voice performances from Jon Hamm, Kate Mara, Ana de la Reguera, Bradley Whitford, John Slattery, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Strathairn, and was written by John Mankiewicz and Jamie Napoli.
See also
* 'The Hollywood Ten', documentary film
* Jencks Act
* 'Jencks v. United States'
* Labor history
* The Ladies Auxiliary of the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers
References
Notes
Bibliography
** 'Salt of the Earth: The Story of a Film', by Herbert J. Biberman. Harbor Electronic Publishing, New York (2nd edition, 2004): 1965. See: [http://www.hepdigital.com/salt/press-cineaste.html 'Cineaste' review of book] & [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/chiricu.1.1.03 Scott Henkel and Vanessa Fonseca. "Fearless Speech and the Discourse of Civility in 'Salt of the Earth'." 'Chiric', vol. 1, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1938].
Further reading
* Caballero, Raymond. 'McCarthyism vs. Clinton Jencks'. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019.
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