High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

High Noon is the fascinating story of the making of a classic motion picture during the time of the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. I picked up this book because I had seen the movie many years ago as part of a high school media class in high school. I loved the movie and I still do, but back then I had no idea of how intertwined the movie was with the politics of the time.

The book follows the careers of Gary Cooper (Marshal Kane), Carl Foreman (screenwriter), Stanley Kramer (producer) and Fred Zinnemann (director) leading to their work on High Noon. Along the way we learn about the Communist Party in America and the organization in Hollywood, plus the studio system and the political divisions of the motion picture industry. But when the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) comes on the scene things get very interesting indeed. Loyalty oaths, black lists and grey lists, all of these had a profound affect on the motion picture industry and indirectly on American culture.

Carl Foreman was a member of the Communist Party at one point, and was called to testify by HUAC during the filming of High Noon. And in some sense, some of the story of High Noon reflects Foreman’s experiences at this time.

I really enjoyed this book; it’s a fascinating book about art and politics and fear. And in some sense it’s still quite relevant today. I definitely recommend this book.