I have read and heard that people say that this film has some kind of lefty elements in it!
I cannot sense even a tiny bit of lefty, left - wing and communist propaganda and element in it!
Furthermore, Hollywood was pretty strict about lefties back in the days. Lots of actors and people behind the cameras were banned because of this.
Can someone explain?
Please, pretty please.......
JeSkuNk
If it weren't for the MPAA Code, Cary Grant's character would have certainly been labeled a communist. There are plenty of clues (working class intellectual, belief that violence is sometimes necessary, against capitalist corruption, even his fondness for borscht). But in Hollywood back then, you can't have an unrepentant communist as a sympathetic character, much less a hero. So the word "communist" is never mentioned. Of course, back then, being to the left of FDR was enough to get you labeled this way. Also, with his own high principles and respect for the Supreme court, Cary Grant is hardly that radical. He certainly wouldn't be considered so today.
shareLet's look at the calendar: 1942. We were at war against the Nazis and imperialist Japan. Our closest allies were the British (and Canadians and Aussies, etc) and the USSR. Being at least a little leftist was tolerable in those days. The more conservative and isolationist America First factions had been silenced by Pearl Harbor and Germany's declaration of war against the US (which preceded ours against them). It was only after the war, when Stalin's takeover of all the nations of Eastern Europe his troops had liberated from the Nazis became clear, that conservatives began turning public opinion against more active liberals.
Over the next few years, the Soviets cemented their control of E.Europe and exploded an atom bomb, and then the Chinese communists took over that country and US conservatives exploited people's concerns and an all-out witch hunt was launched, including black lists and loyalty oaths of American citizens.
I have seen enough to know I have seen too much. -- ALOTOshare