“I used to think there was one America, but there are two. There's no place for me in McPherson's and Hearst's America, but there is in Lincoln's and Roosevelts!”
This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss Mikhaill Romm’s 1948 drama, The Russian Question. In this Soviet production, winner of the 1948 Stalin Prize and based on a play of the same name by Konstantin Siminov, a mendacious newspaper editor sends columnist Harry Smith to the Soviet Union to write a book critical of socialism. But when the principled columnist returns to the United States, he quickly realizes that the American press intends to turn the Russian question—whether the Russians want war—into a statement with dangerous geopolitical ramifications.
Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we consider:
The role of editing or montage in the construction of political critiques in aesthetic form
Why the President of the Motion Picture Association called this a “sneering, lying attack on the United States” and an “open bid to stir contempt and hatred for America on the part of the Russian audiences,” and why he got it all wrong
How a Soviet film about a sensationalist American news media helps us understand our current political moment
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We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode:
Paul recommends Clarence Brown’s 1949 drama Intruder in the Dust.
Tony recommends Langston Hughes 1961 collection, Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz.
Jason recommends Mikhail Romm’s 1961 drama Nine Days in One Year.
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