As the dreaded day of the impending catastrophe known as the 2024 election approaches, I thought it would be appropriate and sobering to take a brief look back at the Hollywood Ten, a group of filmmakers who were tried, convicted and imprisoned for having been members of the Communist Party in the early-to-mid 1940s. (The trial was actually a hearing conducted in 1947. After appealing to the highest court in the land–yes, the Supreme Court–who refused to intervene, they received one-year jail sentences in 1950). If you’re reading this blog you probably know a good deal about this sorry stain on American history but if you don’t, click here for a good summary of the whole sordid mess. Above is a short film made shortly before the imprisonment of the ten, designed as a warning to Americans who may not have fully grasped the trap set by the government via the method these hearings deployed and what the aftermath would prove to be for many others soon to be threatened with blacklisting. The sense of dread continues almost eighty years later. It can (and very possibly will) happen again…and happen here…