Salt of the Earth

• The Suppression of Salt of the Earth. How Hollywood, Big Labor, and Politicians Blacklisted a Movie in Cold War America, by James J. Lorence. University of New Mexico Press: 1999. ISBN 0-8263-2027-9 (cloth), ISBN 0-8263-2028-7(paper).

Noam Chomsky interview with political activists, excerpted from Understanding Power, The New Press, 2002.But I do think the film is double-edged. It’s certainly energized a lot of activism. I think it did a tremendous amount of good just for East Timor alone [the film includes extensive coverage of the unreported East Timor genocide as a case study of Edward Herman’s and Chomsky’s “Propaganda Model”5]. And it’s had a good impact in other respects. But it also has this negative aspect, which seems to me almost unavoidable. But you wanted to say something more …CHOMSKY: Yeah, but that’s because other people are doing important things and I’m not doing important things — that’s what it literally comes down to. I mean, years ago I used to be involved in organizing too — I’d go to meetings, get involved in resistance, go to jail, all of that stuff — and I was just no good at it at all; some of these people here can tell you. So sort of a division of labor developed: I decided to do what I’m doing now, and other people kept doing the other things. Friends of mine who were basically the same as me — went to the same colleges and graduate schools, won the same prizes, teach at M.I.T. and so on — just went a different way. They spend their time organizing, which is much more important work — so they’re not in a film. That’s what the difference is. I mean, I do something basically less important — it is, in fact. It’s adding something, and I can do it, so I do it — I don’t have any false modesty about it. And it’s helpful. But it’s helpful to people who are doing the real work. And every popular movement I know of in history has been like that.

See also[edit]

	Latino and Hispanic American portal
	Organized labour portal

• 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

Later history[edit]

Juan Chacón as Ramon Quintero.

The story of the film's suppression, as well as the events it depicted, inspired an undergroundaudience of unionists, leftists, feminists, Mexican-Americans, and film historians. The film found a new life in the 1960s and gradually reached wider audiences through union halls, women's centers, and film schools. The 50th anniversary of the film saw a number of commemorative conferences held across the United States.^[15]

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.^[16]

Around 1993, Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguistics professor and political commentatorNoam Chomsky praised the film because of the way people were portrayed doing the real work of unions. He said, "[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 movies—and of course it was killed, I think it was almost never shown."^[17]

Blacklistees[edit]

Herbert J. Biberman was part of the Hollywood Ten blacklistees, and his wife, Gale Sondergaard's successful film career ended. Michael Wilson, the film writer, and Paul Jarrico, the producer, were also blacklisted. The Hollywood ten was a group of men who were blacklisted for allegedly/potentially being Communists, and who, because of this labeling, were unable to find work in Hollywood for many years. Revueltas suffered the wrath of the Red Scare. During the filming of Salt of the EarthRevueltas was arrested by immigration officials on an alleged passport violation and was forced to return to Mexico. It was after that exile she was labeled a Communist. The rest of Salt of the Earth had to be filmed using a double for Revueltas. She never worked on an American film again. Revueltas once said that "[s]ince [the INS] had no evidence to present of my 'subversive' character, I can only conclude that I was 'dangerous' because I had been playing a role that gave status and dignity to the character of a Mexican-American woman."^{[citation needed]}

In Crowther's New York Times review of Salt of the Earth, he says, "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. True, it frankly implies that the mine operators have taken advantage of the Mexican-born or descended laborers, have forced a "speed up" in their mining techniques and given them less respectable homes than provided the so-called 'Anglo' laborers. It slaps at brutal police tactics in dealing with strikers and it gets in some rough, sarcastic digs at the attitude of 'the bosses' and the working of theTaft-Hartley Law."^{[citation needed]}

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.
Gross, Linda. Los Angeles Times (via FilmSociety - Tri-Pod web site), film review, July 2, 1976. Accessed: August 17, 2013.

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 Chacón, for example, was a real-life Union Local president. In the film he plays the protagonist, who has trouble dealing with women as equals.^[4] The director was reluctant to cast him at first, thinking he was too "gentle," but both Revueltas and his sister-in-law, Sonja Dahl Biberman, wife of Biberman's brotherEdward, urged him to cast Chacón as Ramon.^[5]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.
Hockstader, Lee. The Washington Post (via Socialist Viewpoint web site), film article, "Blacklisted Film Restored and Rehabilitated," March 3, 2003. Accessed: August 18, 2013

LegacyReception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Miners before they strike

The Hollywood establishment did not embrace the film at the time of its release, when McCarthyism was in full force. The Hollywood Reporter charged at the time that it was made "under direct orders of the Kremlin."^[8]

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 Communistpropaganda as we have had in many years."^[9]

Wake, Bob. Culture Vulture, book review of James J. Lorence's The Suppression of Salt of the Earth.Accessed: August 17, 2013.[edit]

Director Herbert Biberman was one of the Hollywood screenwriters and directors who refused to answer the House Committee on Un-American Activities on questions ofCPUSA affiliation in 1947. 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.^[3] Other participants who made the film and were blacklisted by the Hollywood studios include: Paul Jarrico, Will Geer, Rosaura Revueltas, and Michael Wilson.

In 2000, the film One of the Hollywood Ten was made, written and directed by Karl Francis. The film focuses on Herbert Biberman's having been blacklisted. It also includes a segment on the film Salt of the Earth, in which Revueltas was portrayed by actress Angela Molina.

Professional actors

• Rosaura Revueltas as Esperanza Quintero
• Will Geer as Sheriff
• David Wolfe as Barton
• Mervin Williams as Hartwell
• David Sarvis as Alexander

Filmography[edit]Revueltas

• La Deconocida de Arras (1946)
• The Torch, aka Bandit General (1949), aka Del Odio Nace el Amor (1951)
• Muchachas de Uniforme, aka Girls in Uniform (1950)
• Un Día de Vida (1950)
• Vuelve Pancho Villa, aka Pancho Villa Returns (1950)
• Maria Islands (1951)
• Sombrero (1953)
• Salt of the Earth (1954)
• Mina, Viento de Libertad, aka Mina, Wind of Freedom (1976)
• Lo Mejor de Teresa (1976)
• Balún Canán (1976)

Final years[edit]

After her career as an actress ended she worked in Germany, in Brecht's theater, and in Cuba. In her later years, she served as a judge in film festivals including the 36th Berlin International Film Festival in 1986.,^[1] and taught yoga in Mexico. In 1979 she published a book, Los Revueltas: Biografía de una familia (The Revueltas: Biography of a Family).

Salt of the Earth at the American Film Instit
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 beenblacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement incommunist politics.^[1]
This 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.ute Catalog.
Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas) is a miner's wife in ZincTown, 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 Chacón).
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 jailed forassaulting 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.
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.

Video cover
Directed by	Herbert J. Biberman
Produced by	Paul Jarrico
Screenplay by	Michael Wilson
Starring	Rosaura Revueltas Will Geer David Wolfe Mervin Williams David Sarvis Ernesto Velázquez Juan Chacón Henrietta Williams
Music by	Sol Kaplan
Cinematography	Stanley Meredith Leonard Stark
Edited by	Joan Laird Ed Spiegel
Distributed by	Independent Productions
Release dates	March 14, 1954(New York City)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Spanish
Budget	$250,000

Rosaura Revueltas Sánchez (August 6, 1910 – April 30, 1996) was a Mexican star of screen and stage, and a dancer, author and teacher.

Early life

Revueltas was born in Lerdo, Durango to an artistic family; her brothers included composer Silvestre, writer José, and painter Fermín.

She studied acting and ballet in Mexico City, and made many movies in Mexico. During the filming of her sole United States film, Salt of the Earth, about striking Mexican-American miners in New Mexico, she was arrested and deported back to Mexico. Afterwards, she was put on Hollywood blacklist for her role in the film.

Film career

Revueltas' first film was La Deconocida de Arras (1946). In 1951 she played Rosa Suárez, viuda de Ortiz (the widow of Ortiz) in the film Islas Marías, starring Pedro Infante.

In 1953's Sombrero, Revueltas played Tía Magdalena. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times called it "a big, broad-brimmed, squashy sort of picture, as massive as the garment for which it is named". The movie for which she is probably best-known is Herbert J. Biberman's Salt of the Earth (1954). The movie was based on the 1951 Empire Zinc strike in Grant County, New Mexico. She played the role of Esperanza Quintero, the wife of a mine worker. Crowther called her "lean and dynamic" in this role. In this film, Esperanza’s husband and fellow miners decide to go on strike, and in turn their wives do the same in order to support their spouses and gain rights of their own.

Revueltas was not Biberman’s first choice for the role of Esperanza. Originally his wife Gale Sondergaard was cast, but Biberman thought the role should be portrayed by a Spanish-speaking actress. Revueltas was one of the few established actors in that film, all the other roles, including that of her husband Ramon, were played by actual miners, some who had taken part in the real life strikes. Juan Chacón, who played Ramon Quintero, was the president of an actual local miners' union.

Blacklistees

Herbert J. Biberman was part of the Hollywood Ten blacklistees, and his wife, Gale Sondergaard's successful film career ended. Michael Wilson, the film writer, and Paul Jarrico, the producer, were also blacklisted. The Hollywood ten was a group of men who were blacklisted for allegedly/potentially being Communists, and who, because of this labeling, were unable to find work in Hollywood for many years. Revueltas suffered the wrath of the Red Scare. During the filming of Salt of the Earth Revueltas was arrested by immigration officials on an alleged passport violation and was forced to return to Mexico. It was after that exile she was labeled a Communist. The rest of Salt of the Earth had to be filmed using a double for Revueltas. She never worked on an American film again. Revueltas once said that " ince had no evidence to present of my 'subversive' character, I can only conclude that I was 'dangerous' because I had been playing a role that gave status and dignity to the character of a Mexican-American woman."

In Crowther's New York Times review of Salt of the Earth, he says, "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. True, it frankly implies that the mine operators have taken advantage of the Mexican-born or descended laborers, have forced a "speed up" in their mining techniques and given them less respectable homes than provided the so-called 'Anglo' laborers. It slaps at brutal police tactics in dealing with strikers and it gets in some rough, sarcastic digs at the attitude of 'the bosses' and the working of the Taft-Hartley Law."

Salt of the Earth was the only movie to ever be blacklisted during the "Communist Scare" of the 1950s (aka McCarthyism). It was selected however for the National Film Registry in 1992, thirty-eight years after its original release. In 1956, at the Académie du cinéma de Paris, Revueltas received the Best Actress award for her performance. She moved to Germany in 1957, and lived there until 1960, when she moved back to her native country. While in Germany, Revueltas worked with playwright Bertold Brecht in his theatre. After moving back to Mexico in 1960, Revueltas began taking acting classes and also began to write plays. It was not until 1976 that Revueltas made another film. Her first film since she was blacklisted was Mina, viento de libertad (Mina, Wind of Freedom). In that same year she also played Tía Licha in Lo Mejor de Teresa (The Best of Teresa). Her final film was made in 1977, entitled Balun Canan.

Final years

After her career as an actress ended she worked in Germany, in Brecht's theater, and in Cuba. In her later years, she served as a judge in film festivals including the 36th Berlin International Film Festival in 1986., and taught yoga in Mexico. In 1979 she published a book, Los Revueltas: Biografía de una familia (The Revueltas: Biography of a Family).

Death

She died on April 20, 1996, six months after having been diagnosed with lung cancer, in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the age of 85. She had one child, a son, Arturo Bodenstedt.

Awards

Rosario Revueltas was awarded the Best Actress Award for her performance in Salt of the Earth by the Académie du cinéma de Paris.

Legacy

In 2000, the film One of the Hollywood Ten was made, written and directed by Karl Francis. The film focuses on Herbert Biberman's having been blacklisted. It also includes a segment on the film Salt of the Earth, in which Revueltas was portrayed by actress Angela Molina.

Filmography

• Balún Canán (1976)
• Lo Mejor de Teresa (1976)
• Mina, Viento de Libertad, aka Mina, Wind of Freedom (1976)
• Salt of the Earth (1954)
• Sombrero (1953)
• Islas Marías (1951)
• Muchachas de Uniforme, aka Girls in Uniform (1950)
• Un Día de Vida (1950)
• Vuelve Pancho Villa, aka Pancho Villa Returns (1950)
• The Torch, aka Bandit General (1949), aka Del Odio Nace el Amor (1951)
• La Deconocida de Arras (1946)

________________________________________________________________

Production:Independent Productions Corporation and the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers; black and white, 35mm; running time 92 minutes. Released 1954, New York City. Filmed 1953 in the Bayard Region of New Mexico.

Producers:Paul Jarrico with Sonja Dahl Biberman and Adolfo Barela;screenplay:Michael Wilson with Herbert J. Biberman;photography:Leonard Stark and Stanley Meredith, some sources list director of photography asSimon Lazarus;editors:Ed Spiegel and Joan Laird;sound:Dick Staunton and Harry Smith;production design:Sonja Dahl and Adolfo Bardela;music:Sol Kaplan.

Cast:Professional actors—Rosaura Revueltas (Esperanza Quintero); Will Geer (Sheriff); David Wolfe (Barton); Melvin Williams (Hartwell); David Sarvis (Alexander); non-professional actors—Juan Chacón (Ramón Quintero); Henrietta Williams (Teresa Vidal); Ernest Velásquez (Charley Vidal); Angela Sánchez (Consuelo Ruíz); Joe T. Morales (Sal Ruíz); Clorinda Alderette (Luz Morales); Charles Coleman (Antonio Morales); Virginia Jencks (Ruth Barnes); Clinton Jencks (Frank Barnes); E. A. Rockwell (Vance); William Rockwell (Kimbrough); Frank Talavera (Luís Quintero); Mary Lou Castillo (Estella Quintero); Floyd Bostick (Jenkins); Victor Torres (Sebastian Prieto); E. S. Conerly(Kalinsky); Elvira Molano (Mrs. Salazar); Adolfo Barela and Albert Muñoz (Miners); and the men and women of Local 890, International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, Bayard, New Mexico.

Publications

Script:

Wilson, Michael,Salt of the Earth, compiled by Deborah Silverton Rosenfelt, New York, 1978.

Books:

Cogley, John,Report on Blacklisting I: Movies, New York, 1956.

Biberman, Herbert,Salt of the Earth: The Story of a Film, Boston, 1965.

Lorence, James J.,Suppression of Salt of the Earth: How Hollywood,Big Labor, and Politicians Blacklisted a Movie in Cold WarAmerica, Albuquerque, 1999.

Articles:

"Hollywood Film Writers," inNation(New York), 15 January 1949.

"Interview with Herbert Biberman," inJeune Cinéma(Paris), November 1950.

"I.U.M.M.S.W. with Love," inTime(New York),23 February1953.

"Silver City Troubles," inNewsweek(New York),16 March1953.

Bloom, H., "Vigilantism Plays the Villain, Silver City, N. Mex.," inNation(New York), 9 May 1953.

Biberman, Herbert, and Paul Jarrico, inCinéma(Paris), March 1955.

McFadden, Patrick, "Blacklisted," inTake One(Montreal), no. 5, 1967.

"Interview with Herbert Biberman," inPositif(Paris), Summer 1969.

Avant-Scène du Cinéma(Paris), June 1971.

McCormick, R., inCineaste(New York), no. 4, 1973.

Debacker, J., "Dossier:Le Sel de la terre," inApec—Revue Belge duCinéma(Brussels), no. 4, 1974–75.

Fausing, B., inKosmorama(Copenhagen), Autumn 1975.

Borde,RaymondinFilmihullu(Helsinki), no. 5, 1976.

"Special Issue" ofFilm und Fernsehen(Berlin), July 1977.

Hoen, P. R., inFilmavisa(Oslo), no. 4, 1978.

Haudiquet, P., "Le Sel de la terre à la liste noire," inImage et Son(Paris), June 1978.

Turroni, G., inFilmcritica(Rome), May 1979.

Heredero, C. F., inCinema 2002(Madrid), November 1979.

Rosenfelt, D., "Ideology and Structure inSalt of the Earth," inJumpCut(Chicago), 30 December 1979.

Peary, Danny, inCult Movies 2, New York, 1983.

Miller, Tom, "Class Reunion:Salt of the EarthRevisited," inCineaste(New York), vol. 13, no. 3, 1984.

Crowdus, Gary, inCineaste(New York), vol. 15, no. 1, 1986.

Bosshard, A., "Which Side Are You On?" inIllusions(Wellington), no. 8, June 1988.

Jarrico, P., "Letters:Salt of the Earth," inCineaste(New York), vol. 17, no. 1, 1989.

Riambau, Esteve, and C. Torreiro, "This Film is Going to Make History: An Interview withRosaura Revueltas," inCineaste(New York), vol. 19, no. 2–3, 1992.

Jerslev, A., "Salt of the EarthRevisited," inKosmorama(Copenhagen), vol. 42, no. 218, Winter 1996.

Hoberman, J., "West Side Story," inVillage Voice(New York), vol. 43,13 January1998.

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