Watched Blackboard Jungle (1955) today in class, a "social problem" film about a new teacher in a rough school who brings out the good in the ruffians. Sidney Poitier plays a tough, but decent kid, who's nearly given up on learning. His acting talent is unquestionable. But also impressive was Vic Morrow, who stood out as the bad kid, a vagrant, biting his nails and mumbling with a bronx accent, doing anything to subvert the possibility of a decent learning environment.

We've been learning interesting things in this American Sound Cinemna class - I didn't know that prior to HUAC Hollywood in general had been middle of the road Republican. After HUAC, Hollywood felt betrayed and swung to the far left, where it has stayed.

During the same period, censorship boards, from Churches to states, to cities, used to team up against reviewers and artists on controversial pictures. Subjects such as abortion, rape, miscengenation, were taboo. Ironically, the issue over the Passion of the Christ, the Mel Gibson movie soon to come out pits religious groups and artists (Mel) together, against movie reviewers and pro-Jewish groups. Talk about shift in dynamic.