Salt of the earth : the story of a film / Herbert Biberman.

The "Screenplay of Salt of the earth, by Michael Wilson," which was directed by Herbert Biberman, is printed on pages 315-373.

Foreward - 1964 -- Part one: America - 1951 -- Part two: Hollywood - 1953 -- Part three: Un-America - 1954 -- Part four: the world - 1955 -- Part five: America - 1964 -- Photographs from Salt of the Earth [motion picture] -- Screenplay by Michal Wilson of Salt of the Earth

"x-film director Biberman was a member of Hollywood's Unfriendly Ten which stood up to the House Unamerican Activities Committee in the late '40's--and paid for it with their reputations. All were fired, blacklisted and eventually jailed. These writers and directors were something of an intellectual elite in an otherwise commercial structure. Biberman maintains that the film industry, in violation of the anti-trust laws, conspired to prevent his independent company from filming and releasing his controversial semi-documentary, Salt of the Earth. The evidence as presented is overwhelmingly in his favor. He and several others among the 300 blacklisted movie people pooled their talents to make a pro-union film about Mexican-Americans on strike at a silver mine in New Mexico. The miners' wives had taken over the picket line' from their harassed husbands and were holding it. When Biberman and crew settled there to start filming, they were attacked, shot at and beaten up by over-zealous vigilantes. But they got their rough film into a can. The rest of the story is an abysmal diary of victimization, underground editing and a decade of litigation. Never released nationally, the film was highly praised by New York reviewers, and won several European film festival first prizes." -- Kirkusreviews.com

"There is and has been for a number of years disagreement over the right of a man to speak his mind. For instance, just how dangerous is it to allow a company of men and women to make a movie? Salt of the Earth is a film about a strike. It takes sides. This book, Salt of the Earth, is the story of the difficulties resulting from a difference of opinion, a difference of belief. It is told by Herbert Biberman, who was a participant in the action. He directed the film and he has fought through all the ensuing battles. He was a Hollywood director, one of the "Hollywood Ten." He spent six months in jail for contempt of Congress because he refused to answer questions about his political beliefs and particularly about membership in the Communist party." -- from publisher's note.