Jim Hardie Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 By the same token which country could feel it's morals seriously threatened by such works as "Lady Chatterly's Lover" and the "Kama Sutra" I thoroughly enjoyed both works but would not allow my wife or servants to read them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeMaquis Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 The first signs that the cold war was inevitable was when Stalin grabbed Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the rest of the east European countries at the end of WW2. The first signs that the Cold War was inevitable was when the Yanks started the Unamerican Activities paranoia in the 30s. All those countries were invaded by the Germans and retaken by the Russians as the Red Army marched on Berlin. Truman agreed to Poland being a Soviet satellite at Potsdam. Stalin subsequently ensured that eastern Europe came under his influence in much the same way that the USA ensured a lot of Latin American countries were under its own influence according to the Monroe Doctrine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alternageek Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 I love this film, it's on every year and it makes my Christmas. But I've just been reading that an FBI file from 1946 says that the film was 'written by communist sympathisers and was a blatant attempt to instigate class warfare.' The file claimed the plot also 'demonised bankers in a way that made viewers question American Capitalism and potentially sympathise with Marxists,' and it was viewed with deep suspicion by the American establishment right up until the mid 1960's What sort of country could feel seriously threatened by a film like this? Just because the FBI, post WWII and early into the Cold War, opened a file and criticised it, doesnt make it un-American. In fact, its a Christmas tradition in most families to sit down and watch it after their dinners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janie48 Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 Its top of the UK list for favourite Xmas films again, but I don't think its been on TV for a couple of years. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/dec/23/its-wonderful-life-top-christmas-film-radio-times A lot of those old Frank Capra film classics are good, but that ones the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 What sort of country could feel seriously threatened by a film like this? obviously Americans aren't, because it is probably THE Christmas movie in the US and has been, ever since it was made. It isn't actually all that much different from the earlier 1930s Frank Capra movies like Mr Deeds Goes to Town and Mr Smith Goes To Washington which also championed the 'little man' against the establishment and were also big commercial and critical successes. so what, if a small number of rather paranoid people in the hottest part of the Cold War era considered this movie and also others a bit like it, to be somewhat dodgy ideologically. Utimately what they thought didn't matter. Because that didn't stop the movie from getting made, it didn't stop it getting distributed, sold, and seen, and it didn't stop it from becoming the American institution it remains today. obviously people in the Soviet Union that tried to make films elements of the security services considered dodgy dd not becomes wealthy and receive plaudits and prises like Frank Capra did. They ended up, in the Gulag and nobody ever saw their films. ---------- Post added 28-12-2013 at 08:55 ---------- We KNOW all about the USSR where incidentally, any and all western movies were banned outright as evil capitalisitic propaganda. that is not true actually as the censor did allow some foreign movies through, and if it did not have too much of a religous undertow, which the Communists hated almost as much as they did themes glorifying capitalism, then I'm sure It's a Wonderful Life would have been one of them. They used to like those kind of foreign movies where the villain was a banker as to them it showed capitalism in a negative light. The Soviets and other Communist countries did allow movies they considered ideologically OK through - usually heavily edited and overdubbed with lines the censor just made up, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeygirl Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Its top of the UK list for favourite Xmas films again, but I don't think its been on TV for a couple of years. it was on on christmas eve this year. i saw it for the first time this year having heard about it many times. i thought it was a good film Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Just because the FBI, post WWII and early into the Cold War, opened a file and criticised it, doesnt make it un-American. In fact, its a Christmas tradition in most families to sit down and watch it after their dinners. And really what was the point of the thread anyway? A lot of attitudes in the world were different in 1946. If a gay guy in Englamd got caught in the act with another consenting gay guy they were tossed in prison. There's an example ---------- Post added 28-12-2013 at 19:14 ---------- obviously Americans aren't, because it is probably THE Christmas movie in the US and has been, ever since it was made. It isn't actually all that much different from the earlier 1930s Frank Capra movies like Mr Deeds Goes to Town and Mr Smith Goes To Washington which also championed the 'little man' against the establishment and were also big commercial and critical successes. so what, if a small number of rather paranoid people in the hottest part of the Cold War era considered this movie and also others a bit like it, to be somewhat dodgy ideologically. Utimately what they thought didn't matter. Because that didn't stop the movie from getting made, it didn't stop it getting distributed, sold, and seen, and it didn't stop it from becoming the American institution it remains today. obviously people in the Soviet Union that tried to make films elements of the security services considered dodgy dd not becomes wealthy and receive plaudits and prises like Frank Capra did. They ended up, in the Gulag and nobody ever saw their films. ---------- Post added 28-12-2013 at 08:55 ---------- that is not true actually as the censor did allow some foreign movies through, and if it did not have too much of a religous undertow, which the Communists hated almost as much as they did themes glorifying capitalism, then I'm sure It's a Wonderful Life would have been one of them. They used to like those kind of foreign movies where the villain was a banker as to them it showed capitalism in a negative light. The Soviets and other Communist countries did allow movies they considered ideologically OK through - usually heavily edited and overdubbed with lines the censor just made up, of course. IAWL was no ground breaker in that film maker's message about capitalism and it's darker side. Read any Charles Dickens novel and the message was always there also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeMaquis Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 And really what was the point of the thread anyway? Subversive anti-Americanism and all the better for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 The first signs that the Cold War was inevitable was when the Yanks started the Unamerican Activities paranoia in the 30s. All those countries were invaded by the Germans and retaken by the Russians as the Red Army marched on Berlin. Truman agreed to Poland being a Soviet satellite at Potsdam. Stalin subsequently ensured that eastern Europe came under his influence in much the same way that the USA ensured a lot of Latin American countries were under its own influence according to the Monroe Doctrine. Truman had little choice but to accept a Stalinist puppet regime in Poland in 1945. The Red Army occupied the country and Truman wasn't going to get into a second war over Poland. The Polish government in exile in London was supposed to have been restored after liberation but liberation never came until 45 years later. Long live Walenska !! A true Pole and a true patriot It's just dumb to try compare the existence of those eastern bloc countries under communist domination with those of Latin America. Many from Latin America came to the US following WW2 to enjoy the freedoms and make a better life for themselves. On the other hand in eastern Europe they built barbed wire fences with search lights and machine gun posts on the borders with western Europe to stop their people running away to the west for the same reasons ---------- Post added 28-12-2013 at 19:28 ---------- Subversive anti-Americanism and all the better for it. Read my post 19 for a better education Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janie48 Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 it was on on christmas eve this year. i saw it for the first time this year having heard about it many times. i thought it was a good film Oh was it? Well I must have seen it two or three times now, but its still one of those inspiring heart-warming films i would enjoy seeing again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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