From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Searchers, the revelatory story behind the classic movie High Noon and the toxic political climate in which it was created.
Glenn Frankel worked for many years for the Washington Post, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1989, and taught journalism at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin, where he directed the School of Journalism. He has won the National Jewish Book Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His most recent book, The Searchers, was a national bestseller and named one of Library Journal’s top ten books of 2013. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. www.glennfrankel.com.
Glenn Frankel comes to his subject with a widely praised book about
John Ford's 'The Searchers' and an impressive resume in journalism,
including a Pulitzer Prize. Although much of Frankel’s material is
familiar, the blacklist is a gift that keeps on giving. . . Frankel
narrates this story well. He has a sure ear for the telling
anecdote, and a good eye for detail.
*The New York Times Book Review*
Though Frankel began this sumptuous history long before the latest
election, he ends up reminding us that 2016 was far from the first
time that politicians trafficked in lies and fear, and showing us
how, nonetheless, people of integrity came together to do exemplary
work.
*Washington Post*
The movie 'High Noon,' great in itself, is all the greater for the
backstory Mr. Frankel tells.
*The Wall Street Journal*
Mixing elements of biography, social history and film analysis,
author Glenn Frankel uncovers drama and tragedy not usually found
in discussions of moviemaking. His detailed narrative is a primer
for those who don't understand how the blacklist era endangered
free speech and other constitutional values.
*Associated Press*
Frankel reviews the now familiar history of the blacklist with
grace and accuracy; his descriptions of witness testimony are
particularly vivid. . . . Fascinating.
*The Los Angeles Times*
Frankel paints a devastating picture of a powerful force crumbling
under oppression--a cautionary tale in borrowed cowboy hats. . . .
High Noon is a sharp social history that reminds us just how common
for a broken system to abuse its power and cause deep human
damage--the worst is coming, any second--but also that a little
cynicism can be useful. Kane defends a worthless city; Kane wins.
There are no clean endings, except in the movies.
*NPR.org*
[A] compelling new book. . . . The real strength of Frankel's
account lies in its illustration, in many shades of gray, of the
Hollywood blacklist and what it did, in practical terms, as it
ruined or derailed many, many careers. . . . The Red Scare
Hollywood era is familiar nonfiction territory, but Frankel makes
it vital and gets down to the roots.”
*Chicago Tribune*
Film historian Glenn Frankel profiles the times, the movie and its
message in his fascinating and revealing new book High Noon: The
Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic . . .
Frankel--who previously uncovered the backstory of the classic John
Wayne movie 'The Searchers'--says the blacklist marked a uniquely
grim time in American history, one with special resonance
today.
*Christian Science Monitor*
The blacklist has provided grist for many books, including Victor
Navasky's seminal study Naming Names. But Frankel's book feels
fresh nonetheless. . . . He brings out the drama and the no-win
situation of everyone who was called before HUAC: throw your
friends and colleagues under the bus by naming them as former or
current Communists or sympathizers, or watch your life and career
go up in flames.
*Dallas Morning News*
Film buffs and history aficionados will be delighted and riveted by
Glenn Frankel's insightful and intimate look at the making of the
classic 1952 western High Noon. . . Frankel's saga presents a
gripping and coherent picture of the corrupt politics, paranoia and
fear mongering that drove Hollywood studio heads to capitulate to
anti-Communist witch-hunters.
*Shelf Awareness*
Not far removed from a James Ellroy novel. The 1950s film industry
portrayed in High Noon is, like Ellroy's Los Angeles, stocked with
hard-core commies, idealistic fellow travelers, paranoid
Red-baiters, union busters, corrupt congressmen, power-hungry
gossip columnists, secretive FBI agents and their snitches,
philandering actors and eager starlets. But far from being a
Hollywood Babylon of the Red Scare, Frankel's book is a detailed
investigation of the way anti-communist persecution poisoned the
atmosphere around one film, which succeeded nonetheless, and
damaged the lives of the people who made it.
*Bookforum*
Besides the macro picture of Hollywood in its darkest era, Frankel
is excellent at capturing the micro aspects as well, fascinatingly
weaving in multiple and competing accounts of how the film was
pieced together in the editing room. . . A comprehensive guide to
both a classic film and the era that created it.
*Kirkus Reviews*
An absorbing account of how a routine 1952 western starring a
has-been and an unknown became an unexpected classic. . . this
story of politics, art, loyalty and conscience is more relevant
than ever. And a nice bonus: Although it may impart a civics
lesson, it doesn't read like one.
*Minneapolis Star Tribune*
Frankel draws on a plethora of sources to craft a tale that, as a
thriller, rivals "High Noon" itself.
*The Houston Chronicle*
This may be one of the most accessible books ever written
concerning the effects of HUAC on Hollywood, as Frankel's decision
to blend these two aspects of Hollywood history, and his innate
skill as a journalist, has produced a highly readable and
fascinating look at a period that is less widely known than one
might imagine. VERDICT: Anyone interested in film and/or politics
will enjoy and learn from this book.
*Library Journal*
So much has been written about the blacklist's perpetrators and
victims that you might be forgiven for thinking you know all there
is worth knowing, but Frankel offers new details and fresh
insights. His portrait of Gary Cooper's life and career is equally
incisive . . . It will almost surely stand as the definitive
document about this landmark movie. I can't wait to see what
subject this skilled journalist will tackle next.
*Leonard Maltin*
Glenn Frankel has endowed the term ‘film historian’ with a sweeping
new dimension. High Noon is full of scholarly insight, compelling
history and wonderfully dishy moments, but like his previous book
on The Searchers it is also an American chronicle of real
consequence. When Frankel writes about the making of a movie he is
writing about the making of a country.
*Stephen Harrigan, author of THE GATES OF THE ALAMO and A FRIEND OF
MR. LINCOLN*
Glenn Frankel's High Noon isn't just everything you always wanted
to know about an enduring classic; it's a deeply insightful
portrait of the forces in postwar America and in blacklist-era
Hollywood that made the film such a powerful product of such a
troubled moment.
*Mark Harris, author of PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION and FIVE CAME
BACK*
Glenn Frankel's High Noon is three splendid books in one: a moment
by moment account of the making of the classic western, a history
of the Hollywood blacklist with much new material based on primary
research, and, in the rise of Stanley Kramer Productions, the story
of the independent producers who gradually supplanted conventional
studio production. Even if we know how each story ends, it's never
less than a continuously fascinating read.
*Scott Eyman, author of JOHN WAYNE: THE LIFE AND LEGEND*
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