It’s a Wonderful Life, Comrade

[ashling]

[font size = 5]Ayn Rand helped the FBI investigate whether ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ was commie propaganda[/font size = 5]

http://billmoyers.com/2014/12/23/wonderful-life-comrade/

But a 1947 FBI memorandum, part of a 13,533-page document, “Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry,” first went after the writers Goodrich and Hackett:

“According to Informants [REDACTED] in this picture the screen credits again fail to reflect the Communist support given to the screen writer. According to [REDACTED] the writers Frances Goodrick [sic] and Albert Hackett were very close to known Communists and on one occasion in the recent past while these two writers were doing a picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Goodrick [sic] and Hackett practically lived with known Communists and were observed eating luncheon daily with such Communists as Lester Cole, screen writer, and Earl Robinson, screen writer. Both of these individuals are identified in Section I of this memorandum as Communists.”

[Major Hogwash]

1. That is seriously fucked up.

I didn't know that the FBI conducted an investigation of the people involved with that movie.

[Warpy]

2. Dumbass McCarthyites

People came to loathe bankers during the Great Depression when all the money they'd sweated to deposit safely in banks evaporated overnight when everything went up in smoke. My own grandmother refused to trust them and squirreled away money all over her house until her death in the early 1960s.

By making one banker a villain and another a hero, Capra was actually doing better than even the sourest plutocrat could have hoped to sanitize the image banking had in this country even in the late 1940s.

Instead of listening to a bitter old failed novelist like Rand, perhaps they should have watched the movie.

[ashling]

7. Did you see Capra's AMERICAN MADNESS?

Wonderful film - predates Wonderful


here is a synopsis / review which is on IDMB.com http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022626/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

For twenty-five years, Tom Dickson, the President of Union National Bank, has had the bank, its employees and its clients in his best interest. In turn, his employees and the bank's clients are fiercely loyal to Tom and the bank. The bank's Board of Directors have a different view. They accuse Tom of being reckless, especially in being overly liberal in approving what they consider questionable loans. Tom defends his loan policy, stating that money in circulation is what is needed to help the country get out of the depression. The Board will do whatever it needs to to remove Tom from his position. When the bank is robbed of $200,000, one of Tom's most loyal employees, Matt Brown, the newly appointed assistant head cashier, is implicated as the thief, although Tom believes Matt is innocent. Although Matt does not know who committed the robbery, he is reluctant to defend himself if only to protect Tom from information concerning head cashier Cyril Cluett and Tom's neglected wife, Phyllis. The robbery, however, has wider effects in that it starts a chain of events that could ruin the bank. Tom has to figure out how to save the bank, while evaluating his priorities in light of information that comes to his attention about his home life.

I wish I had a quote of the above passsionate defense of the lending policy given by Tom Dickson - played wonderfully - as ever - by Walter Huston

Must viewing

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. You talkin' to me?

[Rhinodawg]

13. I think he/she is.

nt

[Cha]

4. K

[Orsino]

5. Because freedom. n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

6. Americans have always been such evil fucks that the mere thought of someone helping someone

else was a 'threat to our way of life'.

We ARE the great Satan.

Yes.

Really.

[Rhinodawg]

10. Let's test a theory....

( to the jury, since someone is going to miss the point of my post and hit the alert button, I'm trying to prove how insulting and wrong it is to broad brush any group ....except apparently America)



Let's replace America and broad brush some other groups and see how that works.....

Americans have always been such evil fucks
Russia have always been such evil fucks.
China have always been such evil fucks.
Israel have always been such evil fucks
The Palestinians have always been such evil fucks
White people have always been such evil fucks
Black people have always been such evil fucks
Jews have always been such evil fucks
Christians have always been such evil fucks
Islamists have always been such evil fucks


Doesn't work...nope...it's ONLY ok to say...

Americans have always been such evil fucks.

[socialist_n_TN]

16. I don't like the word "evil".........

because of the spiritual implications involved. It allows us to put the blame for the woes of any country or group on some sort of moral or spiritual failing of individuals, rather than where the blame SHOULD be placed, i.e., the system that encourages what people view as "evil" or even "immoral" actions. Even the above post you are responding to uses the word "Americans" which implies individual actors rather than a systemic problem.

That said, there IS an epicenter of immoral actions in the worldwide system of capitalism and that epicenter is in the United States. This country IS the belly of the beast when it comes to capitalism and it's late life bastard son, imperialism. Probably because the country came to capitalism relatively late in the game compared to Europe AND because American capitalism had a lot longer time to expand because of all the resources in this country. But for whatever reason, capitalism is more strongly entrenched here than anywhere else in the world. Which does make it the poster child for all of the wrongs of late stage capitalism, especially given the belligerent attitude towards competing world views AND the power to back it up with military might.

[Rhinodawg]

18. Wow...

"there IS an epicenter of immoral actions in the worldwide system of capitalism and that epicenter is in the United States. "


I learn new things everyday.

[socialist_n_TN]

20. Do you deny that the USA is the most capitalist country.....

(at least of the developed economies) in the world today?

[Rhinodawg]

22. No.

I think it was the immoral part.

No problem .

[alphafemale]

11. or something

[Rhinodawg]

12. I feel your hatred for "AMERICANS".....

what you call EVIL FUCKS and THE GREAT SATAN.

Is there any country you would think are NOT EVIL FUCKS ?


YES


REALLY






On edit.... I want to save your post ...



Americans have always been such evil fucks that the mere thought of someone helping someone

else was a 'threat to our way of life'.

We ARE the great Satan.

Yes.

Really.

[jillan]

8. I just saw that movie for the first time Christmas Eve and all I could think about was how

the teabaggers must hate this movie.

No surprise. They were all born without the empathy gene.

[bemildred]

9. Ms Rand was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

All you need to do is read her prose, which is adolescent at best. And kinky.

[madokie]

14. Wasn't saint ronnie one of the informants on this witch hunt

seems I remember that

[Rhinodawg]

15. Kicked.

[dawg]

17. Pretty lame Commie propaganda if you ask me.

Sounds more like "liberal" propaganda to me. The hero is a small business owner.

(Dumb rich people don't realize that we liberals are the best friends they ever had. Our efforts and reforms are the only things that saved them from the *real* socialists.)

[socialist_n_TN]

19. And speaking as one of those *real* socialists......

I still have hopes dawg that we might convert you at some point to the necessity of revolution! If we don't I hope you realize your grandchildren will be fighting the same battles in another 50 years that we're fighting today. AND that OUR grandparents fought 50+ years ago.

[dawg]

21. To me, socialism is an economic policy that only works for certain industries.

The real problem lies not with capitalism, but with our failure to adequately regulate and reign-in its excesses.

[socialist_n_TN]

23. But that is the point of this multi-generational battle......

Regulation and reform has been tried and tried and tried again. And it works maybe a little, for a little while, a generation say, and then capitalism throws off it's regulatory chains and becomes what it naturally is, a rapacious system of oppression. At some point, logic would dictate that regulation and reform of capitalism WILL NOT WORK! At least over the long term. And so, OTHER measures become logically called for.

Regulating and reforming capitalism is like riding a hungry tiger. It's impossible to do for very long and you're ALWAYS in danger of being eaten.

[dawg]

24. So, you take away people's freedom to go into business for themselves?

That has been tried, too. And it failed spectacularly.

All we can do it keep up the good fight. There is no magic pill a society can take to make it stop. The USSR & mainland China have both demonstrated the failure of this approach.