Wellman, with dana andrews, gene tierney, june havoc, at turner classic movies. Rosinenbomber, or raisin bombers, 2 million west berliners with food, fuel and other supplies. Arguably more accomplished than all three of those films was yellow sky 1948, an exciting western in which gregory peck and richard widmark faced off. The iron curtain was a phrase used by former british prime minister winston churchill to describe the expansion of soviet influence into eastern europe. Though definitely not a procommunist film, the iron curtain takes a reasonably cleareyed approach to the tensions between east and west that would come to consume the political discourse over the following decade and give birth to the atomic age. Iron curtain will be a good addition to university syllabi and i am looking forward to discussing the book with my students.
But the anticommunist films of the late 1940s and the 1950s. Life behind the iron curtain documentary material on. The iron curtain becomes, in a short time the film doesnt arrive in an hour and a half in a vibrant story of survival, in which the personal prevails above the general. At its height one plane reached west berlin every 30 seconds.
By 1948 there was very little major private industry anywhere. The term iron curtain was coined by the british author and suffragette ethel snowden in her book through bolshevik russia 1920. Iron curtains were also metal barriers in german theaters designed to stop the spread of fire from. Embassy in ottawa, canada in the midst of world war ii. The iron curtain 1948 letterboxd your life in film. In march 1948, the government nationalized all remaining factories with more than 100 workers, putting 90 percent of heavy industry and 75 percent of light industry in state hands.
Movie crap live dragons lair live action remake, furiosa spinoff, and stevens goodbye duration. It means the border between the states that were members of the warsaw pact in eastern europe, and those that were not then called the west. The opportunity to travel behind the iron curtain, one of the early westerners to do so, came about when i saw a classified ad in a geneva newspaper. Learn iron curtain us history with free interactive flashcards. Iron curtain, political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the u. Principal photography was done on location in ottawa, ontario, canada by charles g. The films produced in hollywood before, during and after the cold war red. Foxs the iron curtain began production at the beginning of. Iron curtain simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The iron curtain is een amerikaanse dramafilm uit 1948 onder regie van william a.
Iron curtain on march 5, 1946, in describing the recent appearance of economic, social, and military barriers between eastern and western europe, winston churchill said in fulton in the united. Based on the articles i was inside stalins spy ring by igor gouzenko in hearsts internationalcosmopolitan febmay 1947. The airlift officially ended on 30 september 1949, fifteen months after its protracted beginnings in june 1948. The iron curtain is a term related to the cold war. The boundary existed from 1945 until the end of the cold war in 1991. This border was between east germany and west germany, between czechoslovakia and austria, and between hungary and austria. Read the full synopsis of the iron curtain, 1948, directed by william a. R after world war ii to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central european allies from open contact with the west and other noncommunist areas. After breakup with eastern block in 1948, decentralisation of. The iron curtain is based on the actual 1945 case of soviet cipher clerk igor gouzenko, dana andrews, who, after careful training, was assigned to the u. Hollywood movies, american music and cultural policies behind the. The iron curtain 1948, directed by william a wellman. The term symbolizes the efforts by the soviet union ussr to block itself and its satellite states. One may say that the text is too long and includes too many details.
A premature anticommunist film i eginning with winston churchills warnings about growing russian power in his famous iron curtain speech of february 1946, fear of communism, especially internal subversion, permeated american. This is a revelation for one who read enigma and other codebreaking stories to realize that one significant contribution to the genre like the iron curtain has been overlooked to date, a story totally factbased and yet so understated in the way it exposes the falsity in authoritarian regimes like soviet russia with grave significance for any person who voted in the presidential election. Steve winwood, musician, in handsworth, west midlands, england. The film was based on the memoirs of igor gouzenko.
Documents in the twentieth centuryfox records of the legal department at the ucla artsspecial collections library indicate that the studio also bought the rights to behind the iron curtain by george moorad and the soviet spiesthe story of russian espionage in north america by richard hirsch, but used no material from these books for the film. The thriller film the iron curtain starring dana andrews and gene tierney was released. Yugoslavia and albania become cracks in the iron curtain, although yugoslavia becomes communist tito they do not become allies with the ussr, and albania although getting support from the ussr doesnt align with them either. The term came to prominence after its use in a speech by winston churchill.
The iron curtain was a phrase used to describe the physical, ideological and military division of europe between the western and southern capitalist states and the eastern, sovietdominated communist nations during the cold war, 19451991. This brisk, documentarystyle thriller, based on the. Iron curtain the crushing of eastern europe, 19441956. Hundreds of thousands of people attempted to beat the formidable barriers erected by the eastern bloc after world war ii to keep communist citizens in and. Red scare filmography cinema studies library guides at. Dixiecrats were southern democrats who withdrew from the democratic party during the 1948 presidential election as a result of the democratic partys proposed civil rights legislation. The iron curtain 1948 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. May, 1948 thursday jewish forces in jerusalem launched operations shfifon and kilshon. Life behind the iron curtain documentary material on the putsch in czechoslovakia in february 1948 a. A czech government film intended to explain to children what the iron curtain was and what it was like to live behind it. In her very early and negative critique of the bolshevik form of communism, this british feminist referred to the iron curtain simply as the contemporary geographical border of bolshevik russia in 1919 we were behind the iron. The iron curtain was initially a nonphysical boundary dividing europe into two separate areas from the end of world war ii in 1945 until the end of the cold war in 1991. The eastern bloc was another name given to the countries of. Great escapes from behind the iron curtain radio free europe.
What was life like in communist countries outside the ussr, such as czechoslovakia, hungary, romania, east germany, yugoslavia, etc, compared to life in the west. Although it seemed as if the iron curtains restrictions were a bit relaxed after stalin died in 1953, the berlin walls construction reinforced them in 1961. It was only in 1991 when the cold war ended and the one party communist rule in eastern europe. The iron curtain is a 1948 blackandwhite thriller film starring dana andrews and gene tierney, directed by william wellman. This picture shows much effort and talent, but somehow it doesnt quite come off, perhaps because it was clearly approached as a propaganda film, almost shrill in. The term iron curtain was used to describe the boundary that separated the free democratic countries of the west with the communist dominated countries of the east, as shown in the map. The film was later rereleased as behind the iron curtain in shostakovich v. Choose from 150 different sets of iron curtain us history flashcards on quizlet. The iron curtain 1948 dana andrews, gene tierney, june havoc. William a wellmans the iron curtain 1948 was one of the first of such pictures.
By the late 40s, anticommunist fervour in hollywood and throughout the us had reached fever pitch. The iron curtain 1948 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film festival awards central festival central all events. List of books and articles about iron curtain online. The iron curtain 1948 a clerk in the soviet embassy in canada after world war ii, igor gouzenko dana andrews is increasingly troubled by his work for duplicitous government officials. William wellmans film follows the case so closely one could easily think of it as a. After the war the west felt threatened by the continued expansionist policy of the soviet union, and the traditional russian fear of incursion from the west continued.
This 1949 british film, directed by carol reed, is considered one of the. The iron curtain is based on the actual 1945 case of soviet cipher clerk igor. The iron curtain and containment mutual suspicion had long existed between the west and the ussr, and friction was sometimes manifest in the grand alliance during world war ii. After the shooting of the picture was completed, life asserts, a new campaign began to. How convenient of winston churchill to provide a title for this film with a famous speech in 1948. In this lesson, we will learn about some of the dynamic events that followed world war ii in eastern europe. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Behind the iron curtain aka the iron curtain, 1948, leave it to the. A clerk in the soviet embassy in canada after world war ii, igor gouzenko dana andrews is increasingly troubled by his work for duplicitous government. For a cold war era anticommunist film, the iron curtain holds up well over 60 years later. World premiere film through the iron curtain from romania documenting romanian immigration to minnesota during communism asi joins the heritage organization of romanian americans in minnesota hora for the world premiere of through the iron curtain from romania, a film regarding the immigration of romanians to minnesota during the communist era. Eventually, gouzenko defected with 109 pages of material implicating several high level canadian officials, outlined the steps taken to secure information about the the details.
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