Trumbo (2007)

Directed by

Peter Askin

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 36m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 34 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary tells the story of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted and imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with a 1940s government committee investigating Communist influence in Hollywood. Actors read excerpts from his personal letters, and clips from hearings and home movies are shown.

informativereflectivearchivalinterview-basedserioushistoricalindignantpersonal

What happens

Trumbo is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Peter Askin, produced by Will Battersby, Tory Tunnell, Alan Klingenstein, and David Viola, executive produced by Jim Kohlberg, and written by Christopher Trumbo. It is based on the letters of Christopher Trumbo's father, Dalton Trumbo, an Oscar-winning screenwriter who was imprisoned and blacklisted as a member of the Hollywood Ten, ten screenwriters, directors and producers who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the Hollywood film industry. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and includes film clips and interviews, readings from Trumbo's letters by performers such as Michael Douglas, Joan Allen, Donald Sutherland, Liam Neeson, and Paul Giamatti, and a reenactment by David Strathairn of a speech given by Dalton Trumbo in 1970. The readings include parts of what the New York Times calls "Dalton Trumbo's remarkably stage-ready personal letters" that cover the period from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Interspersed with these are archival clips from the HUAC hearings, footage from home movies, and "exceptionally well-selected interview clips with Trumbo". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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