The Cold War and Cinema on Sky Arts - Part 1 - The Cold War Begins 1945 - 1960

 

A series from 3DD Productions first shown in 2021 that I didn't see first time round. Narrated by Jonathon Kydd with contributions from Ian Nathan, Derek Malcolm, Simoon Heffer of the Daily Telegraof and John Aizlewood from The Daily Telegraph. The only problem with this series is that it is mainly a list of movies and not enough about their relevance to the Cold War.

The episode starts with some news footage of Winston Churchill addressing Congress in America in 1946. He uses the words "an iron curtain has descended on the continent". We hear about some of the politics of the time before Ian Nathan introduces 1949's The Third Man. Derek Malcolm called it "one of the greatest British films ever made". We also see a clip from 1948's The Iron Curtain starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. 

The Cold War reaches the Far East

The spy movie from 1955 Soldier of Fortune starred Clark Gable but strangely we travel another forty years for 1987's The Last Emperor. An excellent movie as I recall, all about how Japan had destroyed so much in China. Back to Robert Altman's M.A.S.H. from 1948 and Americans in Korea. And a strange film from 1954 called The Bridge at Toko-Ri. But it did star William Holden and Grace Kelly.

A Suspicious Time

Invasion USA from 1952 now seems like a comedy, although it probably didn't at the time, imagining a Russian invasion of America. Not sure why we get Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1956 whereas John Frankenheimers'  1962's The Manchurian Candidate was "most terrifying" according to Derek Malcolm. We are then looking at The Committee for Un American Activities with Guilty by Suspicion from 1991, whilst 2005's Goodnight and Good Luck about McCarthyism was directed by George Clooney. Ian Nathan said it showed "the power of journalism".

The Berlin Wall

One, Two, Three from 1961 was new to me even though it was written by Billy Wilder and  I.A.L. Diamond and directed by the former. A comedy about Berlin. 2015's Bridge of Spies directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance was much more familiar as was the adaptation of John Le Carre's  The Spy Who Came In From The Cold from 1962 that starred  Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. We end with 1962's Escape From East Berlin, probably only because in had the city in the title.