Salt of the Earth
Encyclopedia
Salt of the Earth is an American
drama film
written by Michael Wilson
, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico
. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood
establishment
due to their alleged involvement in communist politics.
The film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist
social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike
, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company
in Grant County, New Mexico
. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist
style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film.
The film opens with a narration from Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas
). She begins:
The issues the miners strike for include equity in wages with Anglo workers and health and safety issues. Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacon) helps organize the strike, but at home he treats his wife as a second-class citizen. His wife, Esperanza Quintero, pregnant with their third child, is passive at first and reluctant either to take part in the strike or to assert her rights for equality at home. She changes her attitude when the men are forced to end their picketing by a Taft-Hartley Act
injunction. At the union hall, the women convince the men after a long debate that they should be allowed to participate and they join the picket line.
Non-professional actors
The film was called subversive and blacklisted because the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers
sponsored it and many blacklisted Hollywood professional helped produce it. The union had been expelled from the CIO
in 1950 for its alleged communist-dominated
leadership.
Director Herbert Biberman was one of the Hollywood screenwriters and directors who refused to answer the House Committee on Un-American Activities on questions of CPUSA
affiliation in 1947. The Hollywood Ten were cited and convicted for contempt of Congress
and jailed. Biberman was imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institution
at Texarkana for six months. After his release he directed this film. Other participants who made the film and were blacklisted by the Hollywood studios include: Paul Jarrico, Will Geer, Rosaura Revueltas, and Michael Wilson.
The producers cast only five professional actors. The rest were locals from Grant County, New Mexico
, or members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 890, many of whom were part of the strike that inspired the plot. Juan Chacón, for example, was a real-life Union Local president. In the film he plays the protagonist
, who has trouble dealing with women as equals. The director was reluctant to cast him at first, thinking he was too "gentle," but both Revueltas and his sister-in-law, Sonja Dahl Biberman, wife of Biberman's brother Edward
, urged him to cast Chacón as Ramon.
The film was denounced by the United States House of Representatives
for its communist sympathies, and the FBI investigated the film's financing. The American Legion
called for a nation-wide boycott
of the film. Film-processing labs were told not to work on Salt of the Earth and unionized projectionists were instructed not to show it. After its opening night in New York City
, the film languished for 10 years because all but 12 theaters in the country refused to screen it.
By one journalist's account: "During the course of production in New Mexico
in 1953, the trade press denounced it as a subversive plot, anti-Communist vigilante
s fired rifle shots at the set, the film's leading lady [Rosaura Revueltas] was deported
to Mexico
, and from time to time a small airplane buzzed noisily overhead....The film, edited in secret, was stored for safekeeping in an anonymous wooden shack in Los Angeles
."
The Hollywood establishment did not embrace the film at the time of its release, when McCarthyism
was in full force. The Hollywood Reporter
charged at the time that it was made "under direct orders of the Kremlin
." Pauline Kael
, who reviewed the film for Sight and Sound in 1954, said it was "as clear a piece of Communist propaganda
as we have had in many years."
New York Times
film critic Bosley Crowther
reviewed the picture favorably, both the screenplay and the direction, writing: "In the light of this agitated history, it is somewhat surprising to find that Salt of the Earth is, in substance, simply a strong pro-labor film with a particularly sympathetic interest in the Mexican-Americans with whom it deals...But the real dramatic crux of the picture is the stern and bitter conflict within the membership of the union. It is the issue of whether the women shall have equality of expression and of strike participation with the men. And it is along this line of contention that Michael Wilson's tautly muscled script develops considerable personal drama, raw emotion and power." Crowther called the film "a calculated social document."
The film found a wide audience in both Western
and Eastern Europe
in the 1950s.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 100% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on eleven reviews.
The story of the film's suppression, as well as the events it depicted, inspired an underground
audience of unionists, leftists, feminists, Mexican-Americans, and film historians
. The film found a new life in the 1960s and gradually reached wider audiences through union halls, women's centers, and film schools
. The 50th anniversary of the film saw a number of commemorative conferences held across the United States
.
The "Salt of the Earth Labor College" located in Tucson, Arizona
is named after the film. The pro-labor institution (not a college, per se) holds various lectures and forums related to unionism and economic justice. The film is screened on a frequent basis.
Around 1993, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
linguistics professor and political commentator Noam Chomsky
praised the film because of the way people were portrayed doing the real work of unions. He said, "[T]he real work is being done by people who are not known, that's always been true in every popular movement in history...I don't know how you get that across in a film. Actually, come to think of it, there are some films that have done it. I mean, I don't see a lot of visual stuff, so I'm not the best commentator, but I thought Salt of the Earth really did it. It was a long time ago, but at the time I thought that it was one of the really great movies—and of course it was killed, I think it was almost never shown."
On July 27, 1999, a digitally restored print of the film was released in DVD
by Organa
through Geneon (Pioneer), and packaged with the documentary The Hollywood Ten
, which reported on the ten filmmakers who were blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC). This Special Edition with the Hollywood Ten film is still available through Organa
at organa.com. In 2004, a budget edition DVD
was released by Alpha Video
. A laserdisc
version was released by the Criterion Collection.
Because the film's copyright
was not renewed in 1982, the film is now in the public domain
and may be viewed, and downloaded, by using Google Videos.
called Esperanza (Hope). The labor movement in Wisconsin
and University of Wisconsin–Madison
opera professor Karlos Moser commissioned the production. The music was written by David Bishop and the libretto
by Carlos Morton. The opera premiered in Madison, Wisconsin
, on August 25, 2000, to positive reviews.
A drama film
, based on the making of the film, was chronicled in One of the Hollywood Ten
(2000). It was produced and directed by Karl Francis
and released on September 29, 2000 in Spain
and European countries. It has not been released in the United States
as of 2011. The film has been shown at many film festivals around the world.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written by Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson (writer)
Michael Wilson was an Academy Award winning American screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism....
, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico
Paul Jarrico
Paul Jarrico was an American screenwriter and film producer who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism.-Early years:...
. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood
Classical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between roughly the 1910s and the early 1960s.Classical style is...
establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
due to their alleged involvement in communist politics.
The film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company
Empire Zinc Company
The Empire Zinc Company was a subsidiary of the New Jersey Zinc Company. It originally held claims in the Gilman Mining district in Colorado. From 1912 to 1915, the New Jersey Zinc Company acquired and consolidated the mines as the Eagle Mines and operated Empire Zinc Company as a subsidiary. It...
in Grant County, New Mexico
Grant County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*84.9% White*0.9% Black*1.4% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.8% Two or more races*9.8% Other races*48.3% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist
Neorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film.
Plot
Rosaura Revueltas
Rosaura Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican star of screen and stage, and a dancer, author and teacher.-Early life:...
). She begins:
- "How shall I begin my story that has no beginning? My name is Esperanza, Esperanza Quintero. I am a miner's wife. This is our home. The house is not ours. But the flowers... the flowers are ours. This is my village. When I was a child, it was called San Marcos. The Anglos changed the name to Zinc Town. Zinc Town, New Mexico, U.S.A. Our roots go deep in this place, deeper than the pines, deeper than the mine shaft..."
The issues the miners strike for include equity in wages with Anglo workers and health and safety issues. Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacon) helps organize the strike, but at home he treats his wife as a second-class citizen. His wife, Esperanza Quintero, pregnant with their third child, is passive at first and reluctant either to take part in the strike or to assert her rights for equality at home. She changes her attitude when the men are forced to end their picketing by a Taft-Hartley Act
Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor–Management Relations Act is a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S...
injunction. At the union hall, the women convince the men after a long debate that they should be allowed to participate and they join the picket line.
Cast
Professional actors- Rosaura RevueltasRosaura RevueltasRosaura Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican star of screen and stage, and a dancer, author and teacher.-Early life:...
as Esperanza Quintero - Will GeerWill GeerWill Geer was an American actor and social activist. His original name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons....
as Sheriff - David WolfeDavid Wolfe (actor)David Wolfe, aka Dave Wolfe of New York City was an American film actor from 1949 to 1954. After his acting career, he was the lover of American Broadway showman Tommy Tune.-Filmography:...
as Barton - Mervin Williams as Hartwell
- David Sarvis as Alexander
Non-professional actors
- Juan Chacón as Ramon Quintero
- Henrietta Williams as Teresa Vidal
- Ernesto Velázquez as Charley Vidal
- Ángela Sánchez as Consuelo Ruiz
- Joe T. Morales as Sal Ruiz
- Clorinda Alderette as Luz Morales
- Charles Coleman as Antonio Morales
- Virginia Jencks as Ruth Barnes
- Clinton Jencks as Frank Barnes
- Víctor Torres as Sebasatian Prieto
- E.A. Rockwell as Vance
- William Rockwell as Kimbrough
- Floyd Bostick as Jenkins
- and other members of Mine-Mill Local 890
Production
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
sponsored it and many blacklisted Hollywood professional helped produce it. The union had been expelled from the CIO
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
in 1950 for its alleged communist-dominated
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
leadership.
Director Herbert Biberman was one of the Hollywood screenwriters and directors who refused to answer the House Committee on Un-American Activities on questions of CPUSA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
affiliation in 1947. The Hollywood Ten were cited and convicted for contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically the bribery of a senator or representative was considered contempt of Congress...
and jailed. Biberman was imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institution
Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana
The Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in unincorporated Bowie County, Texas, near Texarkana, Texas. The prison, near the Texas-Arkansas border, is north of Shreveport, Louisiana and east of Dallas, Texas. It is a low-security facility used for the...
at Texarkana for six months. After his release he directed this film. Other participants who made the film and were blacklisted by the Hollywood studios include: Paul Jarrico, Will Geer, Rosaura Revueltas, and Michael Wilson.
The producers cast only five professional actors. The rest were locals from Grant County, New Mexico
Grant County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*84.9% White*0.9% Black*1.4% Native American*0.4% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.8% Two or more races*9.8% Other races*48.3% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, or members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 890, many of whom were part of the strike that inspired the plot. Juan Chacón, for example, was a real-life Union Local president. In the film he plays the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, who has trouble dealing with women as equals. The director was reluctant to cast him at first, thinking he was too "gentle," but both Revueltas and his sister-in-law, Sonja Dahl Biberman, wife of Biberman's brother Edward
Edward Biberman
Edward Biberman was an American artist active in the mid-twentieth century. His work ranged from stylised portraits to history-inspired murals, and drew on the emerging urban landscapes of southern California, and on current events such as the Great Depression, the Second World War, and labour...
, urged him to cast Chacón as Ramon.
The film was denounced by the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
for its communist sympathies, and the FBI investigated the film's financing. The American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
called for a nation-wide boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
of the film. Film-processing labs were told not to work on Salt of the Earth and unionized projectionists were instructed not to show it. After its opening night in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the film languished for 10 years because all but 12 theaters in the country refused to screen it.
By one journalist's account: "During the course of production in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
in 1953, the trade press denounced it as a subversive plot, anti-Communist vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
s fired rifle shots at the set, the film's leading lady [Rosaura Revueltas] was deported
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and from time to time a small airplane buzzed noisily overhead....The film, edited in secret, was stored for safekeeping in an anonymous wooden shack in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
."
Critical response
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
was in full force. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
charged at the time that it was made "under direct orders of the Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
." Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, who reviewed the film for Sight and Sound in 1954, said it was "as clear a piece of Communist propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
as we have had in many years."
New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
reviewed the picture favorably, both the screenplay and the direction, writing: "In the light of this agitated history, it is somewhat surprising to find that Salt of the Earth is, in substance, simply a strong pro-labor film with a particularly sympathetic interest in the Mexican-Americans with whom it deals...But the real dramatic crux of the picture is the stern and bitter conflict within the membership of the union. It is the issue of whether the women shall have equality of expression and of strike participation with the men. And it is along this line of contention that Michael Wilson's tautly muscled script develops considerable personal drama, raw emotion and power." Crowther called the film "a calculated social document."
The film found a wide audience in both Western
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
in the 1950s.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 100% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on eleven reviews.
Awards and recognition
- Karlovy Vary International Film FestivalKarlovy Vary International Film FestivalThe Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....
: Best Actress: Rosaura Revueltas; Crystal GlobeCrystal GlobeCrystal Globe is the main award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, first given in the city of Karlovy Vary of the Czech Republic, in 1948.In the international competition of films, IFFKV presents the following awards:...
Award for Best Picture, Herbert J. Biberman, Karlovy VaryKarlovy VaryKarlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
(Carlsbad), Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
; 1954. - Academie du Cinema de Paris: International Grand Prize; 1955.
- In 1992 the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film RegistryNational Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." - The film is preserved by the Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York.
Later history
Underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.-Definition and history:The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of...
audience of unionists, leftists, feminists, Mexican-Americans, and film historians
History of film
The history of film is the historical development of the medium known variously as cinema, motion pictures, film, or the movies.The history of film spans over 100 years, from the latter part of the 19th century to the present day...
. The film found a new life in the 1960s and gradually reached wider audiences through union halls, women's centers, and film schools
Film school
The term film school is used to describe any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into...
. The 50th anniversary of the film saw a number of commemorative conferences held across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The "Salt of the Earth Labor College" located in Tucson, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
is named after the film. The pro-labor institution (not a college, per se) holds various lectures and forums related to unionism and economic justice. The film is screened on a frequent basis.
Around 1993, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
linguistics professor and political commentator Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
praised the film because of the way people were portrayed doing the real work of unions. He said, "[T]he real work is being done by people who are not known, that's always been true in every popular movement in history...I don't know how you get that across in a film. Actually, come to think of it, there are some films that have done it. I mean, I don't see a lot of visual stuff, so I'm not the best commentator, but I thought Salt of the Earth really did it. It was a long time ago, but at the time I thought that it was one of the really great movies—and of course it was killed, I think it was almost never shown."
Other releases
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by Organa
Organa
Organa was Kubrat's maternal uncle of the Ermy clan. According to John of Nikiu, he was regent over the tribe of the Onogur Bulgars from 617 to 630 in place of his nephew, Kubrat, for the time Kubrat was growing up as a hostage in the Byzantine Empire and there is information that Organa...
through Geneon (Pioneer), and packaged with the documentary The Hollywood Ten
The Hollywood Ten
The Hollywood Ten is an American 16mm short documentary film. In the film, each member of the Hollywood Ten made a short speech denouncing McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklisting.The film was directed by John Berry...
, which reported on the ten filmmakers who were blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
(HUAC). This Special Edition with the Hollywood Ten film is still available through Organa
Organa
Organa was Kubrat's maternal uncle of the Ermy clan. According to John of Nikiu, he was regent over the tribe of the Onogur Bulgars from 617 to 630 in place of his nephew, Kubrat, for the time Kubrat was growing up as a hostage in the Byzantine Empire and there is information that Organa...
at organa.com. In 2004, a budget edition DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released by Alpha Video
Alpha Video
Alpha Video is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD...
. A laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
version was released by the Criterion Collection.
Because the film's copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
was not renewed in 1982, the film is now in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
and may be viewed, and downloaded, by using Google Videos.
Adaptations
The film has been adapted into a two-act operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
called Esperanza (Hope). The labor movement in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
opera professor Karlos Moser commissioned the production. The music was written by David Bishop and the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Carlos Morton. The opera premiered in Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, on August 25, 2000, to positive reviews.
A drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, based on the making of the film, was chronicled in One of the Hollywood Ten
One of the Hollywood Ten
One of the Hollywood Ten is a Spanish and British bio-picture. The film was written and directed by Karl Francis.The drama focuses on screenwriter/director Herbert Biberman and his efforts to make, what would become the historic political film, Salt of the Earth , produced without studio backing...
(2000). It was produced and directed by Karl Francis
Karl Francis
Karl Francis is a Welsh film and television director, producer and screenwriter, associated with left-wing political causes. His work is inspired by the likes of Chris Marker and Ken Loach and has included output in both the English and Welsh languages.-Biography:Francis was born in Bedwas in...
and released on September 29, 2000 in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and European countries. It has not been released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as of 2011. The film has been shown at many film festivals around the world.
See also
- Labor historyLabor historyLabor history may refer to:* Labor history , a subfield of the discipline of history**Labor history of the United States, describes the history of organized labor, as well as the more general history of working people, in the United States...
- The Hollywood TenThe Hollywood TenThe Hollywood Ten is an American 16mm short documentary film. In the film, each member of the Hollywood Ten made a short speech denouncing McCarthyism and the Hollywood Blacklisting.The film was directed by John Berry...
, documentary film - Jencks ActJencks ActThe Jencks Act, , provides that the government be required to produce a verbatim statement or report made by a government witness or prospective government witness , but not until after the witness has testified. Jencks material is evidence that is used in the course of a federal criminal...
- Jencks v. United StatesJencks v. United StatesJencks v. United States, 353 U.S. 657 , is a U.S. Supreme Court case.The petitioner, Clinton Jencks appealed, by certiorari, his conviction in a Federal District Court of violating 18 U.S.C...
- The Ladies Auxiliary of the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter WorkersThe Ladies Auxiliary of the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter WorkersThe Ladies' Auxiliaries of the International Union Mine Mill and Smelter Workers were women's organizations in the United States of America and Canada associated with local units of the IUMMSW. Women active in the Auxiliaries were the wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers of IUMMSW members...
External links
- Salt of the Earth segment at NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
- Salt of the Earth article and references for research by Michael Selig
- Salt of the Earth informational web site
- Salt of the Earth study guide from The City University of New York (Department of History)
- Salt of the Earth film clip at Turner Classic MoviesTurner Classic MoviesTurner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
Media Room