Radicalism in American Silent Films, 1909-1929

Book excerpt: The author identifies 436 American silent films released between 1909 and 1929 that engaged the issues of militant labor and revolutionary radicalism. First, an extended introduction and three analytical chapters investigate how the American motion picture industry portrayed the interrelationships between labor radicals, exploitative capitalists, socialist idealists and Bolsheviks during this critical twenty-year period in the history of the United States. Next is a comprehensive filmography of the 436 silent films organized into the three eras covered in the textual chapters: 1909-1917, 1918-1920, and 1921-1929. Each entry contains a detailed plot synopsis, citations to primary sources, coding indicating the presence or absence of 14 predominant discernible biases, and subject coding keyed to 64 related terms and concepts-such as agitators, Bolshevism, bombs, decadence, female radicals, militias, mobs, nihilism, political refugees, strikes and strikebreakers. These statistical data included in the filmography are presented in a series of charts and are fully integrated into the historical-critical text. Among the major biases noted are anti- and pro-capitalism, socialism, revolution, and labor. Total number and percentage statistics for the instances of these coded biases and traits are given per year, per era, and overall.