"One of the Hollywood Ten" attempts to tell two fascinating stories: one about writer/director Herbert Biberman and the other about the filming of "Salt of the Earth." This film could not have had a very big budget, and the direction is not very good, so how anyone expected to accomplish these massive feats is anyone's guess.
I am at a disadvantage: I can't possibly write anything that can compare to the comments about this film posted on IMDb, and I haven't seen Salt of the Earth. I did, however, grow up amidst the Red Scare. We in Catholic schools were warned by the nuns that the commies were coming. They would hold guns to our heads, ask us our religion, and when we answered "Catholic" (like we were all going to be real anxious to do that), we'd be shot. Communism was going to destroy the world, there were Communists under every bed, and everybody was insane on the subject. I have read and seen a good deal on HUAC, the McCarthy hearings, and Red Channels. Am I an expert? No.
I will reference a couple of the IMDb postings. One states that Gale Sondergaard was NOT a major actress and that Biberman was a minor writer. I'm unsure of the implication the poster was trying to make, but I venture to say that if Biberman and Sondergaard (who were married for 40 years, until Biberman's death in 1971) had been allowed to work for the next 20 years or so, who knows what might have happened to their careers? This insanity ruined lives.
Another poster made a comparison to tactics used by today's government. Well, I'll second that emotion. As he states, freedom of speech is not to be taken lightly. No, it isn't. And if anyone believes there isn't a move afoot to squelch it today, they're wrong.
Others mentioned inaccuracies. I'll bring up one. According to writer Patricia Bosworth, whose father, attorney Bartley Crum, defended the Hollywood Ten, the "Hollywood Ten" were not friends, and in fact, many of them did not know one another. Crum advised them all to tell the truth at the hearings -- that when asked if they were now or had been a member of the Communist party, to disarm the committee by answering truthfully. This was shot down by whomever their adviser was because asking about anyone's political leadings is unconstitutional, and the Ten wanted to fight the hearings on constitutional grounds. In the film, one got the impression they were all friends. Crum, by the way, labeled a subversive, was haunted by the FBI until he finally got rid of them by killing himself in 1959. Also, I know this is off topic a bit, but the FBI's largest file was on Frank Sinatra, who was believed to have been sent by the communists to influence the youth of America. Great group.
As far as this film, the stories were interesting, the direction was detached, and overall, it's not great. Jeff Goldblum is marvelous as Biberman, and there are some other excellent performances as well. I think the most important thing were the points made on the chirons at the end, one of which is that Salt of the Earth is the only film ever to be blacklisted. I am so grateful that it was; otherwise, we would all be communists today. Right.
