Hollywood Exiles in Europe: The Blacklist and Cold War Film Culture

“Madness! Madness!” This is the definitive verdict on the reckless heroics of a team of commandos that has blown up a bridge on the River Kwai. These final words are uttered by a British army doctor who, though in uniform, also cannot fathom the ethos of military discipline that risks death among prisoners for the sake of sticking to the rules of the Geneva Convention. David Lean's great film pits the ideal of glory against the claims of common sense; and though The Bridge on the River Kwai was released in 1957, when the Cold War defined the contours of international relations, unimaginative patriotic passions are subjected to considerable scrutiny and skepticism. The politics of this movie therefore tilt unmistakably toward the left; and though novelist Pierre Boule was credited with writing the scenario, he did not know English. Two very gifted expatriates were in fact responsible for writing a...