This film is an out and out falsification of conditions on Soviet collective farms. It is pro-Communist propaganda designed to present the collective farms as filled with "happy, well-fed peasants", when it fact, the conditions were horrendous. And the peasants were forced by violence, mass murder and mass starvation into the collective farms.
The film is so filled with falsifications that the expert of the crimes of the Stalin Period (1927-53), British historian Robert Conquest calls it, "a travesty greater than could have been shown on Soviet screens (in the 1940s)." (Robert Conquest, "The Harvest of Sorrow," page 321, Oxford, 1984)
When pro-Communist influence is talked about in Hollywood, this movie is exactly what is meant. Despite the fact the truth about the horrors committed by the Soviet regime was known long before this movie, pro-Communists in Hollywood made this movie as an attempt to influence American audiences to have a favorable view of the Evil Empire.
Lenin and Stalin murdered more people than Hitler did before the last had even come to power; Stalin himself was to order more mass-killings-- and genocide against the Ukrainian people, and others--by himself than Hitler did. In fact, it is not going to far, by ANY stretch of the imagination to say that Hitler was an amateur in mass murder who learned many lessons from the master: Stalin.
Yet all the while pro-Communists like the writer of this movie, the despicable Lillian Hellman were denouncing Hitler, they were actively aiding Stalin's campaign to deceive the West about his own crimes.
It's one thing to ignore or fail to speak up about crimes against humanity. It is entirely something else to actively help cover them up. The makers of this film were AT BEST tools; at worst accomplices of the worst mass-murderer in history.
If you've ever wonder what HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was looking for when it investigated Communist influence in Hollywood THIS is exactly it! Those who believe that HUAC (and Sen. Joe McCarthy's hearings) were "witchhunts" are deluding themselves. The proof of Communist influence--in Hollywood--is right here; as well as in the films "Misson to Moscow" and "Song of Russia."
The film is so filled with falsifications that the expert of the crimes of the Stalin Period (1927-53), British historian Robert Conquest calls it, "a travesty greater than could have been shown on Soviet screens (in the 1940s)." (Robert Conquest, "The Harvest of Sorrow," page 321, Oxford, 1984)
When pro-Communist influence is talked about in Hollywood, this movie is exactly what is meant. Despite the fact the truth about the horrors committed by the Soviet regime was known long before this movie, pro-Communists in Hollywood made this movie as an attempt to influence American audiences to have a favorable view of the Evil Empire.
Lenin and Stalin murdered more people than Hitler did before the last had even come to power; Stalin himself was to order more mass-killings-- and genocide against the Ukrainian people, and others--by himself than Hitler did. In fact, it is not going to far, by ANY stretch of the imagination to say that Hitler was an amateur in mass murder who learned many lessons from the master: Stalin.
Yet all the while pro-Communists like the writer of this movie, the despicable Lillian Hellman were denouncing Hitler, they were actively aiding Stalin's campaign to deceive the West about his own crimes.
It's one thing to ignore or fail to speak up about crimes against humanity. It is entirely something else to actively help cover them up. The makers of this film were AT BEST tools; at worst accomplices of the worst mass-murderer in history.
If you've ever wonder what HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was looking for when it investigated Communist influence in Hollywood THIS is exactly it! Those who believe that HUAC (and Sen. Joe McCarthy's hearings) were "witchhunts" are deluding themselves. The proof of Communist influence--in Hollywood--is right here; as well as in the films "Misson to Moscow" and "Song of Russia."