Radicalism in American Silent Films, 1909-1929

A study of the 435 American silent motion pictures released between 1909 and 1929 that engaged the issues of militant labour and revolutionary radicalism. It examines how the motion picture industry portrayed labour radicals, capitalists and Bolsheviks, and reviews the films themselves.

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There were 435 American silent motion pictures released between 1909 and 1929 (both shorts and four-reel or longer features from 1909 to 1917) that engaged the issues of militant labour and revolutionary radicalism. The first part of this study contains an introduction and three chapters that examine how the American motion picture industry portrayed labour radicals, capitalists and Bolsheviks during this 20-year period. The second part of the book is a comprehensive filmography of the 435 silent films themselves, organized into three eras: 1909-1917; 1918-1920; and 1921-1929. Each filmographic entry contains a plot synopsis (with an emphasis on how the film reflected and helped shape public attitudes concerning these important social issues), citations to primary film sources, and coding indicating the presence or absence of 14 predominant discernible biases and 64 specific traits of radicalism. Among the major biases noted are anti- and pro-capitalism, socialism, fascism, revolution, and labour.
Additional traits include agitators, American icons, anarchism, atrocities, Bolshevism, bombs, campus radicalism, decadence, militias, mobs, nihilism, pacifism, police, political escapees, and unorganized strikebreakers. Total number and percentage level statistics for the instances of these biases and traits are given per year, per era, and overall.