Revisiting the Blacklist Western: A Reception Study of High Noon.

Abstract

This article deploys primary archival research into local newspaper articles, to assess the extent to which High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952) was received as a film with a contemporary political message pertaining to the Hollywood blacklist on its initial cinematic release. Various pre-existing assumptions surrounding the film’s entry into the public sphere are interrogated: by revealing that the film was overwhelmingly hailed as an instant genre classic; by examining the levels of awareness around writer Carl Foreman’s role; and by analysing concordances between news coverage of the House Un-American Activities Committee and that of High Noon. The article thereby seeks to illuminate the fragmentary nature of political discourse in Cold War-era popular culture.