Blacklisted Film Writer to Be at CSUN Screening

A free Cal State Northridge screening Monday of the film noir classic, “Odds Against Tomorrow,” will include a discussion with the film’s director, Robert Wise, and its formerly blacklisted writer, Abraham Polonsky.

The 1959 film features Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters and Gloria Grahame. Ryan plays a prejudiced ex-con who joins with Belafonte’s character in an ill-fated scheme to rob a small-town bank.

The 6:30 p.m. screening will be at the Performing Arts Center of the University Student Union, 18111 Nordhoff St., on the east side of the campus.

Polonsky and Wise also will sign copies of the book “Odds Against Tomorrow: The Critical Edition,” published by CSUN’s Center for Telecommunication Studies. One topic explored in the book is the casting of Belafonte, who is black, as the film’s protagonist, said Judy Marlane, chairwoman of CSUN’s Radio-Television-Film Department. “You did not often see that” at that time, she noted.

Polonsky, a noted director and screenwriter, was subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951. His refusal to affirm or reject Communist Party membership led to his blacklisting.

“Critical Edition,” Marlane said, acknowledges that Polonsky “is a writer and no longer the blacklisted writer using a pseudonym.”

Wise, Polonsky and their film will also be honored next month at Lincoln Center in New York City, Marlane said.