FBI Considered "It's A Wonderful Life" Communist Propaganda »

Posted by: berkeley 1 year, 7 months ago

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According to Professor John Noakes of Franklin and Marshall College, the FBI thought Life smeared American values such as wealth and free enterprise while glorifying anti-American values such as the triumph of the common man.

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Comments: 16

Avg rating: (+0/-3 -3)
berkeley
Dec. 26, 2006, 8:49 p.m.
story includes the original fbi document.
Avg rating: (+3/-0 3)
newsquew
Dec. 26, 2006, 9:06 p.m.
I'm not suprised at all.
A guy was on Goerge Noory's Coast to Coast AM on Christmas night. Writer Stephen Cox discussed his book, "It's a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book" He stated the same facts.
Pretty amazing.
The movie "Three Days of the Condor" centered around a plot where the CIA had a secret ops that only read books to uncover coded messages, plots against America, etc... (Great movie by the way)
Fact & Fiction
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ameliog
Dec. 26, 2006, 11:20 p.m.
Just goes to show that paranoia and fear of boogeymen exists in all times.
Avg rating: (+6/-1 5)
stephen-johnson
Dec. 27, 2006, 11:25 a.m.
With 20/20 hindsight, the FBI memo looks foolish. But to say that the communists didn't target Hollywood is incorrect:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/opinion/bookr
---Ronald and Allis Radosh's thoroughly researched and balanced book, "Red Star Over Hollywood," offers a more realistic perspective. Yes, Virginia, the Communist Party targeted Hollywood aggressively beginning in the 1930s and had some success. Some of the actors, directors and producers slavishly followed the Communist Party even through the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, and communist propaganda made its way into a few films in the 1940s, notably "Cloak and Dagger," "Hangmen Also Die, "Action in the North Atlantic," "North Star," and "Song of Russia."---
It's a Wonderful Life is perhaps one of the 10 best pictures ever made. Now that the cold war is over, it can be enjoyed sans politics
Thanks for the link, berkeley
Avg rating: (+2/-0 2)
m-simon
Dec. 27, 2006, 3:52 p.m.
I always saw it as a diatribe against big business.
The little guy had empathy for his customers. For the big guy it was all about the money.
People helping each other is an all American virtue. It is one of the reasons Communism and socialism were not very popular except among the intellectuals.
"Some things are so stupid, only an intellectual could believe them"
Avg rating: (+4/-1 3)
hecuba
Dec. 27, 2006, 3:55 p.m.
God bless us, everyone!
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jordan11
Dec. 27, 2006, 4:45 p.m.
Yanno, this is precisely why we can't allow 'eavesdropping' on American citizens. So many ignorant people say 'well gee, if you're not doing anything wrong, why would you worry?' THIS is why. Sometimes IDIOTS have power in government, and I wouldn't want idiots like this assessing MY conversations!
Avg rating: (+3/-0 3)
JoseMadre
Dec. 27, 2006, 5:24 p.m.
Paranoia beyond belief. A story of a nice guy sacrificing everything so that his family could make it is communist? I see it as a diatribe against greed, not against capitalism. Yeah, Potter was a jerk, but Sam Wainwright was probably richer than Potter and was willing to front George $25K (a huge amount in the $1940's) after Uncle Billy's flub.
Avg rating: (+4/-0 4)
GUNGHOGUY
Dec. 27, 2006, 6:38 p.m.
I haven't seen it in ages but I turned the TV on last nite and there it was, "It's a Wonderful Life". I knew every word and scene and again marveled at what America used to be in those bygone decades. I'll take "that America" over the America I now wake up to. Is your present bank as friendly as George Bailey's bank? I doubt it!!! The FBI can go to hades for all I care and take their "communism" label off that great Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life".
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LABELDUDE
Dec. 27, 2006, 7:32 p.m.
Yup, that's the FBI. Can't find their A-hole with both hands and all the tax money anyone could ever hope for. It wasn't long after this that the Big Boys in D.C. stuck "Under God" into the pledge. I'm still hoping that Marion Berry will straighten things out in D.C. I know, he's only City Government, I just figured they'd all notice him and move him on up. (I bet you think I've been Drinkin'.)
Avg rating: (+4/-0 4)
twangster
Dec. 27, 2006, 8:12 p.m.
In a culture where the very cornerstones of society ( from the whitehouse down ) are now run as crude auctions, humanist sentiment of any kind is seen as leftist, and the common good of the nation flies out the window.
No citadel can be so heavily fortified that it can't be penetrated by an ass bearing gold.

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  m-simon
  Dec. 27, 2006, 9:02 p.m.
  This is nothing new.
  Mark Twain said we had the best Congress money could buy.
  The more power government gets the more it has to sell.
Avg rating: (+3/-2 1)
Riverrat
Dec. 27, 2006, 8:18 p.m.
I think that this information is just some more carryover from the days of J.Edgar. The F.B.I. of today is not the same body it was under his direction or what ever you want to call his leadership..
Avg rating: (+7/-0 7)
uncleT
Dec. 27, 2006, 8:24 p.m.
I have watched a number of Gerry Ford speeches today and think he could be labeled the George Bailey of politics. He was a great statesman and we don't yet realize what a loss in leadership this country has had with his passing.

1 Reply
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  m-simon
  Dec. 27, 2006, 9:03 p.m.
  And don't forget his work on the Warren Commission.