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Ben Barzman (October 12, 1910 – December 15, 1989) was a Canadian journalist, screenwriter, and novelist, blacklisted during the McCarthyism and known best for his screenplays for the movies Back to Bataan (1945), El Cid (1961), and The Blue Max (1966).
His wife, Norma Barzman, was a Communist Party USA member from 1943 to 1949. In 2014, she told the Los Angeles Times, "one should be proud to have been a member of the American Communist Party during those years. Hitler was invading the Soviet Union, so there was no reason to be anti-Russian, they were our allies."
The couple relocated to England so Barzman could work on the movies Give Us This Day (aka, Christ In Concrete, 1949).Hamilton, Denise (October 3, 2000). Keeper of the Flame: A Blacklist Survivor. Los Angeles Times. After his return to the United States after directing Give Us This Day, Edward Dmytryk, one of the Hollywood Ten, testified about the Barzmans to HUAC in 1951. "To get out of prison he named us and a lot of other people," said Norma Barzman in 2014. During the 1950s, the family relocated to Paris, where friends included Pablo Picasso, Yves Montand, and Simone Signoret, and later southern France. Barzman did not receive credit for some movies because of the Hollywood Blacklist.
His U.S. citizenship was revoked from 1954 to 1963. His wife Norma had her passport revoked from 1951 for seven years. The family remained abroad in London, Paris, and Mougins (France) until 1976, during which time he wrote his novels and screenplays for French and Italian movies.Folkart, Burt A. (December 10, 1989). Ben Barzman; Screenwriter Blacklisted in McCarthy Era. Los Angeles Times.
Death
Barzman died in Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Work
Filmography
Bibliography
In 1960, Barzman became a science fiction author, with his novel Out Of This World. It dealt with the idea of a twin planet of Earth in the same orbit as Earth, hidden from our view by the sun. The two planets had developed almost identically from creation—but World War II never happened on the twin Earth.
Awards
Legacy
He received a retrospective showing of his movies at the Cinematheque in 1982.
External sources
Categories: Canadian Science Fiction Writers, Canadian Male Journalists, Canadian Male Novelists, 1910 Births, 1989 Deaths, Canadian Communists, 20th-century Canadian Novelists, 20th-century Canadian Screenwriters, Journalists From Toronto, Canadian Male Screenwriters, Screenwriters From Toronto, Jewish Canadian Journalists, Hollywood Blacklist, Novelists From Toronto
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