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18 CINEMONTAGE / MAY-JUN 14 THIS MONTH IN FILM HISTORY were optioned for the movies by director Robert Siodmak and Joe Curtis (a nephew of Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures) for the Monticello Film Corporation with a script by Schulberg in June 1949. Joseph Ryan, President of the International Longshoreman's Association (ILA), sabotaged the film's production in 1951, when Schulberg completed the script, by writing to William Randolph Hearst, Jr., alerting him that Schulberg had been named by screenwriter Richard Collins as a Communist before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). When Monticello's option ran out and the material reverted to Johnson in 1952, Schulberg bought the rights from him and asked Kazan to change his then project to Schulberg's waterfront corruption script. Kazan agreed, since his previous project with Arthur Miller, called "The Hook," about the murder of longshoreman organizer Peter Panto in 1939, never saw the light of day. The ILA's Ryan also sabotaged that project for Columbia's Cohn, with the help of Roy Brewer, head of the Hollywood branch of the IATSE. Brewer demanded that the mobsters be changed to Communists in the scripts, which Miller refused to do. Ryan's ploy to deny his mob connection was to denounce dissident longshoremen as Communists. Ryan's power with the ILA faded after a longshoremen's strike, led by Father John M. Corridan, the activist Jesuit priest, in 1951. Though New York and New Jersey politicians and police looked the other way at the murders and corruption, Johnson's articles embarrassed New York City District Attorney Frank Hogan enough to initiate investigations and ultimately indictments of the ILA, and its president. The articles had initiated a sham waterfront investigation by New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer in 1950, which enraged Governor Thomas Dewey and District Attorney Hogan. In 1953, the Waterfront Commission was created, which exposed the Gambino and Genovese mob control of the waterfront on both the New York and New Jersey sides of the Hudson River. George Meany of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) expelled Ryan and the ILA in 1953. Real-life events created a contemporary aura around On the Waterfront upon its release. The script itself is melodramatic and solves all social problems within two hours. Stephen Sondheim was perceptive when he reviewed the film for Films in Review in 1954: "A medley of items from the Warner gangland pictures of the thirties, brought up to date." In the film, Malloy's girlfriend Edie (Saint) — whose brother was killed because he was going to testify against Friendly (the model for Ryan) — and Father Barry persuade Malloy to testify. His brother (Steiger) is killed, and Malloy testifies. The film ends with Malloy being beaten up before the longshoreman, who supported him in his decision. Curiously, Kazan simplified his other Oscar-winning assignment, Gentleman's Agreement (1947), the same way. The director had said that Darryl F. Zanuck, the producer of Gentleman's Agreement, believed that all social problems could be solved if the romance was resolved — which is exactly the denouement of On the Waterfront. On the Waterfront has been associated with the HUAC testimony of both Kazan and Schulberg as friendly witnesses, so the film is viewed by scholars and critics as a metaphor and justification for informing on associates. Kazan and Schulberg named names of former fellow travelers and Communists in 1951 and 1952, but Schulberg, in his introduction to the 2005 book On the Waterfront: The Pulitzer Prize-winning Articles That Inspired the Classic Film and Transformed the New York Harbor by Malcolm Johnson, states, "There was no mention of making a film to justify [Kazan's] HUAC testimony." Both Kazan and Schulberg at different times were involved with the waterfront project before their HUAC appearances. On the Waterfront (1954). Columbia Pictures/ Photofest Real-life events created a contemporary aura around On the Waterfront upon its release. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 CineMontage_May-Jun_14-3a.indd 18 4/15/14 3:16 PM