Ben Barzman


Ben Barzman was a Canadian journalist, screenwriter, and novelist, blacklisted during the McCarthy Era and known best for his screenplays for the movies Back to Bataan, El Cid, and The Blue Max.

Career

He was born in Toronto, Ontario to a Jewish family. He was the screenwriter or co-writer of more than 20 movies, from You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith to The Head of Normande St. Onge.

Blacklisting

Like many of his colleagues in the movie business, Barzman was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
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. 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His U.S. citizenship was revoked from 1954 to 1963.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 until 1976, during which time he wrote his novels and screenplays for French and Italian movies.

Death

Barzman died in Santa Monica, California, U.S.

Work

Filmography

  • 1943: You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith
  • 1945: Back to Bataan
  • 1946: Never Say Goodbye
  • 1948: The Boy with Green Hair
  • 1949: Give Us This Day
  • 1952: Stranger on the Prowl
  • 1952: The Faithful City
  • 1952: Young Man with Ideas
  • 1955: Oasis
  • 1957: Time Without Pity
  • 1957: He Who Must Die
  • 1959: Blind Date
  • 1961: El Cid
  • 1963: 55 Days at Peking
  • 1963: The Ceremony
  • 1964: The Fall of the Roman Empire
  • 1964: The Visit
  • 1965: The Heroes of Telemark
  • 1966: The Blue Max
  • 1969: Z—uncredited
  • 1972: The Assassination
  • 1974:
  • 1975: ''Normande''

    Awards

  • 1985: Order of Arts and Letters.

    Legacy

He received a retrospective showing of his movies at the Cinematheque in 1982.

External sources

*
Category:Canadian science fiction writers
Category:Canadian male journalists
Category:Canadian male novelists
Category:1910 births
Category:1989 deaths
Category:Canadian communists
Category:20th-century Canadian novelists
Category:20th-century Canadian screenwriters
Category:Journalists from Toronto
Category:Canadian male screenwriters
Category:Screenwriters from Toronto
Category:Jewish Canadian journalists
Category:Hollywood blacklist
Category:Novelists from Toronto