Red and Black: Hollywood Left and the Blacklist

Red and Black: Hollywood Left and the Blacklist is the title and the theme of the upcoming retrospective I have curated for the 79th edition of Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.

The retrospective presents not only the key titles of the blacklist period but also traces the wartime origins of concern over communist infiltration in Hollywood and its international aftermath. The programme features nearly 50 titles, including feature films, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and animation.

This retrospective differs from previous surveys of the same subject in three ways:

Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026 "American master" retrospective: Mitchell Leisen

Mitchell Leisen showing Ray Milland how to kiss Jean Arthur. Publicity set photo from Easy Living (1937)

Easy Living with Mitchell Leisen

Il Cinema Ritrovao XL retrospective

In a light, sophisticated no-man’s-land (yes, largely inhabited by women) between romantic comedy, screwball, and pure Paramount aestheticism, the cinema of Mitchell Leisen comes to life. A former silent-era costume and set designer, Leisen became renowned for classics such as Easy Living, Hold Back the Dawn, and Midnight, and was the only Hollywood director to sign his name in his films’ credits. No auteur theory was needed to recognise his unmistakable qualities: an effortless narrative flow, impeccable design, and sparkling, innuendo-laced dialogue – sometimes written by Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, or Charles Brackett – alongside heroines as charming as they were uncompromising. In his films, Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Barbara Stanwyck, and Jean Arthur radiated wit, grace, and razor-sharp comic timing. They twisted conventions as their encounters with men – often played by Ray Milland or Fred MacMurray – spiralled from mishap to romantic resolution. This Il Cinema Ritrovato tribute presents a selection of Leisen’s classics in restored versions (courtesy of Universal), alongside rarely screened archival prints.