Prejudice. How applicable is a film about prejudice these days! Once upon a time a few years back, an educated person actually told me that racism was dead. I about fell out of my chair. This week’s Best Picture winner, Gentleman’s Agreement (1947, 20th Century-Fox), also took me by surprise—except it told me that prejudice existed where I hadn’t expected it to. Set in the aftermath of World War II, the film focuses on a journalist, Philip Schuyler Green, who is asked to write a series about anti-Semitism. At first Phil struggles with just how to approach the topic since he believes everything that can be written about it has been written already. At last he has an epiphany that the only way he can really understand anti-Semitism is to tell everyone that he himself is Jewish (which isn’t true). Phil then gets to experience prejudice first-hand.

Phil struggling to find the right angle for his anti-Semitic series.

What shocked me the most about Gentleman’s Agreement is its premise that most people are at least a little prejudiced against some particular group that is “other” than themselves. The timing of the making and release of this film was also a bit disturbing. Prior to viewing this film, I never considered anti-Semitism to have been such a large and widespread problem in the United States during and after WWII. To me, this was more a Nazi-led, European-centered issue. In that sense, Gentleman’s Agreement gave me quite the wake-up call.

Based on the best-selling 1947 novel by Laura Z. Hobson, which the New York Times declared should be “required reading for every thoughtful citizen in this perilous century,” the film version of Gentleman’s Agreement garnered eight Academy Award nominations, including: Writing (Screenplay), Film Editing, Actor for Gregory Peck as Phil Green, Actress for Dorothy McGuire as Kathy Lacy, and Actress in a Supporting Role for Anne Revere as Mrs. Green. The film won three Oscars: Best Motion Picture, Actress in a Supporting Role for Celeste Holm as Anne Dettrey, and Director for Elia Kazan.

This was the first of two Oscars for Elia Kazan. He would also win for directing 1954’s Best Picture, On the Waterfront, which featured a young Marlon Brando. Kazan, who was born in 1909 in Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul in Turkey)—that just blows my mind—became famous for his films about social issues, many of which were controversial and/or quite shocking to their original viewers. In addition to BPs Gentleman’s Agreement and On the Waterfront, Kazan also directed such notable films as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), East of Eden (1955), and Splendor in the Grass (1961). In addition to his reputation for “issues” films, Kazan became known for his ability to draw out the best performances from his actors, directing 21 Oscar-nominated performances (9 of which won the Academy Award).

Elia Kazan raising his honorary Oscar at the 1999 Academy Awards.

What I remember about Elia Kazan (who passed away in 2003 at the age of 94) was a strange incident that took place at the Academy Awards in 1999. The media was all buzzing about whether the other Hollywood stars and big-wigs would give him a standing ovation when he was awarded an honorary Oscar that night. When Kazan finally came out on the stage, I was super confused regarding the big controversy that surrounded him. He was such a small and very old man. What could he possibly have done? Well, what Kazan did was to voluntarily testify against colleagues and acquaintances before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952 during the Red Scare. His words helped to ruin the careers (and, undoubtedly, the lives) of some members of Hollywood. On the flip side, he had made great movies. What was the Academy to do; for as Gregory Peck, the star of Gentleman’s Agreement, noted in 1999, shouldn’t someone’s work be considered separate from his/her life and be rewarded? Hmmm, kind of a conundrum. Anyhow, Kazan was recognized for his achievements in film. Some Hollywoodites stood and clapped; others sat and clapped; still others sat with crossed arms and tried to look grumpier than they ever had before (Look this up on YouTube; it’s fascinating!). Years later after I had studied the Red Scare and McCarthyism in more detail, I dug out my old VCR recording of the 1999 Oscars and re-watched that odd scene, fascinated by the carryover of hatred and—gulp—bigotry nearly 50 years after Kazan’s testimony. What captivated my thoughts about Gentleman’s Agreement last night, then, was how someone could direct a film that pointed a finger at anti-Semitism and then point his own finger at suspected communists. But then I realized I was pointing my own finger.

For more thoughts on Gentleman’s Agreement and its significance, please check out the full post this weekend!