But What About the Actual Play?

I found it really interesting how worked up the reviewer from New York Post was in their critique of The Crucible titled “Witchcraft and Stagecraft”. They became really defensive of the actions of the U.S. government in response to international Communism. They were also very dramatic in their description of the threat Communism posed to the U.S. For example, the reviewer wrote, “The threat is as real as it was when Nazism was overrunning the world. International Communism is a disciplined, fanatic movement whose secret battalions have seized whole nations and enslaved millions of people” (198). While this review reads to me a lot like fear-mongering, it does show how people were genuinely caught up in the hysteria of Communism. In The Front, many of the people who were enforcing the blacklist, for example the studio executive, were portrayed as being apathetic toward or even opposed to it and simply going along because of pressure and the threat of unemployment. Even the government officials in the movie did not sound genuinely concerned about sniffing out Hollywood Communists; their actions seemed more motivated by the desire to control people and demand submission. In Walter Bernstein’s memoir we heard one point of view and through some of the essays in this edition of The Crucible we are hearing some of the opinions in favor of the blacklist and McCarthyism. After reading this review, it is clear that some people really were panicked about the idea of Communism taking over the U.S. and felt very threatened by it. This particular reviewer was so concerned with stating the danger of Communism and defending McCarthy that they hardly even mentioned actual details about Miller’s play. In this political and cultural environment, it is no surprise Miller faced so much criticism.