Some of your other points, however, require clarification. If you look at the series schedule you will find that, out of twenty films presented, not merely two but ten could easily qualify as anti-communist. Last night, for example, I Was a Communist for the FBI was followed by The Manchurian Candidate. If the latter movie does not also illustrate “the dangers of international communism,” I should like to know which one does. The other films range from essentially apolitical, to ambivalent, to the pro-Russian films made during World War II. The stated aim of the series was to document the changing views of Russia and communism as reflected in American movies. We could hardly do that if we restricted ourselves to a single type of film.

It is also not true that My Son John has been uniformly lambasted by mainstream critics. The initial reviews indeed were split along ideological lines; one nonpartisan observation came from Variety, which said My Son John faced a tough box-office atmosphere “because of usual public indifference to propaganda pix.” The truth of that observation can be seen from the fact that most of the overtly anti-communist movies didn’t do very well financially. The message was usually more successful when smuggled in things such as science fiction.

But over the years auteurist critics in particular have tried to resurrect My Son John. Among its champions have been Peter Bogdanovich, Dave Kehr and the late Robin Wood. For many years the problem was simply that the film wasn’t circulating, a fact which had as much to do with its dismal box-office failure as with any ideological agenda. Certainly you’d have had less of a problem finding I Was a Communist for the FBI, although that one has been of circulation for a while now too.

You state

Had it been pro-Communist, I’m certain the reception would have been the very opposite, given that so many weak and inane films (such as “The Front”) have been falsely praised as courageous and brilliant.

This is at best a highly debatable point, since several of the overtly pro-Russian films from the studio era that we included in the series also have been either very difficult to see (Mission to Moscow), largely forgotten (Counter-Attack, The Doughgirls) or available only in badly aged, recut prints (The North Star). And many of those also faced lackluster reviews even when first released.

In sum, I am happy that My Son John has another champion, but less happy to see the aims and programming criteria of TCM, Lou and myself maligned.