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Salt of The Earth (1954)
American drama.
Mexican workers at a Zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers and daughters, that they eventually triumph.
Members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 890, who were part of the original strike upon which this story is based, appear in this film as either extras or supporting cast. Juan Chacón, who played Ramon Quintero, was the Union Local president.
This film was made by blacklisted director Herbert J. Biberman, screenwriter Michael Wilson, producer Paul Jarrico and composer Sol Kaplan largely in retaliation for being blacklisted. They reasoned that since they weren’t allowed to work in Hollywood, they might as well make a film as pro-Communist as possible to fit the “crime” for which they had been accused by the feculent Un-American House Activities Committee.
Because the producers feared both sabotage and destruction of the film, the exposed footage had to be developed in secret, and at night, by a sympathetic lab technician, with the film delivered in unmarked canisters.
Salt of The Earth was the only blacklisted film ever in American film history. It was blacklisted in the 1950s at the height of the McCarthyism scourge.
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1992.
Included among the American Film Institute’s 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.
| Directed by | Herbert J. Biberman |
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| Screenplay by | Michael Wilson |
| Produced by | Paul Jarrico |
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| Music by | Sol Kaplan |
| Distributed by | Independent Productions |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Spanish |
| Budget | $250,000 |
