Swan Song

Edward Dmytryk cuts a noticeable figure among Hollywood's Ukrainian-born filmmakers, perhaps the most spectacular one. During his professional career he made 57 motion pictures. Although the creative peak came in the 1940s-1950s, two dozen of his productions are included in the most prestigious Western movie industry reference sources. Some of the authors attempting his life story turn out to rely on polarized views. The crux of the matter is their approach to events that took place in North America in the 1940s, particularly those centered on the HUAC and related Hollywood developments.

Edward Dmytryk was born September 4, 1908, into a Ukrainian emigrant's family residing in Grand Forks, a small Canadian town. When he was 2 his parents decided to visit Ukraine. In 1910-11, they lived in Buriakivka, a village near Ternopil. This experience left Edward with vague yet extremely warm memories. Back in Canada, the family made plans to resettle in Ukraine, but then World War I broke out and made them change their plans. The Dmytryks finally settled in the United States.

In 1923, Edward Dmytryk became an errand boy with Paramount Pictures. Later, he got a job at RKO, marking a qualitatively new creative stage in his life. Within five years at RKO he produced ten pictures, half of which went down in Hollywood history. It was while at RKO that he staged the psychological drama Hitler's Children tracing the formation of National Socialist values among German youth. By this time Edward Dmytryk had clearly formulated his concept as a film director: commercial success. One must put together a good shooting and casting crew, he said, and let the people work as best they can. In addition, he always thought it important to have a solid story. He worked for the audience in the first place. He wanted to keep his viewers in suspense. He said that every picture he made was meant for the common folk, rather than for the elite, although he hoped that his productions did not offend the intellectual taste.

He made a brilliant thriller for RKO, based on Raymond Chandler's best-selling novel, Murder, My Sweet, (also entitled Farewell, My Lovely) and Crossfire, the first US production exposing anti-Semitism, winning several Academy Award nominations. Fruitful as his cooperation with RKO proved to be, the company did not hesitate to turn traitor as he fell prey to the HUAC in 1947 as one of the "Hollywood Ten" film-industry people swept under the witch hunt tidal wave at the time. He joined the Communist Party in 1945, but had withdrawn by the time of HUAC hearings and refused to testify against his colleagues. He received six years of imprisonment and was fired from the RKO, along with the rest of the "ten," without severance pay.

Uppermost on Dmytryk's mind was having an opportunity to work. In 1951, he returned from Great Britain to the United States and testified before the HUAC, mentioning 26 names. After that he was again able to make films, but some, like Elia Kazan who twice received an Oscar for best director, would never forgive him.

It is hard to pass judgment on someone's doings dating back half a century. Perhaps he had to pay an exorbitant price for being able to make another several dozen films, yet this does not lower the value of his productions in any way. Unlike Kazan, Dmytryk was never awarded for his contribution to the world filmmaking process, but one of his productions, Broken Lance, won an Academy Award for the best script. In subsequent years, Edward Dmytryk made a number of pictures now considered Hollywood classics like Crossfire, Raintree Country, The Caine Mutiny, The Carpetbaggers, and of course The Young Lions.

When the organizing committee of Kyiv's Molodist International Film Festival first conceived the idea of a Dmytryk retrospective the director was interested, although he did not frankly believe that the project would work. The man had long dreamed of visiting Ukraine but had to postpone a visit to the land of his forefathers, believing that it would create further unwelcome complications in Hollywood. Work on the retrospective project began in 1996 and lasted two years. Edward Dmytryk wrote that, being 89, his age dictated its conditions. Perhaps it was the saddest letter he ever wrote. After his spinal surgery, almost two years ago, he was given to occasional heart attacks that steadily ruined his fragile health, yet he had hoped that his condition would improve. Regrettably, it did not.

He identified the picture he felt would be good enough for the project. The organizing committee complied and the retrospective show ended up consisting of seven Dmytryk films. In 1998, Molodist ran The Young Lions, The Caine Mutiny, Murder, My Sweet, Crossfire, Broken Lance, Raintree Country, and The Hill. The US Ambassador received an award conferred on Edward Dmytryk for his contribution to world filmmaking, an excellent icon. The man was stunned to receive it. In his letter to the organizing committee he wrote, "Yesterday was the saddest and happiest day of my life. I was sad because I had missed what should have been the most important event in my life; I was happy because you had given me an award even though I could not attend. Please accept my heartfelt gratitude. My wife Jean sends her best regards."