Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity

After watching this wonderful documentary on the life of Golden Age film actress Marsha Hunt...I suspect that she would have left the Hollywood life and become an activist anyway. For those who don't know, Marsha Hunt was a very successful working film actress who by her 30's had worked in over 50 films and at almost every studio including the Tiffany of film studios, MGM. Unfortunately, the 1950's and its anti-communism sentiments took over the country and due to no fault of her own she was put on a blacklist. Go watch the film to get the whole fascinating story. One thing I must add that the film did not, was that I suspect that Marsha would have become an activist regardless of whether she was black listed or not. Marsha seems extremely intelligent and does not seem like someone who would have remained an actress anyway but I am sure she would like to have been the one to make that choice.

A loving and revealing documentary about an extraordinary woman, this shows Ms. Hunt to be, among other things, a good actress, a fierce advocate of human rights, and a survivor of Hollywood's golden age with amazing recall. Generous with film clips and interviews of other survivors we're pleased to meet (Norman Corwin, Norman Lloyd, Walter Bernstein, Margaret O'Brien), it chronicles how she was blacklisted and not only survived it, but was motivated to become a force for good, in so many ways, notably as a hardworking UN functionary. It's also a sweet love story: After a brief first marriage (and they stayed civil and even worked with each other later), she met a perfect mate, the screenwriter Robert Presnell, and really did live happily ever after. She's such a force of nature that we're kind of left wondering what aspects of her we're not seeing, but what we do see is lovely and impressive and inspiring. Really, after watching this, you may be motivated to go out and volunteer for something.

I knew little of Marsha Hunt other than the few films I had seen her in - then I was informed of this fascinating documentary and I became aware of what a truly admirable trailblazer she was. The really wonderful thing is that Marsha is still with us and was very much a part of working with Roger C. Memos and his crew o f telling her story. My admiration of this lovely lady is boundless and I think this film is both informative and extremely compelling viewing. Talk about MUST-SEE -- this is definitely in that category!

Excellent documentary about a wonderful woman and her Hollywood career before, during, and after The Blacklist. Inspirational.

A thousand thanks to Roger Memos and his team for creating this fire documentary. It is a story I did not know and it is a fascinating one!