Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity

If you're a fan of TCM, you might know Marsha Hunt as a lovely, charming, and very talented young actress of the '30's and '40's (Pride and Prejudice, The Human Comedy, Cry Havoc), and you may well wonder why she never quite attained the "household name" status of some of her contemporaries. This engrossing documentary shows how she never left the movie business, but the movie business shamefully left her. (Like me, you may never again think quite as highly of Humphrey Bogart and John Huston.) Fortunately, in some ways, the movies' loss was the world's gain, as she turned her attentions to many serious causes - hunger, homelessness, promoting greater understanding and cooperation in the world through the United Nations - while continuing to work as an actress on the stage. Eleanor Roosevelt became a friend and mentor over the years, and the documentary has comments from many well-known admirers attesting to Marsha's eloquence and persuasiveness on behalf of good causes. The screening we saw was attended by Miss Hunt herself, 100 years young, and still recalling a trip she made with Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor to meet FDR in 1937 on behalf of what would become the March of Dimes. Living history. This film should be essential viewing for anyone interested in Golden Age Hollywood and equally important as inspiration to lead a deeply fulfilling life.

Just watched this marvelous documentary about actress and activistt Marsha Hunt.

If you enjoy Hollywood history, coupled with an unbridled display of activism and just plain unadulterated ballsy-ness, you'll fall in love with the ageless Ms. Hunt.

With a memory better than most people I know, the spry 101 year old (who turns 102 in a few months) reminisces about her life, entertainment career and activism. She talks fondly of her parents, going to Hollywood and becoming a leading lady in her first film, taking on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC, a real "witch hunt"), being blacklisted (but refusing to back down), and opening housing for the homeless.

Just about everything in this Roger C. Memos' production rings true today and sometimes it was hard not to bite my lip with the realization that we're still going through most of this.

But in the end, there's the beautiful Marsha, Marsha, Marsha...who continues to fight for meaningful and righteous causes.

Long live this tough yet soulful lady.

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!

Good documentary that would have been better had its subject been less insistent that it not focus on the blacklist which, with apologies to Ms. Hunt's solid acting career and admirable social activism, is the only sensible reason to learn about her life. When it does deal with those horrible events of the late 40s and early 50s, though, this work is riveting with the anecdote, previously unknown to me, about the debasement of John Huston alone worth the price of admission. As a previous reviewer wrote I will have a harder time watching this first rate director and second rate human being's work from here on out. Give it a B. PS...Glad to know Ms. Hunt's still kicking. Wonder if she and Norman Lloyd ever get together?