Point of Order
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Note: This page was taken from the now-closed Miraheze wikis.
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1993. | ||
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Point of Order is a 1964 American documentary film by Emile de Antonio, about the Senate Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954.
Why It Rocks
- The Army-McCarthy hearings (held between March 16 and June 17, 1954) were known for being the first nationally televised congressional inquiry, with the intention of determining whether Senator Joseph McCarthy and his aide Roy Cohn improperly influenced Private G. David Schine's army. McCarthy possessed enormous influence over national politics with his accusations, destroying careers in politics and show business. There were 36 days days of public hearings, with sessions lasting 188 hours and the effects of the blacklist left a major influence, even to the point where Daniel Talbot and Emile de Antonio chose to use the footage for their film.
- After Talbot and de Antonio screened the footage, they edited out nearly all of the content leaving in only the most interesting parts. (First at 12 hours, then 3, and eventually just 97 minutes) Plus, the director and editor no longer having to provide a chronological history of the hearings -- being switched around for narrative purposes -- meant they could focus on the dramatic material, The six scenes from the hearings that were focused on include:
- The Army's Charts: McCarthy's claims that Army charts were false (22 minutes in)
- The Cropped Photo: 13 minutes devoted to whether or not a photo was cropped (31 minutes in)
- President Eisenhower Intervenes: A letter from President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordering the end of testimony by members of the executive branch of the government (44 minutes in)
- A Letter From J. Edgar Hoover?: Nearly 20 minutes on the debate over a forged letter from J. Edgar Hoover (53 minutes in)
- The Accusation: McCarthy's accusations against Fisher (72 minutes in)
- The Files: An argument between Symington and McCarthy over the handling of classified files (de Antonio would later add material explaining the charges and counter-charges and identify the key players) (90 minutes in)
- The only usage of voice-over narration or explanatory titles is in the opening -- with the statement providing context for the hearings read by de Antonio over a black screen, and pictures of major figures involved -- which allows the viewers to be able to watch the drama of the hearings and draw their own conclusions of who to side with and against. Though the selected material mostly painted McCarthy in the worst light as a way for viewers to gradually witness his own actions lead to his well-deserved downfall, whereas the actual event was a lot more complex an morally grey than that.
- As previously mentioned, most of the scenes from the hearings were placed out of order in the documentary for the sake of having a compelling "narrative", however despite this, there are multiple ways to view the film. Some may see it as deceptive, while others would see it as a plausible explanation for McCarthy's downfall of him slowly losing his composure and revealing to be a manipulative, unstable and corrupt. Either way, it's still a fascinating time-capsule glimpse at one of the most famous court trials in American history.
- A decent amount of subtle humor in the picture despite all of the drama. A noteworthy example is Boston lawyer Joseph Welch, who sits “in a slouch with hand on chin and wearing a bow tie”.