Posted: Thu., Dec. 31, 1953, 11:00pm PT

Salt of the Earth

By Variety Staff

Independent/International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Worker. Director Herbert J. Biberman; Producer Paul Jarrico; Screenplay Michael Wilson; Camera [uncredited]; Editor [uncredited]; Music Sol Kaplan

Rosaura Revueltas Juan Chacon Will Geer David Wolfe Mervin Williams David Sarvis

Salt of the Earth is a good, highly dramatic and emotion-charged piece of work that tells its story straight. It is, however, a propaganda picture which belongs in union halls rather than theatres.

It is a bitter tale that Michael Wilson has concocted and the large cast acts it out with a conviction that obviously didn't require much prompting. The story concerns Mexican miners in a small New Mexican mining community, Zinc Town. A series of mine accidents prompts a strike. The company attempts to break it via acts of intimidation that include arrest and brutality.

Director Herbert J. Biberman was one of the Unfriendly Ten who served a five-months jail sentence for contempt of Congress. Producer Paul Jarrico also was in trouble with Congress.

Yet as a piece of film artistry, Salt achieves moments of true pictorial excellence. Rosaura Revueltas, a Mexican actress playing the wife of the strike leader, gives a taut, impressive performance that has real dimension. Juan Chacon, a union leader in real life, turns in a creditable acting job.

Biberman's direction achieves distinctive quality. He concentrates on misery and violence and anger with a stark determination and a flair for realism that is designed to do much more than rouse sympathy.

(B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1954. Running time: 94 MIN.