While the movie becomes preachy at times, it is for the most part absorbing and makes some brilliant points. As for the acting, John Garfield and Celeste Holmes (both Jewish as it turns out) were convincing and had the best lines. Garfield, by the way, died of a heart attack the night before his second testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and Anne Revere (who played Peck's character's mother) was blacklisted for twenty years because of her refusal to name names.
