Hollywood in Havana: US Cinema and Revolutionary Nationalism in Cuba before 1959

In the 1940s and ’50s, Havana was a locus for American movie stars, with glamorous visitors including Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Marlon Brando. In fact, Hollywood was seemingly everywhere in pre-Castro Havana, with movie theaters three to a block in places, widely circulated silver screen fanzines, and terms like “cowboy” and “gangster” becoming part of Cuban vernacular speech. Hollywood in Havana takes this historical backdrop as the catalyst for a startling question: Did...