Point of Order!

The documentary takes up a series of hearings held in 1954. The hearings are between the Army and Senator McCarthy. The Army accuses the senator of applying pressure. The claim is that McCarthy sought privileges for a private. The private is called David Schine. Schine had worked on the senator’s staff. McCarthy for his part says the Army is holding Schine hostage. As he sees it the aim is to stop him hunting communists in the Army. The hearings are broadcast on television. The film is built from that broadcast footage. There is no new material and no narrator. In the end the senator was censured. The censure was for conduct unbecoming a senator. Emile de Antonio compiled the ninety seven minute documentary, in which Roy Cohn and Joseph N. Welch also appear. The American production was finished in 1964.