Both of the western films High Noon and Rio Bravo were stated by their creators to have anti-communist themes, which is shown through the visual aspects of the films. In High Noon, Marshall Will Kane tries to find some townsfolk to deputize and help him fight off a gang. He ends up at the church during the middle of a service and asks if there’s anyone willing to help him fight (43:40-50:30). When Kane opens the doors, the viewer sees from his viewpoint as the townsfolk turn to see who interrupted the service, invoking a feeling of being alone while standing up to something greater. Along with the ensuing argument the people have about whether or not they should help Kane, it ties to the underlying theme of the movie about moral courage and doing what is right even when no one will stand with you. That message is similar to the moral courage Whittaker Chambers often showed during his time testifying during the Hiss Case because with most of the public being against him and Chambers being the only ex-communist stepping forward with information, he was very alone. Chambers describes how a newsman came to his house and waited overnight there because his editor was sure Chambers would run away to Canada, and said “It was an attitude very hard to bear…There was no defense against it. It walked into our home and challenged us with its watchful eye and its faintly skeptical smile,” (Chambers, 629). Rio Bravo has a scene where Sheriff Chance and his friend Wheeler are discussing why Chance doesn’t want to recruit any more assistance than he has for fighting the bad guys in a secluded part of the bar in the town’s hotel (24:25-27:30). The way the two are huddled together at the bar top and even stop talking when other people get too close is reminiscent of the fear of spies and being eavesdropped on, fears many felt during the communist party’s reign. “The Red Terror” chapter in The Black Book of Communism shows just what those fears can drive people to do for their own safety. The soviet government legalized terror with their “decree ‘On Red Terror’:… to protect the Soviet Republic from its class enemies… The texts of 3 and 5 September finally gave us a legal right… immediately to dispose of the counterrevolutionary rabble, without having to defer to anyone else’s authority at all.” (Werth, 76).