Michael Curtiz
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Michael Curtiz (December 24, 1886 - April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, whose best known films include The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, and White Christmas.
Life
Born Manó Kertész Kaminer to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary (then Austria-Hungary), he ran away from home at age 17 to join a circus, then trained for an acting career at the Royal Academy for Theater and Art. In 1912, he began his acting and directing career as Mihály Kertész in Hungary, making 43 films.Curtiz fought for the Hungarian army during World War I. Afterwards, he continued his work, making another 21 films, at first in Vienna, Austria and subsequently in Germany; his best-known work from this period is the Austrian silent film Sodom und Gomorrha (1922).
In 1926 Curtiz emigrated to the United States, anglicizing his name. He had a lengthy and prolific Hollywood career, racking up directing credits on over 100 films in many genres. At Warner Brothers during the 30s, Curtiz was often credited on four films in a single year, although he was not always the sole director on these projects. In the pre-Code period Curtiz directed such films as Mystery of the Wax Museum (shot in two-strip Technicolor) and The Kennel Murder Case with William Powell as Philo Vance.
In the mid-30s, he began the highly successful cycle of adventure films starring Errol Flynn that included Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Santa Fe Trail (1940).
Prime examples of his work in the 1940s are The Sea Wolf (1941), Casablanca (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945). During this period he also directed the pro-Soviet propaganda film Mission to Moscow (1943), which was commissioned at the request of president Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to aid the wartime effort.
During his career, Curtiz received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director, including two in the same year, and took home the gold statue for Casablanca.
Curtiz had a lifelong struggle with the English language and there are many anecdotes about his failures. He bewildered a set dresser on Casablanca by demanding a 'poodle', when he actually wanted a puddle of water. David Niven liked Curtiz's phrase "bring on the empty horses" (for "bring on the horses without riders") so much that he used it for the title of his autobiography.
He was married three times:
- 1) Lucy Doraine, an actress, (1918-1923)
- 2) Lili Damita, also an actress, (1925-1926)
- 3) Bess Meredyth, an actress and screenwriter, (1929-1962)
Style
Curtiz is often used as an example of a director who was not an auteur - that is, an artist with a recognizable style; he worked in many different genres, and did not use unusual cinematography or editing. However, admirers of his work argue that by the 1940s, Curtiz had developed an extremely sophisticated visual style, marked by fluid camera movement, strong compositions and textured lighting, that is recognizable to the perceptive viewer.Select Hollywood filmography
- Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
- The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
- Dodge City (1939)
- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
- Santa Fe Trail (1940)
- Virginia City (1940)
- The Sea Hawk (1940)
- Casablanca (1942)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- Mildred Pierce (1945)
- Night and Day (1946) (starring Cary Grant as Cole Porter)
- The Breaking Point (1950)
- White Christmas (1954) (starring Bing Crosby)
- King Creole (1958) (starring Elvis Presley)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960)
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References
- Robertson, James C. The Casablanca Man (Routledge, 1993).
- Behlmer, Rudy (ed.). Inside Warner Brothers (Viking, 1985).
External links
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