Albert Lewin
Albert Lewin (born September 23, 1894 in Brooklyn , New York City , New York , USA ; † May 9, 1968 in New York City, New York, USA) was an American director , producer and screenwriter .
life and work
Lewin grew up in Newark , New Jersey , studied at Harvard and then taught English literature at the University of Missouri . After military service in World War I, he was deputy head of the American Jewish Relief Committee. He came to film as a theater and film critic for the "Jewish Tribune". In the early 1920s he judged film scripts for Samuel Goldwyn and edited scripts for King Vidor and Victor Sjöström . In 1924 he became a screenwriter at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , where he became head of the script department in the late 1920s and personal assistant and confidante of Irving Thalberg . He produced (officially as an "associate producer") some of MGM's greatest hit films in the 1930s, such as Mutiny on the Bounty . After Thalberg's death in 1937 he went to Paramount as a producer , where he stayed until 1941. In 1938 he was responsible for the production of the adventure film Pirates in Alaska ( Spawn of the North ). By David L. Loew he produced together the film drama released in 1941 So Ends Our Night , the terror of the Nazis themed towards the Jews. He then made a total of six films as a director, often based on literary models. In Pandora and the Flying Dutchman , which is considered a cult film, he gave free rein to his artistic (he was friends with surrealist painters) and literary imagination, supported by the cameraman and Technicolor magician Jack Cardiff . In 1966 he published the short story The unaltered cat . He died of pneumonia in New York City in 1968.
Films as a director
- 1942: The Obsessed with Tahiti (The Moon and Sixpence) (after William Somerset Maugham , with George Sanders )
- 1945: The Portrait of Dorian Gray (after Oscar Wilde , with George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray, Angela Lansbury )
- 1947: The private affairs of Bel Ami (after Guy de Maupassant , with George Sanders, Angela Lansbury)
- 1951: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (with Ava Gardner and James Mason )
- 1953: Saadia (with Cornel Wilde , Mel Ferrer , Michel Simon and Rita Gam ): a love triangle about the young Arab Saadia, who thinks she is bewitched
- 1957: The Living Idol (starring Steve Forrest , a stolen Aztec statue brings death), directed with René Cardona
Awards
- 1953: DGA Award nomination in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures category for Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
- 1996: Retro Hugo Award for The Portrait of Dorian Gray from 1945
literature
- Albert Lewin . In: John Wakeman (Ed.): World Film Directors. Volume One, 1890-1945. The HW Wilson Company, New York 1987, ISBN 0-8242-0757-2 , pp. 657-661.
- Susan Felleman: Botticelli in Hollywood. The Films of Albert Lewin. Twayne Publishers, Boston 1997, ISBN 0-8057-1625-4 .
- Ephraim Katz : Film Encyclopedia.
Web links
- Albert Lewin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Lewin, Albert |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American director and producer |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 23, 1894 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn , New York City |
DATE OF DEATH | May 9, 1968 |
Place of death | New York City |