George Pal

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George Pal

George Pal (* 1. February 1908 in Cegléd , Austria- Hungary , as György Pál Marczincsak ; † 2. May 1980 in Beverly Hills , California , USA ) was a Hungarian - American trick technician as a film producer and film director by science Fiction and fantasy films became known.

Life

The son of the entertainers Maria and George Pal Sr. worked for Hunnia Films after graduating from the Budapest Academy of Arts in 1928. From 1931 to 1932 he was head of the animation department of the UFA film studios in Berlin and founded his own animation studio . During this time, he succeeded in further developing drawing and puppet animation with the help of the stop-motion process. After the National Socialists came to power, he was not wanted as a foreigner and he left Germany. After a short time in Prague he went to Paris and finally to the Netherlands, where from 1934 he made animated short advertising films in his own studio.

Pal received the American visa in 1939 and moved to New York with his family in 1940 . He received a contract from Paramount Film Studios and between 1941 and 1947 made no fewer than 40 puppet cartoons, so-called puppetons . Seven of these films were nominated for an Oscar . For the development of this combination of tricks, which he had already patented in Europe, Pal received an honorary Oscar . Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen were among his staff .

After these successes in short films, he turned to real film. With Eagle Lion Films he produced two films in 1950. After the success of the second production, he made five films for Paramount between 1951 and 1955. As a producer, he attached great importance to the careful execution of the special effects. Endstation Moon , Judgment Day, and HG Wells' film adaptation, Battle of the Worlds , won the Oscar for best special effects. The Paramount turned away from science fiction film in 1955 . Pal left the company. For his next project he found the support of the British MGM studios, took over the direction himself and handed over the special effects to the company Project Unlimited. Under his direction, in collaboration with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Project Unlimited, four more fairy tale and fantasy films were made between 1960 and 1964. Project Unlimited developed special effects for these films that were outstanding for their time. Real and trick shots were combined with the simplest of means, which nowadays are only made with computer assistance. The musical Little Thumbling and the impressive HG Wells film adaptation The Time Machine won the Oscar for the best special effects. Was also nominated The mysterious Dr. Lao , which became a financial failure. Pal gave up directing. Another MGM production started in 1968. In 1975 he produced his last film for Warner Bros. No further projects came about.

George Pal was married to Elisabeth Josepha (Zsoka) Grandjean since 1930. The sons David (* 1937) and Peter (* 1941) came from this marriage. He died of a heart attack at the age of 72 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City . His star on the Walk of Fame is at 1722 Vine Street.

The memory of George Pal is kept alive today mainly by Arnold Leibovit, who not only released the documentary The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal in 1985 , but also the homage The Puppetoon Movie in 1987 . In 2002 he presented the time machine in a remake and in 2004 produced the film music compilation The Fantasy Film Music of George Pal . In the opening song Science Fiction / Double Feature of the Rocky Horror Show , George Pal is sung about: "But when worlds collide, said George Pal to his bride, I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills, like a:".

Filmography (selection)

Awards

literature

  • Gail Morgan Hickman: The Films of George Pal. Barnes and Yoseloff, London and Cranbury 1977, ISBN 0-498-01960-8 .
  • Kay Less : 'In life, more is taken from you than given ...'. Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. P. 385 f., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8
  • Mette Peters: "George Pal's 'Cavalcade of Colors, Music and Dolls': 1930s Advertising Films in Transnational Contexts". In: Animation and Advertising . Thompson, Kirsten Moana, Cook, Malcolm (Eds.). Palgrave MacMillan, 2019. ISBN 978-3-030-27938-7 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Pal, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marczincsak, Györgi Pál (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian-American film director and producer
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Cegléd , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1980
Place of death Beverly Hills , California, USA