Harold D. Schuster

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Harold D. Schuster (born August 1, 1902 in Cherokee , Iowa , † July 19, 1986 in Westlake Village , California ) was an American film director and film editor .

life and career

Harold Schuster got into the film business as an actor in small roles, but quickly turned to a career behind the camera. For some time he was an assistant to cameramen and film editors, for example for John Ford's The Iron Horse . In 1927 he was promoted to chief film editor at Fox Studios and his first film work in this role was a classic: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Sunrise - Song of Two People (1927) is often voted one of the best films of all time in surveys. For the next eight years he was the editor of nearly 30 films for Fox. In 1928 he worked again with Murnau on the missing film Four Devils .

In 1937 Schuster was allowed to direct his first own film in England when he took over the directing work of the fired Glenn Tryon with Henry Fonda in the lead role of Gypsy Princess . After a few more films in England, he returned to the USA in the late 1930s, where he directed primarily B-Movies in the 1940s and 1950s. Schuster's films were mostly routine productions, but the shoemaker, who himself came from a small village, showed an interest in rural topics above all. Many of his works were set in nature as adventure films and westerns. One of his greatest successes was the children's book adaptation Flicka (1943) with Roddy McDowall , shot in Technicolor , which was a box-office hit in the USA. How Flicka was about a relationship between a boy and an animal, Schuster's film A Champion to Fall in Love (1948) with Bobby Driscoll , which Walt Disney was the producer. But Schuster also made some films that are set in an urban setting: Leonard Nimoy had his first major film role in the rather staid Kid Monk Baroni in 1952, although Nimoy later disparagingly described it as "the kind of film that turns the unknown into stars". On the other hand, Schuster Film noir Loophole with Barry Sullivan in the role of a bank employee accused of theft is rated better .

Schuster began to work for various television series from 1954 and from 1958 he shot exclusively for this medium. He retired from Hollywood in the mid-1960s and died in California shortly before his 84th birthday in 1986. In retirement, Schuster was interviewed for the film documentary Hollywood - Stories from the Silent Film Era, published in 1980 .

Filmography (selection)

As a film editor

As a director

  • 1937: Gypsy Princess (Wings of the Morning)
  • 1937: ... tonight - Hotel Ritz (Dinner at the Ritz)
  • 1940: Zanzibar
  • 1942: Girl Trouble
  • 1943: Flicka (My Friend Flicka)
  • 1944: Leather Neck (Marine Raiders)
  • 1946: Breakfast in Hollywood
  • 1948: So Dear to My Heart
  • 1952: Kid Monk Baroni
  • 1953: The Gunslinger of Colorado (Jack Slade)
  • 1954: Loophole
  • 1955: Unleashed Underworld (Finger Man)
  • 1955: Yellow Rose of Texas (The Return of Jack Slade)
  • 1955: Tarzan and the Black Demon (Tarzan's Hidden Jungle)
  • 1955–1958: The Lineup (TV series, 6 episodes)
  • 1957: Massacre (Dragoon Wells Massacre)
  • 1957: Terror in Portland City
  • 1958: The Power of Resurrection
  • 1958: Lassie (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1961: At the foot of the blue mountains ( Laramie ; TV series, episode Strange Cargo )
  • 1962: Twilight Zone (TV series, episode The Hunt )
  • 1965: The Legend of Jesse James (TV series, episode The Chase )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Harold D. Schuster | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved January 13, 2019 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Schuster, Harold D.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film director and editor
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Cherokee , Iowa
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1986
Place of death Westlake Village , California