Hillyer was a prolific veteran of the early days of fast-moving American sensational films and westerns . Before joining the cinema, the son of actress Lydia Knott (1866–1955) worked as a reporter , short story writer and provincial actor in the first half of the 1910s . He received his first film contract from the production company Mutual Film in the middle of the First World War. Since 1917 he was allowed to work as an assistant director and director, and since 1919 always as a director with sole responsibility.
Hillyer's works in a good three decades of creative time were above all brisk, action-packed westerns with numerous daring stunts , in which cowboy legends such as William S. Hart - star of several Hillyer productions between 1917 and 1922 - and Tom Mix die , were still in the silent film era Holding crowds in suspense. In the course of the 1920s, Lambert Hillyer began to work for other film genres, but at no time did he get beyond the status of a B-movie director.
Hillyer films were mostly cheap mass-produced goods for a low-demanding audience, even though they were routinely staged in an exciting way. His crime melodrama The Collapse with Lon Chaney Sr. and the mid-1930s horror film classics Deadly Rays and Dracula's Daughter are particularly noteworthy . A typical product from Hillyer's series production was the 15-part cliffhanger Batman and Robin . At the end of the 1940s, Hillyer withdrew into private life.
Filmography
1917: An Even Break (also screenplay)
1917: The Narrow Trail (co-director)
1918: Branding Broadway (co-director)
1918: Riddle Gawne (co-director)
1919: Breed of Men (co-director)
1919: The Money Corral (co-director)
1919: Wagon Tracks
1919: On the border between good and bad ( The Toll Gate , also co-script)
1919: Sand (also screenplay)
1919: John Petticoats
1920: The Cradle of Courage (also screenplay)
1920: The Testing Block (also screenplay)
1921: The Whistle
1921: White Oak
1921: Three Word Brand
1922: Travelin 'On (also co-script)
1922: Skin Deep
1922: The Super Sex
1922: The Altar Stairs
1922: Scars of Jealousy (also screenplay)
1923: The collapse ( The Shock )
1923: Temporary Marriage (also screenplay)
1923: The Golden Land ( The Spoilers )
1923: The Lone Star Ranger (also screenplay)
1923: The eyes of the jungle ( Eyes of the Forest )
1924: American felons ( Those Who Dance , also co-script)
↑ The year of birth 1889, which can be read in numerous older sources, is incorrect. Among other things, the state Social Security Death Index confirms the year of birth 1893
