The Killers is a 1946 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, and starring Burt Lancaster (in his film debut), Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene.Based in part on the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, it focuses on a detective's investigation into the execution-style killing of a former boxing champion who appears to have been unresistant to his own murder. The British Film Institute held a retrospective of his career in April and May 2015. (1957-58). Siodmak's experience with editing and having filmed in France on relatively low budgets, enabled him to create at Universal a number of quality films which looked good without being expensive to produce. In 1951 he came back to Europa and worked first in France and England then in Germany. Robert Siodmak (8 August 1900 - 10 March 1973) was a German-born American film director. She offers nothing new in the way of Siodmak's career, but merely restates facts Dumont had stated, and better. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The studios fought over Siodmak, the budgets of his movies became constantly higher. Universal promptly reunited Montez, Hall and Sabu in two more films: White Savage (1943), directed by Lubin, and Cobra Woman (1944), directed by Robert Siodmak. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Robert Siodmak was born on August 8, 1900, in Dresden, Saxony, Germany to parents Ignatz Siodmak and Rosa Philippine Blum. He takes out a contract on himself but, after the contract has been sold to an unknown, changes his mind, desperately trying to figure out the identity of his would-be assassin. He directed varied output, from the depression-era musical La crise est finie (1934) with Danielle Darrieux and the Jacques Offenbach operetta La vie parisienne (1936), to the taut suspenser Personal Column (1939), which dealt with the trapping of a Ripper-style serial killer. Beginning with this film, his work in Hollywood attained the stylistic and thematic characteristics that are evident in his later noirs. Robert Siodmak est né dans une famille d'origine juive polonaise à Dresde en 1900 (et non à Memphis aux États-Unis comme parfois indiqué). Siodmaks finished his artistic career with several Karl-May-Adaptions and with the monumental film "Kampf um Rom" (68). Robert Siodmak (1900–1973) Robert Siodmak. De Robert Siodmak, gebuer den 8.August 1900 zu Dresden an Däitschland, a gestuerwen den 10. The merit of Siodmak’s cinematic art is also one of the most controversial. Custer of the West is a 1967 American Western film directed by Robert Siodmak that presents a highly fictionalised version of the life and death of George Armstrong Custer, starring Robert Shaw as Custer, Robert Ryan, Ty Hardin, Jeffrey Hunter, and Mary Ure.The film was shot entirely in Spain. Pages 1001-1005. - IMDb Mini Biography By: He died alone in 1973 in Locarno, seven weeks after his wife's death. Because the chief protagonist and next on the killer's hit list (Dorothy McGuire) is mute, Siodmak used reflections and disconcerting mirror images to convey terror, much in the same way Murnau did in his silent horror classic Nosferatu (1922). His parents were both from Jewish families in Leipzig (the myth of his American birth in Memphis, Tennessee was necessary for him to obtain a visa in Paris during World War II). In 1939 he went to the USA where he could realize B-Movies between 1940 and 1943. In fact, he often collaborated with cinematographers, such as Nicholas Musuraca, Elwood Bredell, and Franz Planer, to achieve in his films the Expressionist look he had cultivated in his early years at UFA (for Christmas Holiday, he instructed Bredell in the use of deep-focus photography, which Gregg Toland had perfected for Citizen Kane). Robert Siodmak’s career is one of the more underrated and misunderstood in the history of Hollywood. George Brent, as the villain, gave arguably the best performance of his career.Now firmly ensconced as a director of A-grade films, Siodmak proceeded to direct The Killers (1946), a classy film noir based on a 1927 story by Ernest Hemingway. He received his tertiary education from the University of Marburg and briefly tried his hand at acting with local stock companies. Robert Siodmak had first contacts to the theater as an actor in small parts at the "Stattliches Schauspielhaus" in Dresden. The film was ahead of its time (and the plot has been copied many times since) but failed at the box office. Siodmak was on more familiar turf with the noirish The File on Thelma Jordan (1949), in which Barbara Stanwyck gave an acclaimed performance as a murder suspect; Wendell Corey played the district attorney who falls for her. In 1940, Siodmak was on the very last ship leaving France for America on the eve of Germany's occupation of Paris.After a brief stay at Paramount from 1941 to 42, Siodmak found his niche at Universal (1943-48), a studio renowned for combining expressionist techniques with Hollywood neo-realism, particularly through their horror and thriller output. In Robert Siodmak …triumph was the film noir Phantom Lady (1944), an acclaimed adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s novel, with Alan Curtis as a man accused of killing his wife, Ella Raines as his faithful secretary, and Franchot Tone as his ostensibly loyal pal. J. Greco, author of The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941-1951, View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, These People Directed Influential American Films Noir. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Siodmak's return to Europe in 1954 with a Grand Prize nomination at the Cannes Film Festival for his remake of Jacques Feyder's Le grand jeu was a misstep, despite its stars, Gina Lollobrigida (two of them) and Arletty in the role originated by Françoise Rosay, Feyder's wife. There are unusual camera angles and close-ups, flashing lights and incidental sounds (for example, a ruler scraped along heating pipes to intimidate an interrogated suspect) not used as prominently on screen before.When Hitler came to power in Germany, Siodmak joined Billy Wilder in Paris and stayed there until 1940. As house director, his services were often used to salvage troublesome productions at the studio. Next was Cobra Woman (1944), a Technicolor extravaganza featuring Maria Montez as good and evil twins. Robert Siodmak studied at the University of Marburg. The gothic thriller The Spiral Staircase (1945) starred Dorothy McGuire as a woman hunted by a serial killer. Charles Laughton starred as an unhappily married man who falls in love with a stenographer (played by Raines) and later kills his demanding wife (Rosalind Ivan). Siodmak's use of black-and-white cinematography and urban landscapes, together with his light-and-shadow designs, formed the basic structure of classic noir films. The creativity of Robert Siodmak was restricted through it. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, where his German banker father and his wife were travelling, Robert Siodmak -- the older brother of Curt Siodmak -- was raised and educated in Germany and became an actor after graduating from the University of Marburg. Siodmak’s first major triumph was the film noir Phantom Lady (1944), an acclaimed adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s novel, with Alan Curtis as a man accused of killing his wife, Ella Raines as his faithful secretary, and Franchot Tone as his ostensibly loyal pal. Robert Siodmak (* 8. He died three years later of a heart attack in a hospital in Locarno, Switzerland. This picture truly established Siodmak on the scene as a leading exponent of expressionism, using lighting and photography to convey emotion, such as fear and repulsion. Corrections? Robert Siodmak was a German film director who made a number of films in America and Europe. The story concerned a man tired of living, but too cowardly to commit suicide. Il réalise en 1933 Fin d… Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Siodmak, Senses of Cinema - Biography of Robert Siodmak, Robert Siodmak - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Siodmak had more success with The Suspect (1944), a thriller set in Victorian London. Robert Siodmak, (born August 8, 1900, Dresden, Germany—died March 10, 1973, Locarno, Switzerland), German director who was known for his bleak film noirs, notably Phantom Lady (1944), The Killers (1946), and Criss Cross (1949). Siodmak’s early Hollywood projects were B-films in a variety of genres: dramas (West Point Widow [1941]), spy thrillers (Fly by Night [1942]), and romantic comedies (The Night Before the Divorce [1942] and My Heart Belongs to Daddy [1942]). He had a talent for adapting himself to the film industries of three different countries at the same time and he was bracketed with Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock. This brought him in a contract with the Ufa, and he shot few films for that ^production company. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Curt Siodmak was his younger brother. A classic, however flawed, it showcased Siodmak's skill with camera and editing to dazzling effect, but no more so than in the iconic jam-session sequence with Elisha Cook Jr. in throes on the drums. Less successful was The Great Sinner (1949). Siodmak made a number of films at UFA, but with the rise of the Nazi movement, he fled Germany in 1933 and settled in Paris, where he continued to direct. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. But above all, it must be acknowledged, he made audiences sit up and notice Ava Gardner and her potential to ruin men. On loan out to Paramount in 1949, he made for producer Hal B. Wallis his penultimate American noir The File on Thelma Jordan, with Barbara Stanwyck at her most fatal-and sympathetic. Curt Siodmak (August 10, 1902 – September 2, 2000) was a German-American novelist and screenwriter.He is known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, with such films as The Wolf Man and Donovan's Brain (the latter adapted from his novel of the same name).He was the younger brother of noir director Robert Siodmak. Robert Siodmak was born in Dresden/Germany. That she can be both is owed entirely to Siodmak who saw in this film a thematic link with The Suspect and The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, with the failed lovers of these films and significantly their tragic conclusions (ten years later he addressed the same theme in The Rough and the Smooth). The script was co-written by Billy Wilder and Siodmak's brother Curt Siodmak, later the screenwriter of The Wolf Man (1941). Nevertheless, he ended his Universal contract with one last noir, the disappointing Deported (1951) which he filmed partly abroad (Siodmak was among the first refugee directors to return to Europe after making American films). Robert Siodmak was a German film director who made a number of films in America and Europe. The Cinerama production Custer of the West (1968), a portrait of the U.S. cavalry officer (Robert Shaw), was the only western Siodmak made. Yvonne De Carlo's working-class femme fatal (a high mark in her career) completes the deadly triangle, along with Lancaster and Dan Duryea: the archetype of doomed attraction central to all Siodmak's noirs, but the one he could fully express to its nihilistic conclusion.Siodmak immersed himself in the creative process and genuinely loved working with actors; in fact, he was considered an actor's director, discovering Burt Lancaster, Ernest Borgnine, Tony Curtis, Debra Paget, Maria Schell, Mario Adorf, and skillfully directing actresses, such as Ava Gardner, Olivia de Havilland, Dorothy McGuire, Yvonne de Carlo, Barbara Stanwyck, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Ella Raines. Robert Siodmak retired from film making in 1970. His creativity flourished, as he worked for the next six years in a variety of film genres, from comedy (Le sexe fable and La Vie Parisienne ) to musical ( La crise est finie, with Danielle Darrieux) to drama (Mister Flow, Cargaison blanche, Mollenard-compare Gabrielle Dorziat's shrewish wife with that of Rosalind Ivan in The Suspect-and the superb Pièges, with Maurice Chevalier and Erich Von Stroheim). In 1943 his brother Curt initiated a seven-year for him by Universal. Siodmak worked as a film editor before codirecting his first feature, a pseudodocumentary entitled Menschen am Sonntag ( People on Sunday ), in 1930; writers of the … Il travaille en Allemagne comme metteur en scène et banquier avant de devenir scénariste pour le réalisateur Curtis Bernhardt en 1925. When he was dying his boozer fellows robbed his flat. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, where his German banker father and his wife were travelling, Robert Siodmak -- the older brother of Curt Siodmak -- was raised and educated in Germany and became an actor after graduating from the University of Marburg. Arguably better was The Killers (1946), which took the original Ernest Hemingway short story as its opening point and developed it in an elaborate series of flashbacks. J. Greco, author of The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941-1951, Other Works (1957-58). Christmas Holiday, adapted from a W. Somerset Maugham novel by Herman J. Mankiewicz, was Durbin's most successful feature, which she considered her only good film (and that Mankiewicz said was among his work in the 40s of which he was most proud). Biografi. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. He directed Charles Laughton (a close friend) and George Sanders, actors with indelible personas, and got from both perhaps the unlikeliest, most natural and under-acted performances of their careers. While in France, he was well on his way to becoming successor to Rene Clair, until Hitler again forced him out. He drowned his loneliness with alcohol. The story of a demented perfectionist, who murders deformed girls, is set in a gothic New England mansion in 1906, against the backdrop of a raging thunderstorm. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s, most notably The Killers (1946). Kehidupan awal. Mit dem Film Menschen am Sonntag drehte er 1929 einen der wichtigsten Vertreter der Neuen Sachlichkeit. The story is loosely based on the deportation of gangster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Siodmak worked at this for two years before he persuaded Nebenzal to finance his first feature, the silent chef d'oeuvre, Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday) in1929. Siodmak was born Kurt Siodmak in Dresden, Germany, the son of Rosa Philippine (née Blum) and Ignatz Siodmak. This was Siodmak's swan song in Hollywood.Coming full-circle, he returned to Germany, where he directed several interesting dramas, notably Les rats (1955) with Maria Schell as a pregnant, homeless 20-year old, in the nightmarish world of burnt-out post-war Berlin; and The Devil Strikes at Night (1957) ('The Devil strikes at Night'), the story of a serial killer in Hamburg in the late 1930's. Siodmak was last seen publicly in an interview for Swiss television at his home in Ascona in 1971. Though born in Memphis, Tennessee, of Jewish parents who visited on business, Siodmak spent his youth in Germany from the age of one. Siodmak was also able to elicit strong performances from his cast, in particular, Franchot Tone as the murderer. After the little-seen period drama Time out of Mind (1947), Siodmak returned to noirs with Cry of the City (1948), which featured notable performances by Victor Mature and Richard Conte as childhood pals who grow up on opposite sides of the law. Wilson Company, 1987. The end of Siodmak's life was a drama. Plot. Perhaps his finest American noir-although not his last-is Criss Cross that was to reunite him not only with Lancaster, but also The Killers producer Mark Hellinger, who died suddenly before production began in 1949. However this led to the point that the production interfered more and more in the realization of the movies, after all it was a question of money. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s. The director Robert Siodmak (which he insisted, be pronounced 'See-odd-mack') was a masterful film maker who successfully blended the techniques of German Expressionism with contemporary styles of American film, particularly film noir, in the process creating a handful of moody, sometimes chilling, and always memorable motion pictures. Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. Later the same year he left Germany for Great Britain to film The Rough and the Smooth, with Nadja Tiller and Tony Britton, yet another noir, but much meaner and gloomier than anything he had made in America (compare its downbeat ending with that of The File on Thelma Jordan). Robert Siodmak (8. elokuuta 1900 Dresden, Saksa – 10. maaliskuuta 1973 Locarno, Sveitsi) oli saksalainen elokuvaohjaaja.Hän syntyi juutalaiseen perheeseen Dresdenissä, mutta joutui jättämään maansa kansallissosialismin aikana. While still under contract at Universal, Siodmak worked on loan out to RKO for the thriller The Spiral Staircase, which he edited freely, without taking screen credit. His increasing popularity involved disadvantages. Neither film was a success. Reminiscent of Fritz Lang's M (1931), this intense film stood out for the realistic treatment of its subject. In the mid-1940s Siodmak made a trio of films that are widely regarded as classics. Biography. Siodmak had hoped Loretta Young would star, but settled for the Swedish actress Marta Toren.Those "different type" of films he had made-The Great Sinner (1949) for MGM, Time Out of Mind (1947) for Universal (which Siodmak also produced), The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951) for Columbia Pictures (Ernest Borgnine's debut and Dorothy Gish's return to the screen)-all proved ill-suited to his noir sensibilities (although in 1952 The Crimson Pirate, despite the difficult production, was a surprising and pleasing departure-in fact, Lancaster believed it was inspiration for the tongue-in-cheek style of the James Bond films).The five months he collaborated with Budd Schulberg on a screenplay tentatively titled A Stone in the River Hudson, an early version of On the Waterfront, was also a major disappointment for Siodmak. In 1961, L'affaire Nina B, with Pierre Brasseur and Nadja Tiller (again), returned Siodmak to familiar ground in a slick, black-and-white thriller about a pay-for-hire Nazi hunter, which could be argued was the start of the many spy themed films so popular in the 1960s. In the 50s and 60s some well-known German movies came into being. The resulting popularity of this little film led to a contract with Erich Pommer at UFA. Robert Siodmak (8 Agustus 1900 – 10 Maret 1973) adalah seorang sutradara Amerika kelahiran Jerman. [1]He directed Charles Laughton (a close friend) and George Sanders, actors with indelible personas, and got from both perhaps the unlikeliest, most natural and under-acted performances of their careers. The film was popular and Selznick gave her another good role in a thriller, The Spiral Staircase (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak. The director Robert Siodmak (which he insisted, be pronounced 'See-odd-mack') was a masterful film maker who successfully blended the techniques of German Expressionism with contemporary styles of American film, particularly film noir, in the process creating a handful of moody, sometimes chilling, and always memorable motion pictures. In 1962, the entertaining Escape from East Berlin, with Don Murray and Christine Kaufman, had all the characteristic style of a Siodmak thriller, but was one that he later dismissed as something he had made for "little kids in America." Robert Siodmak, född 8 augusti 1900 i Dresden, död 10 mars 1973 i Ascona i Schweiz, var en tysk filmregissör, som framförallt under 1940-talet regisserade flera Hollywoodfilmer. The film noir earned Siodmak his only Academy Award nomination for best direction, and it helped launch the careers of Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. Criss Cross (1949) was even better; Lancaster played a bitter armoured-car driver whose attempts to reunite with his ex-wife (Yvonne De Carlo), who is now married to a gangster (Dan Duryea), result in his becoming involved in a bank robbery. Siodmak was awarded $100,000, but no screen credit. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s. Iz Wikipedije, slobodne enciklopedije Curt Siodmak (10. august 1902 – 2. septembar 2000) bio je njemačko-američki književnik i filmski scenarist, najpoznatiji po scenarijima za klasične hollywoodske horor i science fiction filmove, od kojih je mnoge režirao njegov brat Robert Siodmak. The drama, which was loosely based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler, starred Gregory Peck as a Russian writer who becomes a compulsive gambler; Gardner was his love interest. His films were known for their German-French-American synthesis also known as film noir. Siodmak's second effort, Voruntersuchung (1931) ('Inquest'), was a murder mystery in which the son of the magistrate prosecuting the case was the chief suspect. Ia paling diingat sebagai spesialis thriller. Rhonda Fleming-Wikipedia. Robert Siodmak emigrated in the 30s to France, his brother Curt Siodmak - a successful author and screenwriter (Donovan's Brain) - emigrated to England, his second brother Rolf chose suicide at the age of 20. Siodmak’s next movie was one of his most enjoyable. On Mark Hellinger's production Swell Guy (1946), for instance, Siodmak was brought in to replace Frank Tuttle only six days after completing work on The Killers. Siodmak continued in the same vein with The Dark Mirror (1946), in which police try to determine which of two identical twins (played by Olivia de Havilland) has committed murder; Cry of the City (1948), about a policeman tracking down a childhood friend, turned killer; Criss Cross (1949), a violent, suspenseful crime melodrama about an armoured car guard, who is compromised by gangsters; and the stylish film noir, The File on Thelma Jordon (1949), with Barbara Stanwyck at her best as a chillingly ruthless, manipulating femme fatale in the vein of her Phyllis Dietrichson or Martha Ivers. Siodmak (pronounced SEE-ODD-MACK) was born in Dresden, Germany, the son of Rosa Philippine (née Blum) and Ignatz Siodmak. Alpi's book is nearly an exact copy of Herve Dumont's excellent biography of Siodmak, which is published in only French and Spanish. Curt Siodmak, whose brother was the famous director Robert Siodmak, studied mathematics, physics and engineer science since 1926 in Zurich. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Translations of Robert siodmak. In 1943 he directed the stylish horror film Son of Dracula, in which Lon Chaney, Jr., starred as Count Alucard (the name spelled backward is Dracula). During Siodmak's tenure, Universal made the most of the noir style in The Suspect, The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry and The Dark Mirror, but the capstone was The Killers in 1946, Burt Lancaster's film debut and Ava Gardner's first dramatic, featured role. Siodmak worked steadily while under contract, overshadowed by high profile directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he had been often compared by the press.At Universal, Siodmak made yet another B-film, Son of Dracula (1943), the third and best in a trilogy of Dracula movies (based on his brother Curt's original story). A critical and financial success, it earned Siodmak his only Oscar nomination for direction in Hollywood (his German production The Devil Strikes at Night (Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam), based on the true story of serial killer Bruno Lüdke, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1957). Robert Siodmak's popularity increased year to year and achieved the zenith in 1946 with "The Killers". Robert Siodmak (8 August 1900 - 10 March 1973) was a German-born American film director. This film maintained suspense throughout, by its fast pace, the use of moody lighting and clever little touches, such as a strange hat which leads to the discovery of the key witness in the story. Han började sin filmkarriär i Tyskland 1930, men efter nazisternas maktövertagande 1933 flyttade han till Paris där han fortsatte karriären. After helming the adventure drama Kampf un Rom II–Der Verrat (Fight for Rome II) in 1969, Siodmak retired from directing. By the end of the 1940's, Robert Siodmak had established a reputation as a master of suspense and the macabre, second only to Hitchcock.In stark contrast to his usual output, Siodmak directed Burt Lancaster in the muscular The Crimson Pirate (1952), a colourful, cheerful swashbuckler, with spectacular action scenes, unmatched in the genre before 'Pirates of the Caribbean', half a century later. With Robert Shaw in the title role and his wife Mary Ure as Mrs. Custer, it is the oddest of the Custer film biographies, yet interesting in its contemporary portrayal of Custer's anti-social individualism.He ended his career with a six-hour, two-part toga and chariot epic, Kampf um Rom (1968), a more campy work (perhaps intentionally) than Cobra Woman had been. In 1940, however, when France was about to become occupied, Siodmak departed for the United States. Robert Siodmak (/ s i ˈ ɒ d. m æ k /; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He died alone in 1973 in Locarno, seven weeks after his wife's death.The British Film Institute ran a retrospective of his career in April and May of 2015.
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