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Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (10 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian-American filmmaker.
Born to Jewish parents in Kiev,
Litvak was notable for directing little-known foreign actors to early fame and is believed to have contributed to several actors winning Academy Awards. In 1936 he directed Mayerling, a film which made French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux international stars. He returned Swedish star Ingrid Bergman to popularity with American audiences in 1956 with Anastasia, in which she won her second Oscar. He directed Olivia de Havilland to an Academy Award nomination for The Snake Pit (1948). He directed Jean Gabin in his screen debut and directed Elia Kazan in his earliest acting role, City for Conquest.
Litvak directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, starring Edward G. Robinson, which used actual newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. As a refugee from Nazi Germany, Litvak was among the few directors who tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.
During World War II, he enlisted and co-directed documentaries with Frank Capra, including Why We Fight films. His solo-directed, The Battle of Russia (1943), won numerous awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Because of Litvak's ability to speak Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, and French, he supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings. He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force. He was promoted to full colonel by the end of the war for his volunteer wartime efforts. He received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States.
Litvak remained there through the Russian Revolution, and began his filmmaking career at Nordkino Studios, where he was assistant director and a production designer for nine silent films during the 1920s. For political and ideological reasons, and especially because Russian theaters were State ownership by the Soviet government in the 1920s, he left Russia for Berlin, Germany in 1925. There he would have more artistic possibilities.Packer, Sharon. Cinema's Sinister Psychiatrists: From Caligari to Hannibal, McFarland (2012) p. 204
He directed Lilac (1932) in France. He returned to Germany for The Song of Night (1932), shot at the same time as an English version, released as Tell Me Tonight (1932). He went to England to direct Sleeping Car (1933), starring Ivor Novello.
He made The Old Devil (1933) and The Crew (1935).
According to film historian Ronald Bowers, Litvak became skilled in using location shooting and realistic documentary effects as early as the 1930s. He also became known in the industry for emphasizing sound effects over dialogue in sound films. He preferred to keep the camera running with tracking shots and pans.Bowers, Ronald; Hillstrom, Laurie Collier, ed. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Directors (3rd ed.) St. James Press, 1997 pp. 613–615 Given his preference for achieving motion in camerawork, he often used crane shots and sat with the cameraman to be sure he was getting what he wanted. Harrisburg Telegraph, 13 September 1937 p. 12
He directed he films ‘'The Woman I Love (1937); Tovarich (1937) with Boyer, a comedy celebrating "outmoded values of the ruined Russian aristocracy"; The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938); and The Sisters'' (1938), starring Bette Davis and Errol Flynn.
Also with Warner Brothers, he directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy, a 1939 film starring Edward G. Robinson as an FBI agent who breaks up a Nazi spy ring. It was released at a time of increasing tensions in Europe as the Nazis promoted their expansion. Among the techniques he used in the film to achieve realism was the inclusion of newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. While the story was fictional, the espionage methods that it revealed were considered factual. The film was described as the "strongest and most thrilling dramatic movie" that had ever been put on screen."Sensational Nazi Spy Drama Opens at the Capitol Today", The Evening Standard, 10 July 1939, p. 14 The film was banned in Germany, and by its Fascist allies Italy and Spain. Neutral countries such as Switzerland and Ireland also banned it. The producers hoped to arouse concern in the United States, where many people wanted to pursue isolation and escape any "European war.""'Nazi Spy': A Potboiler Meant to Stir Outrage", The Los Angeles Times, 20 February 1992, p. 154
Biographer Alexander Walker said in his book about Vivien Leigh, that Litvak tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.Walker, Alexander. Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh, Grove Press (1987) p. 130 Leigh, who later starred in Litvak's The Deep Blue Sea (1955), recalls her Sunday morning visits to Litvak and his wife, Miriam Hopkins. She learned from him that the studios were trying to protect their investments in the German box office and did not want to produce films that would offend that country. Hollywood's "comfortable isolationism affronted her."
After Castle on the Hudson (1940), Litvak produced and directed All This and Heaven Too, starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture.
That same year he co-produced and directed City for Conquest, starring James Cagney and supporting actor Elia Kazan. This was one of Kazan's few film roles before he became a leading director. The Hollywood Reporter gave Litvak's directing special praise:
He directed two films released the same year: Out of the Fog (1941) and Blues in the Night (1941). 20th Century Fox borrowed him under contract to direct This Above All (1942).
Films they co-directed for the series included Prelude to War (1942), The Nazis Strike (1943), Divide and Conquer (1943), The Battle of China (1944) and War Comes to America (1945). Capra was in charge of production for all the films.
Litvak became involved with helping the Soviet Union in August 1941, soon after it was invaded by Nazi Germany. He was treasurer of the Russian War Relief Association, which sponsored international radio benefits with stars such as Edward G. Robinson and Ronald Colman.Capua, Michelangelo. Anatole Litvak: The Life and Films, McFarland (2015)
Litvak co-produced and alone directed The Battle of Russia in 1943. After the film was released, he was sent to Russia on a special mission, in which he held a private screening for the Russian General Staff. The theme of the film was to show the heroic manner that the Russian people fought against the Nazis. U.S. ambassador to Russia W. Averell Harriman asked Litvak to narrate the English-language film in Russian during the screening.
Litvak recalled:
Litvak was decorated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for his work on this film. It was shown in theaters throughout Russia.Lyons, Leonard. "Lyons Den", Detroit Free Press, 29 July 1944, p. 16 During his trip to Russia, Litvak briefly reunited with his mother in Leningrad; they had not seen each other for nearly 20 years. After the film's excellent reception in the U.S., it won the New York Film Critics Award as Best Documentary.
He later directed War Comes to America (1945), the final film in the Why We Fight series. The films were scripted by Anthony Veiller and narrated by Walter Huston, with music by Dimitri Tiomkin, another Russian-born émigré to Hollywood. Prelude to War won the Oscar for Best Documentary of 1942. Because of Litvak's ability to speak Russian, German, and French, he subsequently supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings.Robinson, Harlow. Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood's Russians: Biography of an image, Northeastern University Press (2007) pp. 27, 116 He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force.
Because Litvak joined the army to help Capra produce the film series, the director said he was one of the "Hollywood knights" who came to America's "rescue," and without whose help "no one could have made the Why We Fight films."Capra, Frank. The Name Above the Title, Macmillan (1971) pp. 340, 350–351
Ending the war as a full colonel, Litvak received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States for his work. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre. The British government awarded him with a gold medal, ribbon, and citation as an honorary officer of the Order of the British Empire. By an order from Winston Churchill, all the films in the Why We Fight series were to be shown in all public theaters throughout Britain. From the U.S., he received the United States Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star Medal.
He directed Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster in Sorry, Wrong Number, a role which film historian James Robert Parish states is Stanwyck's "greatest screen triumph."Reid, John Howard. Hollywood's Miracles of Entertainment, Lulu (2005) p. 195 Litvak directed using a "variety of surrealistic and expressionistic devices," notes Film Noir magazine. "Litvak isn't afraid to use close-ups either. And his players not only stand up to this relentless probing but offer some of the greatest performances of their lives.". Stanwyck was nominated for the best actress academy award.
Litvak was nominated in 1948 for a Best Director Oscar for The Snake Pit (1948), starring Olivia de Havilland. The film was nominated for Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Musical Score. To prepare de Havilland for her role as a mental patient, she and Litvak spent months observing actual patients at mental hospitals. Litvak had purchased the pre-publication rights to the story which is based on a fictionalized autobiography.Barson, Michael. The Illustrated Who's Who of Hollywood Directors, Noonday Press – HarperCollins (1995) pp. 272–273
In 1951, his war film Decision Before Dawn filmed on location in Germany was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Thousands of French admirers of the film signed a huge scroll which they sent to AMPAS, insisting that the film be given an Oscar. It was Oskar Werner's first acting role in an American film.
Among his productions, there was Act of Love (1953) with Kirk Douglas filmed in Paris, and The Deep Blue Sea (1955) with Vivien Leigh and Kenneth More shot in England.
He directed Anastasia, filmed in Paris in 1956, starring Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner and Helen Hayes. The film was Bergman's first U.S. film after a seven-year absence from Hollywood, which she left after her scandalous affair with director Roberto Rossellini became news. Twentieth Century Fox conducted a poll and found that the public still had negative feelings toward Bergman. Litvak, however, felt she would be an excellent actress for the part and insisted on her starring in the film.Chandler, Charlotte. Ingrid: A Personal Biography, Simon & Schuster (2007) e-bk Bergman won an Oscar for Best Actress for her part, and film critic Michael Barson calls it Litvak's best film of the 1950s.
Litvak directed Mayerling (1957) for television with Audrey Hepburn, then The Journey (1959) with Yul Brynner, which was filmed in Austria.
At the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, Litvak's Goodbye Again (also starring Ingrid Bergman) was nominated for the Palme d'Or. It starred Anthony Perkins who was reunited with Litvak in Five Miles to Midnight (1962) with both films shot in Paris. He produced, but did not direct, Jules Dassin's (1966).
Litvak filmed The Night of the Generals (1967) in France, Germany, and Poland; a movie about three Nazi Generals suspected of murder, starring Peter O'Toole and Donald Pleasence. Litvak said about the film's subdued tones: "We tried staying away from color as much as we could; color can be bad, particularly with the war; it takes away from reality in the most horrible way.""Anatole Litvaka Movie Career on Two Continents", Los Angeles Times, 19 February 1967, p. 408
His last film was The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970), a thriller set in the South of France, based on a Sébastien Japrisot novel of the same name.
Litvak was known to be a polyglot, fluent variously in Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, and French.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Litvak has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6633 Hollywood Blvd.
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