Robert Siodmak Born August 8, 1900, Dresden, Saxony, Germany (Or Memphis, Tennessee) Died March 10, 1973, Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland by Chris Justice
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Robert Siodmak born August 8, 1900, Dresden, Saxony, Germany (or Memphis, Tennessee) died March 10, 1973, Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland by Chris Justice Chris Justice in an English Instructor at The Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Maryland. He teaches writing, literature, and film studies classes. Robert Siodmak: The Brightest Shade of Noir Robert Siodmak's career is one of the more underrated and misunderstood in the history of Hollywood. The merit of Siodmak's cinematic art is also one of the most controversial. Among fanatic cinephiles, particularly those with a penchant for film noir thrillers, Siodmak is considered the primary architect of the genre. No other director has produced more quality film noir thrillers than Siodmak. His canon is a viewing list for any authentic study of the genre. His most notable film noirs include Phantom Lady , The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry , The Spiral Staircase , The Killers , The Dark Mirror , Cry of the City , Criss Cross and The File on Thelma Jordan . However, among a small minority of film critics, he is considered a one- dimensional “yes” man who simply followed marching orders established by studio execu- tives. These critics suggest Siodmak's success was a direct product of the studio system and the cadre of filmmakers studios arranged for him. Lastly, Siodmak's popularity among casual movie fans is virtually nonexistent. Many have never heard of him, and when they have, they rarely can even pronounce his name (see-odd-mak – emphasis on the “odd”). The latter two assessments of Siodmak's career are inaccurate, because he was the primary auteur of one of America's most important film genres. Even the birthplace of Siodmak is disputed. Some argue that he was born in Memphis, Ten- nessee in 1900 when his mother and father, the latter a banker, were vacationing in Amer- ica. The Siodmaks soon returned home to the city of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Other critics, most notably J. Greco in his analysis of Siodmak's noir cycle, The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941–1951 , suggest that Siodmak's birthplace was Dresden and that his American birthplace was a myth used by the director to obtain a visa in Paris (1). If Greco is accurate, the fact remains that Siodmak was well aware of the importance in the 1940s of being a German director born in America. This dispute is a microcosm of the con- troversy surrounding Siodmak's prolific directorial career. BIOGRAPHIES There are two eerie coincidences surrounding Siodmak's birth. First, the fact he was born in the first year of the new century suggests he is chronologically linked with modernism, one of the twentieth century's primary aesthetic principles. However, while this may be a chrono- logical coincidence, stylistically it is not. The fact that his films address many modern themes such as psychological trauma, domestic turmoil, criminology, gender conflicts, and profes- sional gangsterism and violence is not coincidental. Neither is his cutting edge use of mod- ernist cinematic techniques such as deep focusing, multiple flashbacks, mise-en-scène, and expressionistic lighting. Second, film noir is an American style of filmmaking heavily influenced by European ideas. Existentialism, German Expressionism and the extensive exposure to European culture prompted by World War II created a new European sensibility that profoundly affected American culture. If film noir is considered a successful marriage of American and European aesthetic sensibilities, and if one believes birthplace inevitably shapes perspectives, no other Hollywood director upheld those vows better than Robert Siodmak. His disputed birthplace and his stature in the noir cycle make him a prophet at the crossroads of American and European cinematic styles. Siodmak attended the University of Marburg and in the mid-1920s began working for the state funded German film company Universum Film A.G., or Ufa, founded by General Erich Ludendorff and sup- ported by the Third Reich. His early work included translations of intertitles for American silent films. In 1929, Siodmak directed his first film, the quasi- Menschen am Sonntag documentary Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday), which featured an all-star lineup of prominent German filmmakers who all found success in Hollywood in the ensuing years. These filmmakers included Edgar G. Ulmer as codirector, Fred Zinnemann as the assistant cinematographer, and brother Curt Siodmak and Billy Wilder as the coscreenwriters. Siod- mak's steady directorial skills were inevitably shaped by the collaboration he exemplified during his early work with these talented men. Siodmak's modestly successful directorial career in Germany produced a total of 15 films. He moved to Paris in 1933 to escape the growing tides of Nazism in Hitler's Germany, and in 1939 he sailed to America one day before the official start of World War II. Arriving in Hol- People on Sunday 1 BIOGRAPHIES lywood, Siodmak signed his first contracts with Paramount in 1941. There he made three uninspiring B-films: West Point Window (1941), Fly-by-Night (1942) and My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1942). His hiring was mainly due to the encouragement of Preston Sturges, who reportedly was “amused by the gnomelike man with the German accent” (2). Although Siodmak was displeased with his growing reputation as a B-movie director, his hopes were raised when his brother, Curt, who immigrated to America in 1937 and found success as a horror film screenwriter, landed him a directorial spot with Universal. The brothers collabo- rated on Son of Dracula (1943) and in this film, the origins of the Siodmak “style” began to emerge. The Siodmak brothers' relationship was a good one. A mutual respect was maintained throughout their lives, although Curt, who died in 2000, believed Robert never fully reached his potential as a director. The Siodmak brothers used the popularity of horror films in the late 1930s and early 1940s to launch their Hollywood careers. While Robert only dabbled in the horror genre, Curt, whose career is arguably as notable as his brother's, was immersed in it. Curt's prolific career as a horror movie screenwriter includes such notable films as The Invisible Man Returns (Joe May, 1940), The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941), and Frank- enstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill, 1943). Curt also wrote science fiction novels; his most popular was Donovan's Brain. After Son of Dracula, Siodmak experimented with Technicolor in Cobra Woman (1944). Al- though the film did little to boost Siodmak's career, it did reveal his proclivity for experiment- ing with colour and visual aesthetics (3). Immediately after production ended for Cobra, Siodmak was hired to shoot Phantom Lady (1944), a film many consider to be the first truly trademark noir. Based on a Cornell Woolrich novel, Phantom established Siodmak as one of the high priests of the genre. Some have suggested Siodmak's film noirs became the arche- type. Others, such as David Shipman, have argued that Siodmak's obsession with the genre “not only failed to enhance his reputation, but virtually ruined it” (4) because it made him a typecast and one-dimensional director. Shipman's comments highlight the paradoxical nature of Siodmak's career. He directed sev- eral films many critics revere, yet his films rarely make any all-time lists. His career was un- fortunately paralleled and subsequently overshadowed by Alfred Hitchcock's, yet Siodmak claims a banner year unlike any of Hitchcock's: 1946. In that year, three of Siodmak's films were nominated for Academy Awards. They included Ethel Barrymore in The Spiral Staircase for Actress in a Supporting Role, Siodmak himself in The Killers for Directing, Vladimir Pozner People on Sunday 2 BIOGRAPHIES in The Dark Mirror for Original Motion Picture Story, Anthony Veiller in The Killers for Screen- play, Miklos Rozsa in The Killers for Scoring of a Dramatic or Comic Picture, and Arthur Hilton in The Killers for Film Editing. As with everything related to Siodmak's career, the question remains: was Siodmak the benefactor of good filmmaking teams, or were these teams the benefactors of Siodmak's directorial skills? The biggest criticism of Siodmak's career is that his talents blossomed in only one genre. If he had directed a masterful film in at least one or two other genres, like, for example, his contemporary Fred Zinnemann, whose talents shone in the Western High Noon (1952), the film noir Act of Violence (1948), and the romantic drama From Here to Eternity (1953), no argument would exist against Siodmak's place in cinematic history. But this is not the case. Siodmak's career shines during a brief ten-year span, from 1943 to 1953, and it is not a co- incidence that this span also marks the zenith of the noir cycle. Certainly, his career during this span was prolific, but his failure to extend beyond the parameters of film noir has forced many to question his talents. Conversely, full mastery of a style can only develop when one fully immerses themselves in their art. So, using Greco's clever title, what is the file on Robert Siodmak? If there is one characteristic of a Siodmak film, it lies in the richness of his cinematic vision. Like all great di- rectors, he was a master at weaving many parts into a whole. Siodmak was never content to use a film as a vehicle for a singular cinematic motif or technique. His films reveal a plexus of converging directorial styles that creates a powerful feeling of mise-en-scène. Siodmak's holistic vision often enabled him to manage several aesthetic impulses simultaneously. The Killers Like all classic films that serve as the high-water mark of a particular style, The Killers, for example, tackles virtually every major theme in the noir cycle, unlike many other noirs, which only focus on a particular subset of motifs.