Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan | |
---|---|
Born | Joseph Aloysius Dwan April 3, 1885 |
Died | December 28, 1981 Los Angeles, California, United States | (aged 96)
Occupation(s) | Film director Film producer Screenwriter |
Years active | 1911–1961; 1980 |
Spouse(s) | Pauline Bush (1915–1919) Marie Shelton (1927–1949) |
Allan Dwan (born Joseph Aloysius Dwan; April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.
Early life
Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dwan was the younger son of commercial traveler of woolen clothing Joseph Michael Dwan (1857–1917) and his wife Mary Jane Dwan (née Hunt). The family moved to the United States when he was seven years old on December 4, 1892, by ferry from Windsor to Detroit, according to his naturalization petition of August 1939. His elder brother, Leo Garnet Dwan (1883–1964), became a physician.
Allan Dwan studied engineering at the University of Notre Dame and then worked for a lighting company in Chicago. He had a strong interest in the fledgling motion picture industry, and when Essanay Studios offered him the opportunity to become a scriptwriter, he took the job.[1] At that time, some of the East Coast movie makers began to spend winters in California where the climate allowed them to continue productions requiring warm weather. Soon, a number of movie companies worked there year-round, and in 1911, Dwan began working part-time in Hollywood. While still in New York, in 1917 he was the founding president of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture Directors Association.[2]
Career
Dwan started his directing career by accident in 1911, when he was sent by his employers to California, in order to locate a company that had vanished. Dwan managed to track the company down, and learned that they were waiting for the film's director (who was an alcoholic) to return from a binge (and allowing them to return to work). Dwan wired back to his employers in Chicago, informing them of the situation, and suggested that they disband the company. They wired back, instructing Dwan to direct the film. When Dwan informed the company of the situation, and that their jobs were on the line, they responded: "You're the best damn director we ever saw".[3]
Dwan operated
After making a series of westerns and comedies, Dwan directed fellow Canadian-American
Following the introduction of the talkies, Dwan directed child-star Shirley Temple in Heidi (1937) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938).
Dwan helped launch the career of two other successful Hollywood directors,
Being one of the last surviving pioneers of the cinema, he was interviewed at length for the 1980 documentary series Hollywood.[3]
He died in Los Angeles at the age of 96, and is interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California.
Dwan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Boulevard.
Daniel Eagan of Film Journal International described Dwan as one of the early pioneers of cinema, stating that his style "is so basic as to seem invisible, but he treats his characters with uncommon sympathy and compassion."[7]
Partial filmography as director
- The Restless Spirit (1913)
- Back to Life (1913)
- Bloodhounds of the North (1913)
- The Lie (1914)
- The Honor of the Mounted (1914)
- The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch (1914)
- Remember Mary Magdalen (1914)
- Discord and Harmony (1914)
- The Embezzler (1914)
- The Lamb, the Woman, the Wolf (1914)
- The End of the Feud (1914)
- The Test (1914) (*writer)
- The Tragedy of Whispering Creek (1914)
- The Unlawful Trade (1914)
- The Forbidden Room (1914)
- The Hopes of Blind Alley (1914)
- Richelieu (1914)
- Wildflower (1914)
- A Small Town Girl (1915)
- David Harum (1915)
- A Girl of Yesterday (1915)
- The Pretty Sister of Jose(1915)
- Jordan Is a Hard Road (1915)
- The Habit of Happiness (1916)
- The Good Bad Man(1916)
- An Innocent Magdalene (1916)
- The Half-Breed (1916)
- Manhattan Madness (1916)
- Accusing Evidence (1916)
- Panthea(1917)
- A Modern Musketeer (1917)
- Bound in Morocco (1918)
- Headin' South (1918)
- Mr. Fix-It(1918)
- He Comes Up Smiling (1918)
- Cheating Cheaters (1919)
- The Dark Star (1919)
- Getting Mary Married (1919)
- Soldiers of Fortune (1919)
- In The Heart of a Fool(1920) also producer
- The Forbidden Thing (1920) also producer
- A Splendid Hazard(1920)
- A Perfect Crime (1921)
- The Sin of Martha Queed (1921)
- A Broken Doll (1921)
- Robin Hood(1922)
- Zaza (1923)
- Big Brother (1923)
- Manhandled (1924)
- Argentine Love (1924)
- The Coast of Folly (1925)
- Night Life of New York (1925)
- Stage Struck (1925)
- Padlocked (1926)
- Sea Horses (1926)
- Summer Bachelors (1926)
- Tin Gods (1926)
- French Dressing (1927)
- The Joy Girl (1927)
- East Side, West Side (1927)
- The Big Noise (1928)
- Frozen Justice (1929)
- The Iron Mask (1929)
- Tide of Empire (1929)
- The Far Call (1929)
- What a Widow! (1930)
- Man to Man (1930)
- Wicked (1931)
- While Paris Sleeps (1932)
- Counsel's Opinion (1933)
- Black Sheep (1935)
- Navy Wife (1935)
- High Tension (1936)
- 15 Maiden Lane (1936)
- One Mile from Heaven (1937)
- Heidi (1937)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
- Suez (1938)
- Josette (1938)
- The Three Musketeers (1939)
- The Gorilla (1939)
- Frontier Marshal (1939)
- Sailor's Lady (1940)
- Young People (1940)
- Trail of the Vigilantes (1940)
- Look Who's Laughing (1941) also producer
- Rise and Shine (1941)
- Friendly Enemies (1942)
- Around the World (1943) also producer
- Up in Mabel's Room (1944)
- Abroad with Two Yanks (1944)
- Getting Gertie's Garter (1945) also screenwriter
- Brewster's Millions (1945)
- Rendezvous with Annie (1946)
- Driftwood (1947)
- Calendar Girl (1947)
- Northwest Outpost (1947) also associate producer
- The Inside Story (1948)
- Angel in Exile (1948) (with Philip Ford)
- Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
- Surrender (1950)
- Belle Le Grand (1951)
- Wild Blue Yonder(1951)
- I Dream of Jeanie (1952)
- Montana Belle (1952)
- Woman They Almost Lynched (1953)
- Sweethearts on Parade (1953)
- Silver Lode(1954)
- Passion (1954)
- Cattle Queen of Montana (1954)
- Tennessee's Partner (1955)
- Pearl of the South Pacific (1955)
- Escape to Burma (1955)
- Slightly Scarlet (1956)
- Hold Back the Night(1956)
- The Restless Breed (1957)
- The River's Edge (1957)
- Enchanted Island (1958)
- Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961)
See also
References
- ^ Brownlow, Kevin (1969). The Parade's Gone By... New York: Ballantine Books, Inc. p. 111.
- ^ Fournier, Pierre (December 4, 2010). "The first Frankenstein of the movies". io9. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
- ^ Hollywood. Episode 10. March 11, 1980.
- ^ "La mesa to honor its tinseltown roots aug. 12–13".
- ^ "Proto-Hollywood: 100 Melodramas Were Made In La Mesa 100 Years Ago". August 10, 2011.
- ^ "Allan Dwan, Filmography". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
- ^ Eagan, Daniel (January 31, 2018). "MoMA's Republic Pictures series offers B-movie rediscoveries and restorations". Film Journal International. Prometheus Global Media, LLC. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0520030688
- ISBN 978-0289701225
- ISBN 1-55002-348-9
- Lombardi, Frederic, Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios (2013)
External links
- Allan Dwan at IMDb
- Allan Dwan profile, virtual-history.com; accessed June 16, 2014