Lothar Mendes
Lothar Mendes | |
---|---|
Born | 19 May 1894 |
Died | 25 February 1974 |
Occupation(s) | Film director, Screenwriter |
Years active | 1918 – 1946 |
Lothar Mendes (19 May 1894 – 24 February 1974) was a German-born screenwriter and film director.[1] His two best known films are Jew Süss (1934) and The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936), both productions for British studios.
Career
Born in Berlin, Mendes began his career as an actor in Vienna and Berlin in Max Reinhardt's company. After directing his first two films in Berlin, he settled in the United States in the early 1920s and remained there until 1933, directing more than a dozen features, mostly frothy comedies, while under contract to Paramount. His films included the last silent film made in the USA, The Four Feathers (1929), and the murder mystery Payment Deferred (1933) starring British actor Charles Laughton.
After
Mendes best-known film,
After returning to Hollywood in the late 1930s, he directed five more studio films. Mendes co-directed the pro-British
"A competent, dependable director," commented film historian Larry Langman, "he never achieved the critical success in America that came to some of his compatriots."[5]
Personal life
Mendes' first wife was the actress
Mendes retired from films in 1946 and returned to London, where he remained until his death on 24 February 1974 at age 79. He was then living at 54, Embassy House,
Partial filmography
- The Island of Tears (1923)
- Three Cuckoo Clocks (1926)
- Prince of Tempters (1926)
- Convoy (1927)
- A Night of Mystery (1928)
- The Street of Sin (1928)
- Interference (1928)
- The Four Feathers (1929)
- Dangerous Curves (1929)
- The Marriage Playground (1929)
- Paramount on Parade (1930) co-director
- Ladies' Man (1931)
- Strangers in Love (1932)
- Payment Deferred (1932)
- If I Had a Million (1932)
- Luxury Liner (1933)
- Jew Süss (US title: Power)[8]
- The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
- Moonlight Sonata (1937)
- Flight for Freedom (1943)
- Tampico(1944)
- The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946)
References
- ^ "Lothar Mendes profile". Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2011-03-17.
- ISBN 978-1-57181-655-9. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-231-53514-4.
- ^ "Lothar Mendes". Archived from the original on 2012-07-22.
- ISBN 0-7864-0681-X.
- ^ The American Mercury, vol. 37, 1936, p. 80
- ^ "MENDES Lothar of 54 Embassy House West End La London NW6 died 24 February 1974 Administration London 17 April £2450 740112626C" in Probate Index for 1974 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 5 May 2019
- ^ Biederman, Patricia Ward (3 February 1991). "Infamous but Seldom-Seen Films of the Third Reich Will Get a Rare Screening". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
External links
- Lothar Mendes at IMDb