The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.
Adolf Anton Wilhelm Wohlbrück was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom under the name Anton Walbrook. A popular performer in Austria and pre-war Germany, he left Germany in 1936 out of concerns for his own safety and established a career in British cinema. Walbrook is perhaps best known for his roles in the original British film of Gaslight, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes and Victoria the Great.
The Voyages extraordinaires is a collection or sequence of novels and short stories by the French writer Jules Verne.
Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar is a novel written by Jules Verne in 1876. Critic Leonard S. Davidow, considers it one of Verne's best books. Davidow wrote, "Jules Verne has written no better book than this, in fact it is deservedly ranked as one of the most thrilling tales ever written." Unlike some of Verne's other novels, it is not science fiction, but its plot device is a scientific phenomenon. The book was later adapted to a play, by Verne himself and Adolphe d'Ennery. Incidental music to the play was written by Alexandre Artus in 1880 and by Franz von Suppé in 1893. The book has been adapted several times for films, television and cartoon series.
Saint Joan is a 1957 historical drama film adapted from the 1923 George Bernard Shaw play of the same title about the life of Joan of Arc. The restructured screenplay by Graham Greene, directed by Otto Preminger, begins with the play's last scene, which then becomes the springboard for a long flashback, from which the main story is told. At the end of the flashback, the film then returns to the play's final scene, which then continues through to the end.
The Buccaneer is a 1958 pirate-war film made by Paramount Pictures starring Yul Brynner as Jean Lafitte, Charles Boyer and Claire Bloom. Charlton Heston played a supporting role as Andrew Jackson, the second time that Heston played Jackson, having portrayed him earlier in the 1953 film The President's Lady. The film was shot in Technicolor and VistaVision, the story takes place during the War of 1812, telling a heavily fictionalized version of how the privateer Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose between fighting for America or for the side most likely to win, the United Kingdom.
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 American epic war film produced and directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Katina Paxinou and Joseph Calleia. The screenwriter Dudley Nichols based his script on the 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. The film is about an American International Brigades volunteer, Robert Jordan (Cooper), who is fighting in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. During his desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, Jordan falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter (Bergman).
Margot Grahame was an English actress most noted for starring in The Informer (1935) and The Three Musketeers (1935). She started acting in 1930 and made her last screen appearance in 1958.
Michael William Marshall was a French American actor.
Quality Street is a 1937 American historical comedy film made by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by George Stevens and produced by Pandro S. Berman. Set in 19th-century England, the film stars Katharine Hepburn and Franchot Tone. Joan Fontaine makes one of her early (uncredited) film appearances. The screenplay was by Allan Scott, Mortimer Offner, and Jack Townley, based on the 1901 play Quality Street by J. M. Barrie.
Cathleen Cordell was an American film and television actress. She was described as "a lass born in Brooklyn with an Irish name and an English accent; educated in India and France."
Black Magic is a 1949 Italian–American adventure drama film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Orson Welles, Nancy Guild and Akim Tamiroff. Set in the 18th century, it chronicles the life of Joseph Balsamo, an illusionist and charlatan who also went by the alias of Count Cagliostro. It is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1848 novel Joseph Balsamo.
That Dangerous Age is a 1949 British romance film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Myrna Loy, Roger Livesey and Peggy Cummins. It was adapted from the play Autumn by Margaret Kennedy and Ilya Surguchev. The film was released under the alternative title of If This Be Sin in the United States. It was shot at Shepperton Studios and on location in London and Capri. The film's sets were designed by the art director Andrej Andrejew.
Henri Nassiet (1895–1977) was a French actor.
Strogoff is a European adventure film directed in 1970 by Eriprando Visconti. It was an international co-production between Italy, West Germany and France. It is based on Jules Verne's 1876 novel Michael Strogoff reinterpreted through the lens of psychological realism.
Jules Verne (1828–1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. Most famous for his novel sequence, the Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne also wrote assorted short stories, plays, miscellaneous novels, essays, and poetry. His works are notable for their profound influence on science fiction and on surrealism, their innovative use of modernist literary techniques such as self-reflexivity, and their complex combination of positivist and romantic ideologies.
Joseph N. Ermolieff (1889–1962) was a Russian-born film producer. Ermolieff was a prominent figure in early Russian cinema during the Imperial era, owning large studios in Yalta and Moscow. He fled to France following the Russian Revolution and became an established producer there, founding the company Films Albatros. As well as Paris he also worked at the Emelka Studios in Munich. In 1936 he enjoyed a major international success with The Czar's Courier, and he moved to the United States the following year planning to remake the film in English. He settled in America and became a citizen in 1942, but struggled to establish himself in Hollywood despite producing occasional films such as Outpost in Morocco (1949) and Fort Algiers (1953). In 1944 he produced a Mexican version of Michael Strogoff (1944).
Michel Strogoff is a 1956 historical adventure film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Curd Jürgens. It is based on 1876 novel of the same title by Jules Verne. Made as a co-production between several European nations, it was shot at the Kosutnjak Studios in Belgrade using CinemaScope.. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Léon Barsacq and Vlastimir Gavrik. Jürgens also appeared in a 1961 follow-up The Triumph of Michael Strogoff.
Michel Strogoff is a 1936 French historical adventure film directed by Jacques de Baroncelli and Richard Eichberg and starring Anton Walbrook, Colette Darfeuil and Armand Bernard. It is an adaptation of the 1876 novel Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne. A separate German version The Czar's Courier was also made.
The Czar's Courier is a 1936 German historical drama film directed by Richard Eichberg and starring Anton Walbrook, Lucie Höflich, and Maria Andergast. It is an adaptation of Jules Verne's 1876 novel Michael Strogoff.
