Robert Siodmak was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as The Killers (1946).
Scarlet Street is a 1945 American noir tragedy film directed by Fritz Lang. The screenplay concerns two criminals who take advantage of a middle-aged painter in order to steal his artwork. The film is based on the French novel La Chienne by Georges de La Fouchardière, that previously had been dramatized on stage by André Mouëzy-Éon, and cinematically as La Chienne (1931) by director Jean Renoir.
The year 1949 in film involved some significant events.
William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered in films for the title role in The Babe Ruth Story. He also portrayed the clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in both the radio and television versions of The Life of Riley. He received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Wake Island (1942).
The Life of Riley is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a 1950s television series, and a 1958 comic book.
The Dark Corner is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix and Mark Stevens. The film was not a commercial success but has since been described as a "Grade A example of film noir."
Dan Duryea was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying a vast range of character roles as a villain, he nonetheless had a long career in a wide variety of leading and secondary roles.
Criss Cross is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea, from Don Tracy's novel of the same name. This black-and-white film was shot partly on location in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. The film was written by Daniel Fuchs. Franz Planer's cinematography creates a black-and-white film noir world. Miklós Rózsa scored the film's soundtrack. It was remade as The Underneath in 1995.
Black Bart is a 1948 American western film directed by George Sherman and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea as the real-life cowboy bandit Charles Bolles, and Jeffrey Lynn. It was distributed by Universal-International and produced by Leonard Goldstein. It was shot in Technicolor and was also known as Black Bart, Highwayman. The film was written by Luci Ward, Jack Natteford, and William Bowers and was released on March 3, 1948.
Fireside Theatre, a.k.a. Jane Wyman Presents, is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Productions were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of its run. It predated the other major pioneer of filmed TV in America, I Love Lucy, by two years. Jacques Tourneur has directed in 1956 three episodes, A Hero Return, Kirsti, and The Mirror.
Frank Jenks was an acid-voiced American supporting actor of stage and films.
Charles Barton was an American film and vaudeville actor and film director. He won an Oscar for best assistant director in 1933. His first film as a director was the Zane Grey feature Wagon Wheels, starring Randolph Scott, in 1934.
The Time of Their Lives is a 1946 American fantasy-comedy film starring the comedic duo Abbott and Costello and directed by Charles Barton.
The Suspect is a 1944 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak, set in London in 1902, in Edwardian times. It is based on the 1939 novel This Way Out, by James Ronald, and was released by Universal Pictures. It stars Charles Laughton and Ella Raines.
Frontier Circus is an American Western television series about a traveling circus roaming the American West in the 1880s. Filmed by Revue Productions, the program originally aired on CBS from October 5, 1961 until September 6, 1962.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a 1950 film noir starring James Cagney, directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by William Cagney and based on the novel by Horace McCoy. The film was banned in Ohio as "a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission."
Bert Moorhouse was an American character actor whose career began at the very tail end of the silent era, and lasted through the mid-1950s.
There's Always Tomorrow is a 1934 American drama film directed by Edward Sloman and written by William Hurlbut. The film stars Frank Morgan, Binnie Barnes, Lois Wilson, Louise Latimer, Elizabeth Young and Alan Hale Sr.. The film was released on November 1, 1934, by Universal Pictures.
Smooth as Silk is a 1946 American noir film directed by Charles Barton and starring Kent Taylor, Virginia Grey, and Milburn Stone. The film is also known as Notorious Gentleman as it is a version of 1935 film A Notorious Gentleman. The film focuses on the murder of a theater producer committed by a lawyer, after the lawyer's bride, an actress, left him for the producer to win a role in his new musical. Despite the fascinating plot and tense intrigue, this film failed to attract much attention.
The Runaround is a 1946 American black-and-white film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Rod Cameron, Ella Raines, Broderick Crawford, and Frank McHugh. The film is also known as Deadly Enemies.
