Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (3 June 1902 – 15 December 1974), commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian-American filmmaker.

Born to Jewish parents in Kiev<!--WP:KIEV-->, he began his theatrical training at age 13 in St. Petersburg, where he lived through the end of the Russian Revolution. He began his film directing career in Germany and France, before moving to the United States in the late 1930s.

Litvak was notable for directing little-known foreign actors to early fame and is believed to have contributed to several actors winning Academy Awards. In 1936 he directed Mayerling, a film which made French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux international stars. He returned Swedish star Ingrid Bergman to popularity with American audiences in 1956 with Anastasia, in which she won her second Oscar. He directed Olivia de Havilland to an Academy Award nomination for The Snake Pit (1948). He directed Jean Gabin in his screen debut and directed Elia Kazan in his earliest acting role, City for Conquest.

Litvak directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, starring Edward G. Robinson, which used actual newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. As a refugee from Nazi Germany, Litvak was among the few directors who tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.

During World War II, he enlisted and co-directed documentaries with Frank Capra, including Why We Fight films. On his own he directed The Battle of Russia (1943), which won numerous awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Because of Litvak's ability to speak Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, and French, he supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings. He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force. He was promoted to full colonel by the end of the war for his volunteer wartime efforts. He received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States.

Early years

Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak was born in Kiev into a Ukrainian Jewish family from Berdychiv and Bila Tserkva. His surname means "Lithuanian" in Yiddish. The family moved to St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, when Litvak was still a child. As a teenager, he worked at a theater and took acting lessons at the state drama school, and later graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University.

Litvak remained there through the Russian Revolution, and began his filmmaking career at Nordkino Studios, where he was assistant director and a production designer for nine silent films during the 1920s. For political and ideological reasons, and especially because Russian theaters were nationalized by the Soviet government in the 1920s, he left Russia for Berlin, Germany in 1925. There he would have more artistic possibilities.

Director in Europe

Germany

Litvak's first film as director was the musical Dolly Gets Ahead (1930) with Dolly Haas. He followed it with two Lilian Harvey films, No More Love (1931) and Calais-Dover (1931).

He directed Lilac (1932) in France. He returned to Germany for The Song of Night (1932), shot at the same time as an English version, released as Tell Me Tonight (1932). He went to England to direct Sleeping Car (1933), starring Ivor Novello.

France

Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power with the Nazi Party in 1933, Litvak moved to France. Paris became his favored locale for shooting films. Thirteen of his thirty-seven films were set there.

He made The Old Devil (1933) and The Crew (1935).

According to film historian Ronald Bowers, Litvak became skilled in using location shooting and realistic documentary effects as early as the 1930s. He also became known in the industry for emphasizing sound effects over dialogue in sound films. He preferred to keep the camera running with tracking shots and pans. Given his preference for achieving motion in camerawork, he often used crane shots and sat with the cameraman to be sure he was getting what he wanted.

Mayerling

Mayerling (1936), which starred French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux, is credited with establishing Litvak's international reputation as a producer and director. Critics widely praised the film; some reviewers called it "one of the most compelling love stories the cinema has produced," and "a romantic tragedy of the highest order." The film was banned in Germany, and by its Fascist allies Italy and Spain. Neutral countries such as Switzerland and Ireland also banned it. The producers hoped to arouse concern in the United States, where many people wanted to pursue isolation and escape any "European war."

Biographer Alexander Walker said in his book about Vivien Leigh, that Litvak tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world. Leigh, who later starred in Litvak's The Deep Blue Sea (1955), recalls her Sunday morning visits to Litvak and his wife, Miriam Hopkins. She learned from him that the studios were trying to protect their investments in the German box office and did not want to produce films that would offend that country. Hollywood's "comfortable isolationism affronted her."

Litvak co-produced and alone directed The Battle of Russia in 1943. After the film was released, he was sent to Russia on a special mission, in which he held a private screening for the Russian General Staff. During his trip to Russia, Litvak briefly reunited with his mother in Leningrad; they had not seen each other for nearly 20 years. He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force.

Because Litvak joined the army to help Capra produce the film series, the director said he was one of the "Hollywood knights" who came to America's "rescue," and without whose help "no one could have made the Why We Fight films."

Ending the war as a full colonel, Litvak received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States for his work. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre. Litvak directed using a "variety of surrealistic and expressionistic devices," notes Film Noir magazine.

Europe

In the 1950s, Litvak began filming in Europe.

In 1951, his war film Decision Before Dawn filmed on location in Germany was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Thousands of French admirers of the film signed a huge scroll which they sent to AMPAS, insisting that the film be given an Oscar. Bergman won an Oscar for Best Actress for her part, and film critic Michael Barson calls it Litvak's best film of the 1950s.

His last film was The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970), a thriller set in the South of France, based on a Sébastien Japrisot novel of the same name.

Personal life

In 1937, Litvak became the third husband of American actress Miriam Hopkins; their marriage ended in divorce in 1939. His second marriage was in 1955 to the model Sophie Steur. They remained married until his death.

Litvak was a polyglot, fluent in Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, English, German, and French.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Litvak has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6633 Hollywood Blvd.

Death

Litvak died at the age of 72 on 15 December 1974, at a hospital in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Filmography

  • Dolly Gets Ahead (1930)
  • No More Love (1931)
  • Calais-Dover (1931)
  • Tell Me Tonight (1932)
  • The Song of Night (1932)
  • Lilac (1932)
  • The Old Devil (1933)
  • One Night's Song (1933)
  • Sleeping Car (1933)
  • The Crew (1935)
  • Mayerling (1936)
  • The Woman I Love (1937)
  • Tovarich (1937)
  • The Sisters (1938)
  • The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
  • Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
  • Castle on the Hudson (1940)
  • City for Conquest (1940)
  • All This and Heaven Too (1940)
  • Out of the Fog (1941)
  • Blues in the Night (1941)
  • This Above All (1942)
  • The Long Night (1947)
  • Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
  • The Snake Pit (1948)
  • Decision Before Dawn (1951)
  • Act of Love, a.k.a. Un acte d'amour (1953)
  • The Deep Blue Sea (1955)
  • Anastasia (1956)
  • Mayerling (1957)
  • The Journey (1959)
  • Goodbye Again (1961), a.k.a. Aimez-vous Brahms?
  • Five Miles to Midnight (1962)
  • The Night of the Generals (1967)
  • The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970)

References

;Other sources

  • Michelangelo Capua, Anatole Litvak: His Life and His Films, McFarland & Co., Jefferson, N.C. 2015.

Notes