William Dieterle(1893-1972)
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Born in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Wilhelm Dieterle was the youngest of
nine children of parents Jacob and Berthe Dieterle. They lived in
poverty, and when he was old enough to work, young Wilhelm earned money
as a carpenter and a scrap dealer. He dreamed of better things, though,
and theater caught his eye as a teen. By the age of 16 he had joined a
traveling theater company. He was ambitious and handsome, both of which
opened the door to leading romantic roles in theater productions.
Though he had acted in his first film in 1913, it was six more years
before he made another one. In that year he was noticed by
producer/director/designer/impresario
Max Reinhardt, the most
influential proponent of expressionism in theater; while in Berlin,
Reinhardt hired him as an actor for his productions. Dieterle resumed
German film acting in 1920, becoming a popular and successful romantic
lead and featured character actor in the mix of German
expressionist/Gothic and nature/romanticism genres that imbued much of
German cinema in the silent era. He was interested in directing even
more than acting, however, and he had the iconic Reinhardt to provide
inspiration. Dieterle had acted in nearly 20 movies before he also
began directing in 1923, his first female lead being a young
Marlene Dietrich.
With his wife Charlotte Hagenbruch
he started his own film production . He was said to have tired of
acting; he appeared in nearly 50 films over the course of his career,
mainly in the 1920s, and in several of his films he also functioned as
director. As an actor he worked with some of the greatest names in
German film, such as directors Paul Leni (in
Waxworks (1924)
[Waxworks]) and F.W. Murnau (in
Faust (1926))
and actors Conrad Veidt and
Emil Jannings. By 1930, however, he had
emigrated to the US--now rechristened as William Dieterle--with an
offer from Warner Brothers to direct their German-language versions of
the studio's popular hits for the German market. In that capacity he
made Those Who Dance (1930),
The Way of All Men (1930) and
Die heilige Flamme (1931) (aka
"The Holy Flames"). He even stood before the camera for another of
these, Dämon des Meeres (1931)
(aka "Demon of the Sea", a version of "Moby Dick") in 1931, in which he
played Capt. Ahab. The film was directed by another European who was
soon to become one of Warners' most successful directors: the Hungarian
Michael Curtiz.
Having taken to the Hollywood brand of filmmaking with ease--helped by
his own brilliance in defining and executing the telling of a
story--into 1931, he was soon promoted to directing some of Warners'
"regular" films (his first,
The Last Flight (1931), is now
regarded as a masterwork) and he wold average directing six pictures a
year for the studio through 1934. In that year Reinhardt came to the
US, the Nazi threat finally having driven him off the Continent. He
arrived with a flourish, ready to stage
William Shakespeare's "A
Midsummers Night's Dream"--an extravaganza at the Hollywood Bowl that
would become legend. It was impressive enough to interest the execs of
Warner Bros. They opted for a film version in 1935 with the great
Reinhardt--even studio boss
Jack L. Warner knew who he was--reunited
with his disciple, Dieterle, as co-director. Reinhardt knew nothing
about Hollywood and had to learn via Dieterle's diplomacy the
differences between the overemphasis of stage and the subtlety of the
camera. He learned from other directors as well about the realities of
making films, in particular ratchet down the tendency that stage
directors had to let their actors perform "too" much. It was all for
naught, however, as the film was a major box-office flop, but it was
one of the great moments in the evolution of film. Dieterle would
direct Paul Muni for Warners in three
first-rate bio movies:
The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936),
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
and Juarez (1939) and all received Oscar
nominations. After that Dieterle moved on to do
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
at RKO with Charles Laughton as
Quasimodo. This was one of Dieterle's best efforts, both in its
romantic style and the great dark scenes of the Parisian medieval
underworld with dramatic minimal lighting that gave vent to his
expressionist roots.
Through the 1940s Dieterle moved around among Hollywood's studios,
turning out vigorously wrought pictures, such as his two 1940 bios with
Edward G. Robinson at
Warner's. He became associated with independent producer
David O. Selznick and actor
Joseph Cotten, first with his
direction of
I'll Be Seeing You (1944). His
romantic fires as a director had been restoked, as it were, and kept
burning in the subsequent series of films with them which included the
wonderful acting talents of Selznick's soon-to-be-wife (1949),
Jennifer Jones:
Love Letters (1945),
Duel in the Sun (1946)--for which
he shared directing but not credit with
King Vidor--and the ethereal
Portrait of Jennie (1948).
"Jennie" was one of Dieterle's masterpieces, bringing into play a
fusion of all his artistic fonts. The romantic fantasy with edges of
darkness from the novel by
Robert Nathan was just the
vehicle to challenge Dieterle. His use of light and dark and gauzed--at
one point the textured field of a painting canvas--backdrops conveyed
the dreamlike state and netherworld atmosphere of the story of lovers
from different times. Certainly the film influenced others to follow
with similar themes.
Through the 1950s Dieterle's work--two more with Joseph Cotten--though
sturdily in the director's hands, came off like good Hollywood fare,
but were inspired more by the films' tight shooting schedules than by
any artistic pretensions. His output during that decade was small, and
that was partly due to bane of McCarthyism. He was never blacklisted as
such, but his film Blockade (1938) was
too libertarian to keep him completely away from the shadow of
suspicion as a "socialist" / "communist" sympathizer. In 1958 he
returned to Germany and directed a few films there and in Italy before
retiring in 1965.
Though regrettably not as well known as his German and European
directorial compatriots in Hollywood, he had great artistic style and
worked with much energy in providing some of Hollywood's and the
world's crown jewels of cinematic art.
nine children of parents Jacob and Berthe Dieterle. They lived in
poverty, and when he was old enough to work, young Wilhelm earned money
as a carpenter and a scrap dealer. He dreamed of better things, though,
and theater caught his eye as a teen. By the age of 16 he had joined a
traveling theater company. He was ambitious and handsome, both of which
opened the door to leading romantic roles in theater productions.
Though he had acted in his first film in 1913, it was six more years
before he made another one. In that year he was noticed by
producer/director/designer/impresario
Max Reinhardt, the most
influential proponent of expressionism in theater; while in Berlin,
Reinhardt hired him as an actor for his productions. Dieterle resumed
German film acting in 1920, becoming a popular and successful romantic
lead and featured character actor in the mix of German
expressionist/Gothic and nature/romanticism genres that imbued much of
German cinema in the silent era. He was interested in directing even
more than acting, however, and he had the iconic Reinhardt to provide
inspiration. Dieterle had acted in nearly 20 movies before he also
began directing in 1923, his first female lead being a young
Marlene Dietrich.
With his wife Charlotte Hagenbruch
he started his own film production . He was said to have tired of
acting; he appeared in nearly 50 films over the course of his career,
mainly in the 1920s, and in several of his films he also functioned as
director. As an actor he worked with some of the greatest names in
German film, such as directors Paul Leni (in
Waxworks (1924)
[Waxworks]) and F.W. Murnau (in
Faust (1926))
and actors Conrad Veidt and
Emil Jannings. By 1930, however, he had
emigrated to the US--now rechristened as William Dieterle--with an
offer from Warner Brothers to direct their German-language versions of
the studio's popular hits for the German market. In that capacity he
made Those Who Dance (1930),
The Way of All Men (1930) and
Die heilige Flamme (1931) (aka
"The Holy Flames"). He even stood before the camera for another of
these, Dämon des Meeres (1931)
(aka "Demon of the Sea", a version of "Moby Dick") in 1931, in which he
played Capt. Ahab. The film was directed by another European who was
soon to become one of Warners' most successful directors: the Hungarian
Michael Curtiz.
Having taken to the Hollywood brand of filmmaking with ease--helped by
his own brilliance in defining and executing the telling of a
story--into 1931, he was soon promoted to directing some of Warners'
"regular" films (his first,
The Last Flight (1931), is now
regarded as a masterwork) and he wold average directing six pictures a
year for the studio through 1934. In that year Reinhardt came to the
US, the Nazi threat finally having driven him off the Continent. He
arrived with a flourish, ready to stage
William Shakespeare's "A
Midsummers Night's Dream"--an extravaganza at the Hollywood Bowl that
would become legend. It was impressive enough to interest the execs of
Warner Bros. They opted for a film version in 1935 with the great
Reinhardt--even studio boss
Jack L. Warner knew who he was--reunited
with his disciple, Dieterle, as co-director. Reinhardt knew nothing
about Hollywood and had to learn via Dieterle's diplomacy the
differences between the overemphasis of stage and the subtlety of the
camera. He learned from other directors as well about the realities of
making films, in particular ratchet down the tendency that stage
directors had to let their actors perform "too" much. It was all for
naught, however, as the film was a major box-office flop, but it was
one of the great moments in the evolution of film. Dieterle would
direct Paul Muni for Warners in three
first-rate bio movies:
The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936),
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
and Juarez (1939) and all received Oscar
nominations. After that Dieterle moved on to do
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
at RKO with Charles Laughton as
Quasimodo. This was one of Dieterle's best efforts, both in its
romantic style and the great dark scenes of the Parisian medieval
underworld with dramatic minimal lighting that gave vent to his
expressionist roots.
Through the 1940s Dieterle moved around among Hollywood's studios,
turning out vigorously wrought pictures, such as his two 1940 bios with
Edward G. Robinson at
Warner's. He became associated with independent producer
David O. Selznick and actor
Joseph Cotten, first with his
direction of
I'll Be Seeing You (1944). His
romantic fires as a director had been restoked, as it were, and kept
burning in the subsequent series of films with them which included the
wonderful acting talents of Selznick's soon-to-be-wife (1949),
Jennifer Jones:
Love Letters (1945),
Duel in the Sun (1946)--for which
he shared directing but not credit with
King Vidor--and the ethereal
Portrait of Jennie (1948).
"Jennie" was one of Dieterle's masterpieces, bringing into play a
fusion of all his artistic fonts. The romantic fantasy with edges of
darkness from the novel by
Robert Nathan was just the
vehicle to challenge Dieterle. His use of light and dark and gauzed--at
one point the textured field of a painting canvas--backdrops conveyed
the dreamlike state and netherworld atmosphere of the story of lovers
from different times. Certainly the film influenced others to follow
with similar themes.
Through the 1950s Dieterle's work--two more with Joseph Cotten--though
sturdily in the director's hands, came off like good Hollywood fare,
but were inspired more by the films' tight shooting schedules than by
any artistic pretensions. His output during that decade was small, and
that was partly due to bane of McCarthyism. He was never blacklisted as
such, but his film Blockade (1938) was
too libertarian to keep him completely away from the shadow of
suspicion as a "socialist" / "communist" sympathizer. In 1958 he
returned to Germany and directed a few films there and in Italy before
retiring in 1965.
Though regrettably not as well known as his German and European
directorial compatriots in Hollywood, he had great artistic style and
worked with much energy in providing some of Hollywood's and the
world's crown jewels of cinematic art.