Irving Lerner
Encyclopedia
Irving Lerner
Before becoming a filmmaker, Lerner was a research editor for Columbia University's Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, getting his start in film by making documentaries for the anthropology department. In the early 1930s, he was a member of the Workers Film and Photo League
, and later, Frontier Films. He made films for the Rockefeller Foundation and other academic institutions, becoming a film editor and second-unit director involved with the emerging American documentary movement of the late '30s. Lerner produced two documentaries for the Office of War Information during WW II and after the war became the head of New York University's Educational Film Institute. In 1948, Lerner and Joseph Strick shared directorial chores on a short documentary, Muscle Beach. Lerner then turned to low-budget, quickly filmed features. When not hastily making his own thrillers, Lerner worked as a technical advisor, a second-unit director, a co-editor and an editor.
Lerner was cinematographer, director, or assistant director on documentary film
s such as One Third of a Nation (1939
), Valley Town (1940
), The Land (1942
) directed by Robert Flaherty, and Suicide Attack (1950
). Lerner was also producer of the OWI documentary Hymn of the Nations
(1944
), directed by Alexander Hammid, and featuring Arturo Toscanini
, and co-director with Joseph Strick
of the short documentary Muscle Beach
(1948).
Irving Lerner was also an important director and film editor with directing credits such as Studs Lonigan
(1960) and editing credits such as Stanley Kubrick
's Spartacus
(1960) and Martin Scorsese
's New York, New York
(1977). Lerner died during the cutting of New York, New York, and the film was dedicated to him.
The "Blacklist": Irving Lerner was an American citizen and an employee of the United States Office of War Information during World War II
who worked in the Motion Picture Division. Lerner was allegedly involved in espionage
on behalf of Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU
); Arthur Adams
was Lerner's key contact.
In the winter of 1944, a counterintelligence officer caught Lerner attempting to photograph the cyclotron
at the University of California, Berkeley
Radiation Laboratory, which was part of the Manhattan Project
. The cyclotron had been used in the creation of plutonium
and Lerner was acting without authorization. Lerner resigned and went to work for Keynote Recordings, owned by Eric Bernay, another Soviet intelligence contact. Arthur Adams also worked at Keynote.
As Producer
As Editor
As Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
As Actor
As Miscellaneous Crew
Editing Department
Production Manager
As Cinematographer
Dedicatee
Before becoming a filmmaker, Lerner was a research editor for Columbia University's Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, getting his start in film by making documentaries for the anthropology department. In the early 1930s, he was a member of the Workers Film and Photo League
Workers Film and Photo League
The Workers Film and Photo League was an organization of filmmakers in the United States initially affiliated with the Workers International Relief...
, and later, Frontier Films. He made films for the Rockefeller Foundation and other academic institutions, becoming a film editor and second-unit director involved with the emerging American documentary movement of the late '30s. Lerner produced two documentaries for the Office of War Information during WW II and after the war became the head of New York University's Educational Film Institute. In 1948, Lerner and Joseph Strick shared directorial chores on a short documentary, Muscle Beach. Lerner then turned to low-budget, quickly filmed features. When not hastily making his own thrillers, Lerner worked as a technical advisor, a second-unit director, a co-editor and an editor.
Lerner was cinematographer, director, or assistant director on documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s such as One Third of a Nation (1939
1939 in film
The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
), Valley Town (1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
), The Land (1942
1942 in film
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
) directed by Robert Flaherty, and Suicide Attack (1950
1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...
). Lerner was also producer of the OWI documentary Hymn of the Nations
Hymn of the Nations
Hymn of the Nations, originally titled Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations , is a film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi in the early-1860s...
(1944
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
), directed by Alexander Hammid, and featuring Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, and co-director with Joseph Strick
Joseph Strick
Joseph Strick was an American director, producer and screenwriter.Born in Braddock, Pennsylvania, Strick briefly attended UCLA before enrolling in the Army during World War II. In the Army, he served as a cameraman in the Army Air Forces.In 1948, he and Irving Lerner produced Muscle Beach...
of the short documentary Muscle Beach
Muscle Beach (film)
Muscle Beach is a short documentary film directed by Joseph Strick and Irving Lerner, showing amateur athletes and bodybuilders at "Muscle Beach" in Santa Monica, California...
(1948).
Irving Lerner was also an important director and film editor with directing credits such as Studs Lonigan
Studs Lonigan
Studs Lonigan is the title of a novel trilogy by American author James T. Farrell: Young Lonigan, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment Day. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the Studs Lonigan trilogy at 29th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.The...
(1960) and editing credits such as Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's Spartacus
Spartacus (film)
Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
(1960) and Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's New York, New York
New York, New York (film)
New York, New York is a 1977 American musical-drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians and...
(1977). Lerner died during the cutting of New York, New York, and the film was dedicated to him.
The "Blacklist": Irving Lerner was an American citizen and an employee of the United States Office of War Information during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
who worked in the Motion Picture Division. Lerner was allegedly involved in espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
on behalf of Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
); Arthur Adams
Arthur Adams (spy)
Arthur Aleksandrovich Adams – a Soviet spy, Hero of the Russian Federation, who passed to the Soviet Union critical information about the American Manhattan Project.-Biography:...
was Lerner's key contact.
In the winter of 1944, a counterintelligence officer caught Lerner attempting to photograph the cyclotron
Cyclotron
In technology, a cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. In physics, the cyclotron frequency or gyrofrequency is the frequency of a charged particle moving perpendicularly to the direction of a uniform magnetic field, i.e. a magnetic field of constant magnitude and direction...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
Radiation Laboratory, which was part of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. The cyclotron had been used in the creation of plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
and Lerner was acting without authorization. Lerner resigned and went to work for Keynote Recordings, owned by Eric Bernay, another Soviet intelligence contact. Arthur Adams also worked at Keynote.
Filmography
As Director- A Town Called Hell (1971) (uncredited)
- The Royal Hunt of the SunThe Royal Hunt of the SunThe Royal Hunt of the Sun is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that portrays the destruction of the Inca empire by conquistador Francisco Pizarro.-Premiere:...
(1969) - Ben CaseyBen CaseyBen Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
(TV series, 13 episodes, 1961-1965) - Seaway (1965) (TV series, unknown episodes)
- Mr. NovakMr. NovakMr. Novak is an American dramatic series starring James Franciscus in the title role, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1963 to 1965.-Overview:...
(TV series, 1 episode, 1963) - Cry of Battle (1963)
- Target: The Corruptors (1 episode, 1961)
- King of Diamonds (1 episode, 1961)
- Studs LoniganStuds LoniganStuds Lonigan is the title of a novel trilogy by American author James T. Farrell: Young Lonigan, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment Day. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the Studs Lonigan trilogy at 29th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.The...
(1960) - City of Fear (1959)
- Murder by ContractMurder by ContractMurder by Contract is a 1958 film noir directed by Irving Lerner. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Ben Maddow did uncredited work on the film...
(1958) - Edge of Fury (1958)
- Man Crazy (1953)
- Suicide Attack (1951)
- Muscle BeachMuscle BeachMuscle Beach refers to either Muscle Beach Venice, an area in Venice, California, on Ocean Front Walk two blocks north of Venice Boulevard or to Original Muscle Beach, two miles north of Venice, south of the Santa Monica Pier...
(1948) - To Hear Your Banjo Play (1947)
- Swedes in AmericaSwedes in AmericaSwedes in America is a 1943 short documentary film directed by Irving Lerner. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short....
(1943) with Ingrid BergmanIngrid BergmanIngrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
As Producer
- Hay que matar a B. (1975) (co-producer)
- The Darwin Adventure (1972) (co-producer)
- Bad Man's River (1971) (executive producer)
- Captain Apache (1971) (associate producer)
- Custer of the WestCuster of the WestCuster of the West is a 1967 American Western film directed by Robert Siodmak. It tells a highly fictionalised version of the life and death of George Armstrong Custer. It was directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Robert Shaw as Custer, Robert Ryan and Mary Ure...
(1967) (executive producer) - The Wild Party (1956) (supervising producer)
- C-Man (1949) (producer)
- To Hear Your Banjo Play (1947) (co-producer)
- Hymn of the NationsHymn of the NationsHymn of the Nations, originally titled Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations , is a film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi in the early-1860s...
(1944) (producer) (uncredited)
As Editor
- Mustang: The House That Joe Built (1978)
- The River Niger (1976)
- SteppenwolfSteppenwolf (film)Steppenwolf is a 1974 film adaptation of Hermann Hesse's 1928 novel of the same name. The film made heavy use of visual special effects that were cutting-edge at the time of its release....
(1974) - Spartacus (1960) (uncredited)
- The Marines Come Through (1938)
- China Strikes Back (1937) (unconfirmed)
As Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- A Town Called Hell (1971) (second unit director)
- Custer of the WestCuster of the WestCuster of the West is a 1967 American Western film directed by Robert Siodmak. It tells a highly fictionalised version of the life and death of George Armstrong Custer. It was directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Robert Shaw as Custer, Robert Ryan and Mary Ure...
(1967) (second unit director: Civil War sequense) - Spartacus (second unit director) (uncredited)
- Valley Town (1940) (second unit director)
- One Third of a Nation (1939) (second unit director) (uncredited)
As Actor
- Hay que matar a B. (1975)
- On CameraOn CameraOn Camera was a Canadian dramatic anthology television series which aired on CBC Television from 1954 to 1958.-Premise:Various dramatic and comedic works were featured in On Camera, as written or adapted by Canadian writers.-Scheduling:...
(1 episode, 1955) - Pie in the SkyPie in the SkyPie in the Sky was a light-hearted British police drama starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997 as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries, including the Australian...
(1935)
As Miscellaneous Crew
- The Savage EyeThe Savage EyeThe Savage Eye is a "dramatized documentary" film that superposes a dramatic narration of the life of a divorced woman with documentary camera footage of an unspecified 1950s city. In a 1960 review, A. H...
(1960) (technical advisor) - God's Little AcreGod's Little AcreGod's Little Acre is a 1933 novel by Erskine Caldwell, which was made into a film of the same name in 1958.The novel was so controversial that the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice attempted to censor it, leading to the author's arrest and trial for obscenity...
(1958) (associate to director) - Robot MonsterRobot MonsterRobot Monster is a 1953 American science fiction film made in 3-D by Phil Tucker. It is frequently considered one of the worst films ever made.- Plot :...
(1953) (production associate)
Editing Department
- New York, New York (1977) (supervising editor)
- Executive Action (1973) (associate editor)
Production Manager
- Men in WarMen in WarMen in War is a war film about the Korean War directed by Anthony Mann. It stars Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray as the leaders of a small detachment of American soldiers cut off and desperately trying to rejoin their division. The events of the film take place on one day; 6 September 1950...
(1957) (production supervisor)
As Cinematographer
- The LandThe LandThe Land may refer to:*The Land, the setting for novels by Stephen R. Donaldson, in the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever universe*The Land, primary setting for the novels by Robert J. Sawyer, in the Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy...
(1942)
Dedicatee
- New York, New York (1977) (our gratitude and respect to)
External links
- Suicide Attack - documentary review
- Irving Lerner at IMDB