Joseph H. Lewis
Encyclopedia
Joseph H. Lewis was an American B-movie
film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory
-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966. In a 30-year directorial career, he helmed numerous low-budget westerns, action pictures and thrillers and is remembered for original mysteries My Name Is Julia Ross
(1945) and So Dark the Night
(1946) as well as his most-highly regarded feature, 1949's Gun Crazy
, which spotlighted a desperate young couple (Peggy Cummins
and John Dall
) who embark on a deadly crime spree.
, the son of an optometrist, Joseph H. Lewis attended DeWitt Clinton High School
in the Bronx
and when his brother, Ben, moved to Hollywood in 1927, decided to follow with hopes of becoming an actor. Ben found him a job as camera assistant and, subsequently, young Joseph became an assistant film editor just as the film industry was converting to sound. At the dawn of his directorial career (1937–40), while turning out low-budget B-Westerns, he earned the derogatory nickname "Wagon-Wheel Joe" from the studio editors, because of his tendency to use wagon-wheels for constructing interesting visual compositions within the frame.
Although known for having directed horror stars Bela Lugosi
(The Invisible Ghost) and Lionel Atwill
in early 1940s, he is most appreciated for work in film noir
during 1940s and early 1950s. Gun Crazy, considered the peak of his career, is a dark romance about gun-obsession, notable for its use of location photography and, for film students and buffs, a particularly arresting shot which lasts for ten minutes, as the audience suddenly becomes a passenger in the getaway car following a bank robbery committed by the young leads. Lewis's offbeat and eye-catching compositions added style and value to inexpensive productions. His 1944 musical Minstrel Man, starring singer Benny Fields
, is quite possibly the finest film ever made by low-budget PRC Pictures
. Industry insiders noticed, prompting Columbia Pictures
to hire Lewis to film the musical sequences for its blockbuster musical The Jolson Story
.
Toward the end of Lewis's career, he worked in television, directing mostly westerns: The Rifleman
, Bonanza
, The Big Valley
, Gunsmoke
, and the pilot for Branded.
, along with European venues in France, Germany and other locations. In 1997 he became the recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nearly five months after his 93rd birthday, Joseph H. Lewis died at his home in Los Angeles County's seaside community of Marina del Rey. Active until the end, he made his final public appearance five weeks earlier to introduce a screening of Gun Crazy at the University of California at Los Angeles.
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory
Auteur theory
In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur"...
-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966. In a 30-year directorial career, he helmed numerous low-budget westerns, action pictures and thrillers and is remembered for original mysteries My Name Is Julia Ross
My Name is Julia Ross
My Name is Julia Ross is a film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis, based on the novel The Woman in Red by Anthony Gilbert. This drama is the first in a series of film noirs directed by Lewis and features Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready.-Plot:In London, Julia Ross goes to a new...
(1945) and So Dark the Night
So Dark the Night
So Dark the Night is an American crime film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and written by Dwight V. Babcock, Martin Berkeley, based on a story written by Aubrey Wisberg...
(1946) as well as his most-highly regarded feature, 1949's Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy
Gun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...
, which spotlighted a desperate young couple (Peggy Cummins
Peggy Cummins
Peggy Cummins is a retired Irish actress. Cummins is best known for her performance in Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy , playing a trigger happy femme fatale who robs banks with her lover .-Early life:...
and John Dall
John Dall
John Dall was an American actor.Primarily a stage actor, he is best remembered today for two film roles; the cool-minded intellectual killer in Alfred Hitchcock's film Rope, and the trigger-happy lead in the 1950 noir Gun Crazy.He first came to fame as the young prodigy who comes alive under the...
) who embark on a deadly crime spree.
Early years
Born in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, the son of an optometrist, Joseph H. Lewis attended DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...
in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
and when his brother, Ben, moved to Hollywood in 1927, decided to follow with hopes of becoming an actor. Ben found him a job as camera assistant and, subsequently, young Joseph became an assistant film editor just as the film industry was converting to sound. At the dawn of his directorial career (1937–40), while turning out low-budget B-Westerns, he earned the derogatory nickname "Wagon-Wheel Joe" from the studio editors, because of his tendency to use wagon-wheels for constructing interesting visual compositions within the frame.
Although known for having directed horror stars Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
(The Invisible Ghost) and Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most...
in early 1940s, he is most appreciated for work in film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
during 1940s and early 1950s. Gun Crazy, considered the peak of his career, is a dark romance about gun-obsession, notable for its use of location photography and, for film students and buffs, a particularly arresting shot which lasts for ten minutes, as the audience suddenly becomes a passenger in the getaway car following a bank robbery committed by the young leads. Lewis's offbeat and eye-catching compositions added style and value to inexpensive productions. His 1944 musical Minstrel Man, starring singer Benny Fields
Benny Fields
Benny Fields was a popular singer of the early 20th century, best known as one-half of the Blossom Seeley-Benny Fields vaudeville team...
, is quite possibly the finest film ever made by low-budget PRC Pictures
Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the...
. Industry insiders noticed, prompting Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
to hire Lewis to film the musical sequences for its blockbuster musical The Jolson Story
The Jolson Story
The Jolson Story is a 1946 musical biography which purports to tell the life story of singer Al Jolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn Keyes as "Julie Benson" , William Demarest as his manager, Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne as his parents, and Scotty Beckett as the young Jolson.The...
.
Toward the end of Lewis's career, he worked in television, directing mostly westerns: The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, and the pilot for Branded.
Appreciated as stylish director
Lewis suffered a major heart attack at the age of 46, but continued working until his 59th birthday in April 1966, at the end of the 1965–66 TV season. Deciding to retire at that point from active work in the entertainment industry, Lewis spent his remaining thirty-four years in leisure pursuits such as duck hunting and deep-sea fishing aboard his 50-foot trawler, "Buena Vista". As appreciation of his career grew in his final years, he fulfilled numerous lecture requests at film schools and fan gatherings as well as at retrospectives such as the Telluride Film FestivalTelluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
, along with European venues in France, Germany and other locations. In 1997 he became the recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nearly five months after his 93rd birthday, Joseph H. Lewis died at his home in Los Angeles County's seaside community of Marina del Rey. Active until the end, he made his final public appearance five weeks earlier to introduce a screening of Gun Crazy at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Notable films directed
- Boys of the CityBoys of the CityBoys of the City is a 1940 black-and-white comedy/thriller film directed by Joseph H. Lewis. It is the second East Side Kids film and the first to star Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, and Ernest Morrison.-The East Side Kids:*Bobby Jordan as Danny Dolan...
(1940) - Minstrel Man (1944)
- My Name Is Julia RossMy Name is Julia RossMy Name is Julia Ross is a film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis, based on the novel The Woman in Red by Anthony Gilbert. This drama is the first in a series of film noirs directed by Lewis and features Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready.-Plot:In London, Julia Ross goes to a new...
(1945) - So Dark the NightSo Dark the NightSo Dark the Night is an American crime film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and written by Dwight V. Babcock, Martin Berkeley, based on a story written by Aubrey Wisberg...
(1946) - The Jolson StoryThe Jolson StoryThe Jolson Story is a 1946 musical biography which purports to tell the life story of singer Al Jolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn Keyes as "Julie Benson" , William Demarest as his manager, Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne as his parents, and Scotty Beckett as the young Jolson.The...
(1946, musical sequences only) - The Undercover ManThe Undercover ManThe Undercover Man is a crime drama film noir starring Glenn Ford. This one of a number of noirs directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who went on to helm Gun Crazy and The Big Combo. The drama features Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore, among others.-Plot:Frank Warren is a treasury agent assigned to...
(1949) - Gun CrazyGun CrazyGun Crazy is a 1950 film noir feature film starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall in a story about the crime-spree of a gun-toting husband and wife. The film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, and produced by Frank King and Maurice King...
(1949) - A Lady Without PassportA Lady Without PassportA Lady Without Passport is a suspense film directed by Joseph H. Lewis. Shot in semidocumentary style, it is considered film noir.-Plot:...
(1950) - Retreat, Hell!Retreat, Hell!Retreat, Hell! is a 1952 American film about the 1st Marine Division in the Korean War directed by Joseph H. Lewis.-Plot:The film is the story of the putting together of a Marine Battalion sent to Korea who are gathered from various sources...
(1952) - Cry of the HuntedCry of the HuntedCry of the Hunted is an American crime film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis. The drama features Vittorio Gassman, Barry Sullivan and Polly Bergen.-Plot:...
(1953) - The Big ComboThe Big ComboThe Big Combo is an American film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and stylistically photographed by cinematographer and noir icon John Alton with music by David Raksin....
(1955) - A Lawless StreetA Lawless StreetA Lawless Street is a 1955 western film directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starring Randolph Scott and Angela Lansbury. The film is also known as The Marshal of Medicine Bend in the US.-Plot:...
(1955) - 7th Cavalry7th Cavalry (film)7th Cavalry is a 1956 Technicolor American Western film directed by Joseph H. Lewis based on a story by Glendon Swarthout set after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It starred Randolph Scott and was filmed in Mexico.-Plot:...
(1956) - The Halliday BrandThe Halliday BrandThe Halliday Brand is a 1957 Western film directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starring Joseph Cotten.-Cast:* Joseph Cotten - Daniel Halliday* Viveca Lindfors - Aleta Burris* Betsy Blair - Martha Halliday* Ward Bond - Big Dan Halliday...
(1957) - Terror in a Texas TownTerror in a Texas TownTerror in a Texas Town is a 1958 American Western film, directed by Joseph Lewis. The script was written by Dalton Trumbo, but due to Trumbo's status on the Hollywood Blacklist, Ben Perry initially received screenwriting credit....
(1958)