George Fitzmaurice

George Fitzmaurice ( born February 13, 1885 in Paris, † June 13, 1940 in Los Angeles ) was an American film director Franco- Dutch descent.

Life

George Fitzmaurice visited to be in Paris at the Kunstakadmie painter. In the first decade of the 20th century he emigrated to the United States, where he began in the theater as a set designer. In 1908, he came as a screenwriter for film. Since 1914 he worked as a director and rapidly proved a keen understanding of visual effects and elegant compositions. He initially worked for Paramount, where he directed, among others, The Cheat with Pola Negri and some movies with Rudolph Valentino. In the years 1921/1922 he directed two films in London, to which the young Alfred Hitchcock, a few years before the beginning of his own career, which drew intertitles. From 1925 Fitzmaurice was with Samuel Goldwyn under contract, after which he was largely responsible for the success of the canvas duo Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky, which he led through some very elaborately produced melodramas. However, he also created a reputation as a diva - director, as he always completely subordinated his work as a director its leading actors.

With the advent of the talkies, he helped Ronald Colman to help to even greater fame through movies like Raffles, which he took over from Harry d' Abbadie d' Arrast or The Devil to Pay. The end of 1931 he moved to MGM, where he led Greta Garbo according to their greatest financial success: Mata Hari had very little to do with the true life of a spy and all the more with a tragic love, exotic and very much glamor. The following year, Fitzmaurice was the director at a most underrated films of Garbo's how you want me, the adapted relatively free the piece of Pirandello same name. After some expensive, but overall less successful films mid-decade Fitzmaurice finished his career with B- movies.

Filmography (selection)

367355
de