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The Directors

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Biography: Billy Wilder

Biography: Billy Wilder

Called 'Billie' by his mother, a fan of William Cody, Wilder became a reporter for the yellow press when his father moved his family from rural Galicia to Vienna just before World War I.

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 0   Views: 931   
(4 votes)
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Biography: Ernst Lubitsch

Biography: Ernst Lubitsch

One of the great geniuses of comedy in the cinema, Ernst Lubitsch was the most successful of the many émigrés and exiles in his transition from Weimar Germany to Hollywood.

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 0   Views: 787   
(4 votes)
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Biography: Robert Siodmak

Biography: Robert Siodmak

Robert Siodmak's directorial debut was the famous Berlin film Menschen am Sonntag (1930), which establishes him as serious filmmaker.

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 0   Views: 642   
(4 votes)
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Biography: Fred Zinnemann

Biography: Fred Zinnemann

Trained as both a violinist and a lawyer, Zinnemann moved to America in 1937 after working on Menschen am Sonntag (1929), in Germany and The Wave (1934) in Mexico.

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 1   Views: 725   
(2 votes)
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Biography: Henry Koster

Biography: Henry Koster

Before 1932, he was primarily a writer of humorous and light screenplays, often in close collaboration with Kurt Bernhardt. His first film as director was Das Abenteuer der Thea Roland (1932).

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 4   Views: 909   
(1 votes)
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Biography: Fritz Lang

Biography: Fritz Lang

One of the most renown and accomplished directors of the 20th century, Lang’s exceptional career began as scriptwriter for Joe May’s company where he met his future wife Thea von Harbou.

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 0   Views: 675   
(3 votes)
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Biography: Joe May

Biography: Joe May

A businessman and operetta director, Joe May can be considered one of the founders of the German cinema.

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2008  Comments: 0   Views: 497   
(3 votes)
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Major support for this program provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Skirball Foundation, Public Broadcasting Service, The Winston Foundation, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman, The Lemberg Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support for this program provided by Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, The Vital Projects Fund, New Line Cinema, Elaine and Alan G. Weiler, The Karma Foundation, Rosalind P. Walter, S. E. Canning, The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Alan Harper, Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Arnhold, Leila and Melville Straus, the Feuchtwanger Institute and public television viewers.