Robert Siodmak Movies
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, where his German banker father and his wife were travelling, Robert Siodmak -- the older brother of Curt Siodmak -- was raised and educated in Germany and became an actor after graduating from the University of Marburg. His lack of success on stage forced him into business, but in 1926 he entered the movie business as a translator of inter-titles on American films. Siodmak became an editor in 1926 and three years later, on Menshen am Sontag (People on Sunday), he made his directorial debut in asociation with Edgar G. Ulmer, with future director Fred Zinnemann as the co-cinematographer, and Curt Siodmak and Billy Wilder as screenwriters. He was established as a director in Germany, but the rise of the Nazi Party forced him into exile in Paris, where he continued making movies. He barely made it out of France ahead of the German occupation in 1940.After arriving in Hollywood, Siodmak was put to work in B-movies such as West Point Widow. In 1943, he directed Son of Dracula, the best of the later Universal horror films, and its success moved him up to better pictures -- the results were immediately evident in dark drama like Phantom Lady, Uncle Harry, The Spiral Staircase (usually considered Siodmak's best film), and The Killers, a landmark example of film noir, which played a key role in the early careers of both Burt Lancaster (who was later directed by Siodmak in several more pictures) and Ava Gardner, and moved Siodmak solidly into A-features. Siodmak also directed the strange psychological chiller The Dark Mirror, about identical twins (played by Olivia de Havilland), one of whom is a psychopathic murderer, which today is a very highly regarded film noir. Siodmak's American films are, in the observation of Andrew Sarris, even more Germanic than his German films and filled with dark, atmospheric touches. All possess a seriously unsettling quality on repeated viewing. Ironically, his last American movie, The Crimson Pirate, starring Lancaster, was a costume satire with element of slapstick, and it worked as well as his thrillers did. Siodmak left America after 1953 to resume his career in Europe, returning first to France and then to Germany. Among the relative handful of his later pictures to get wide exposure in the United States were Escape From East Berlin and Custer of the West, the latter starring Robert Shaw as the late U.S. Cavalry colonel -- it had interesting moments, especially the action scenes, but as a joint U.S./Spanish co-production, lacked the cohesion needed for a good historical western. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1968
This 99-minute film constitutes the first half of Robert Siodmak's mammoth two-part epic Der Kampf um Rom (Fight for Rome). The film depicts the Goths' sacking of Rome in 526 AD. No expense was spared in bringing this story to the screen: for example, Siodmak utilized six companies of Rumanian cavalry for the battle sequence, and the epic packs in an all-star cast including Laurence Harvey as Celhegus, Orson Welles as Justinian and Sylva Koscina as Theodora. The film carefully lays a groundwork of corruption and infighting, suggesting that the siege of Rome was virtually justified. Screenwriter Ladislas Fodor (a former government agent best known for his espionage yarns) adapted his script from the best-selling novel by Felix Dahn. The second half, Der Kampf um rom 2: Der Verrat (which also clocks in at just over 1.5 hours) was issued in 1969, a year after the first; Four years after that (c. 1973), the two parts of Der Kampf um Rom were edited together, cut down to 94 minutes, and distributed as a single entry in the United States.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Orson Welles, (more)
Opening with a montage depicting its subject's Civil War exploits, Custer of the West carries us across four years of fighting in less than four minutes of screen time. The Civil War ended, George Armstrong Custer (Robert Shaw) longs for action and to hold onto his rank of general, so General Phil Sheridan (Lawrence Tierney) sends him West, admitting that there will be no nobility to his cause there -- the government and the people want the land, and that means getting the Indians off of it by any means necessary. He arrives in time to see a party of Cheyenne (whom the real Custer never fought) kill a pair of miners by sending them rolling down a long hill in a runaway wagon -- that motif is repeated, in ever more striking, elaborate, and violent fashions, in two subsequent action scenes. Custer organizes his command around Major Marcus Reno (Ty Hardin), depicted as an ambitious officer with a drinking problem, and Captain Benteen (Jeffrey Hunter), a humane officer with a strange, almost mystical streak, who understands the Indians better than anyone else in Custer's command. Also present are Mary Ure as Custer's loving wife and Robert Ryan in a very flamboyant performance as a larcenous sergeant who comes to no good end after being stricken with gold fever. After getting his command into the shape it needs to be -- mostly by running everyone except a lone sergeant into the ground in an extended drill -- he carries out his mission, quietly detesting the motives behind his orders but executing them out to the letter. Regarded as a hero in the East, Custer returns to Washington only to jeopardize his career by testifying about the corruption he's found around him in the West. He is left a political pariah but once more. Sheridan intercedes, again getting Custer posted with the Seventh Cavalry now engaged against the Sioux. He is, by this time, disillusioned with the army that he serves and the politicians and the business interests in whose service it functions. Though he craves the glory that comes with battle, he sees soldiering of the type he is being asked to carry out as little more than organized slaughter, even relying on machines to do the killing in ever more indiscriminate ways with none of the contest between men, of strategies, and arms and resourcefulness -- that was his real joy. The demons and goals that drive him culminate with Custer's disastrous action at Little Big Horn, which is beautifully (if not necessarily accurately) staged, in a stunning visual and aural denouement. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, (more)
- 1965
Dr. Karl Sternau (Lex Barker) is a German doctor in Mexico who is on the side of the Mexicans fighting against Emperor Maximillian and the French occupation. With the help of the clock dealer Andre (Ralf Wolter), Karl tries to stop a gang led by the villainous Captain Verjoda (Rik Battaglia) from stealing an ancient Aztec treasure. Wolter provides the comedy relief in this routine adventure drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lex Barker
- 1964
Kara Ben Nemai (Lex Barker) is a German adventurer who sets out to find the villainous Yellow Devil who has been terrorizing the residents of Monte Negro. When Kara learns the mystery man is posing as a prosperous carpet merchant, he chases his adversary over the scenic mountains of Yugoslavia. Several gun battles and fist fights occur as Kara tries to capture the criminal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lex Barker, Ralf Wolter, (more)
- 1962
Based on an actual escape from East to West Germany staged on January 28, 1962, this routine docudrama by director Robert Siodmak re-enacts the tale. Kurt Schroeder (Don Murray) is a chauffeur, the young East Berliner who gets the idea of digging a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall. Thus well-assured that no guards will be able to see him escaping, Kurt carefully implements his plan. But he is not thinking of himself alone, and when the time comes to use the tunnel and leave East Germany behind, he takes his family and a few dozen other people along with him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Murray, Christine Kaufmann, (more)
- 1961
This standard melodrama by director Robert Siodmak, active in Germany, France, and the U.S., is nuanced with shades of film noir and tells the story of some underhanded corporate execs and their Nazi past. A big-name engineering company in West Germany is involved with high-rollers in the industrial business who are getting together a lucrative package for investing in the development of Third World countries. Along comes an enigmatic figure who finds out that the executives in the engineering company are ex-Nazis with murky pasts to conceal, and he uses his knowledge as leverage to take over the development project. In the meantime, his personal life is a shambles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadja Tiller, Pierre Brasseur, (more)
- 1960
Mein Schulfreund has an ostensible anti-Nazi theme yet there are aspects of this wartime drama that seem ambivalent. At the heart of the story is Herr Fuchs (Heinz Ruhmann), a postman who finally turns against the war when he sees it is killing innocent children -- a remarkably slow realization. So Fuchs writes an emotional protest to his old school chum, Field Marshall Hermann Goering. The letter is intercepted and Fuchs lands in prison though he is not to be executed for his treasonous missive. Instead, orders come down to declare him officially insane. Although that allows him to mouth off against the Nazis, it also has its negative impact on his future. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heinz Rühmann, Loni von Friedl, (more)
- 1959
After spending most of the 1950s in Europe, writer/director Robert Siodmak filmed his only picture in England: The Rough and the Smooth (US title: Portrait of a Sinner). Based on a novel by Robin Maugham, the story concerns a young archaeologist (Tony Britton), engaged to marry the daughter (Natasha Parry) of a wealthy publisher (Donald Wolfit). At the last moment, the archaeologist leaves his bride-to-be for a nymphomaniac (Nadja Tiller) with a masochistic streak. He must wrest her away from an abusive relationship with a no-good lout (William Bendix). Even Robert Siodmak was embarrassed by the lunatic excesses of Rough and the Smooth, dismissing the film with "I've seen worse, but not much worse." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nadja Tiller, Tony Britton, (more)
- 1959
Feeling hamstrung and confined by Hollywood, writer/director Robert Siodmak returned to Europe to make most of his latter-day films. Produced in France, Magnificent Sinner stars Curt Jurgens as Czar Alexander II, with Romy Schneider as schoolgirl Katja. The Czar takes Katja as his mistress, elevating her to princess status. The romance leads to court intrigue, and is instrumental in Alexander's ultimate assassination. Magnificent Sinner was originally released as Katia; it was a remake of a 1938 French film of the same name, which starred Danielle Darieaux. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Romy Schneider, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1958
Writer/director Robert Siodmak based his German-filmed The Devil Strikes at Night on an actual case. Set during the last months of the Hitler regime, the film concerns a series of rapes and stranglings of young women. Gestapo officer Rossdorf (Hannes Messemer) and non-party member Axel Kersten (Claus Holm) investigate the trail of evidence. They discover that the criminal is Bruno Leudke, a mental defective (played by Mario Adorf). An open-and-shut case...except for the fact that Adorf is a loyal Nazi Party member! The dilemma now is to stem the crime spree without publicizing the embarrassing fact that "Aryan supremacy" is capable of yielding a monster like Adorf. Originally titled Nachts, Wenn der Teufel Kam, The Devil Strikes at Night has also been released as Nazi Terror at Night and Nights When the Devil Came. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mario Adorf, Claus Holm, (more)
- 1955
When director Robert Siodmak filmed a German-language version of the Gerhardt Hauptmann play Die Ratten he simultaneously shot an English version of the same film with the same cast, which would later be released in Australia as The Rats. No, this isn't a Willard-style horror film. Maria Schell stars as an East German girl anxious to get a fake passport to the West. To raise the necessary funds, she sells her illegitimate baby to another woman (Barbara Rush), who hopes that the child will bring her closer to her husband. There are rats scampering on the set and chewing up prop food, but the actual "rats" of the title are of the human variety--notably the petty crook (Curt Jurgens) who impregnates Ms. Schell in the first place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Schell, Heidemarie Hatheyer, (more)
- 1954
In this romance, a jilted lawyer joins the French Foreign Legion to help him forget his faithless love. While in the desert he espies a village beauty who is the exact double of his true-love. It turns out that she is an amnesiac. With her, the attorney tries to re-spark his old relationship. Trouble ensues when his real ex-love shows up and makes her look-a-like hit the road. The lawyer ends up going back to the Legion to escape it all. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Jean Pascal, (more)
Half affectionate parody and half enthusiastic tribute to the swashbuckling pirate epics of the 1930's and 40's, The Crimson Pirate stars Burt Lancaster as Captain Vallo, the smiling leader of a pack of unscrupulous pirates. While on the high seas, Vallo and his men spy a well-stocked merchant ship, and waste no time in relieving it of its contents. One of the passengers on the cargo vessel, Baron Gruda (Leslie E. Bradley), informs Vallo that a political revolt is shaking a island nation in the Caribbean to its foundations. The pirates set their course to the island, hoping to sell the arms they've just stolen to rebel leader Sebastian (Frederick Leister), while planning to later double their profit by turning him in to the Government leaders who are offering a reward for his capture. Vallo's plans change when he meets Sebastian's daughter Consuelo (Eva Bartok) and falls in love, while she teaches the pirate the wisdom of her father's philosophies. Vallo and his faithful sidekick Ojo (Nick Cravat) soon join Sebastian's men, and fight with them in a valiant struggle for freedom. Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat were once partners in their early days as circus acrobats, and they got to put their skills to good use in this picture; keep an eye peeled for an early performance by future horror movie great Christopher Lee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Eva Bartok, (more)
- 1951
Produced by "March of Time" maven Louis de Rochemont, Whistle at Eaton Falls is docudrama concerning a labor dispute in a small New Hampshire town. Union leader Lloyd Bridges is reluctantly promoted to the presidency of Eaton Falls' plastics plant. Now in a management position, Bridges must lay off several of his old friends in order to cut down costs. He tries to do this as painlessly as possible, but his union-boss successor Murray Hamilton public derides Bridges' methods. The potent problems posed by the film are solved in too-slick Hollywood fashion when the plant is saved by a huge government contract and the introduction of cost-efficient machinery. Dorothy Gish makes one of her rare talking-picture appearances as the widow of the plant's former owner in Whistle at Eaton Falls, and if you look closely you'll spot Lloyd Bridges' infant son Jeff in his movie debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lloyd Bridges, Dorothy Gish, (more)
This silly, stagebound but entertaining little monster-mash from Universal horror writer/director Curt Siodmak stars burly Raymond Burr as a steward on a rubber plantation whose romantic tryst with the boss' wife (Barbara Payton) eventually leads to the employer's murder. When one of the voodoo-practicing servants of the ex-boss learns of this, he concocts a magic potion which transforms Burr (apparently) into a "sukaras" -- a kind of were-ape which roams the village by night, savaging the locals and sparking a plodding investigation by the local constable (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Enjoyable if only for its relentless goofiness, with an ending that will have most viewers wondering if Siodmak forgot to include a reel or two in his final edit. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney, Jr., (more)
- 1950
The real-life deportation of gangster Lucky Luciano was the inspiration for this romanticized and slightly crackbrained crime drama. Jeff Chandler plays the Luciano counterpart, who once he arrives in Italy renews his criminal activities. Chandler masterminds a black-market racket, capitalizing upon wartime shortages in Europe. He falls in love with a Contessa (Marta Toren), who is the benign patroness of the small village where he lives. Under her influence, Chandler abandons his life of crime, turns his back on the ill-gotten gains that he's already smuggled into Italy, and becomes a pillar of the community. And if you believe that, We have some land in Florida we'd like to show you. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Märta Torén, Jeff Chandler, (more)
- 1949
Based loosely on the Dostoyevsky novel, The Gambler stars Gregory Peck as a sensitive 19th-century Russian author. His "great sin" is gambling, which starts when he attempts to rescue aristocratic Ava Gardner from the gaming tables. He succeeds, only to lose himself to gambling fever, which costs him his friends, his reputation and his talent. Director Robert Siodmak was never happy with the screenplay for The Great Sinner, constant revisions bloated the film's rough-cut running time to nearly six hours! After Siodmak pared the film down, MGM insisted that the director reshoot the love scenes. Siodmak refused, thus the new sequences were filmed sans screen credit by Mervin LeRoy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1949
No one is as good as Barbara Stanwyck when she's bad. Here Stanwyck plays Thelma Jordon, a woman who late one night shows up in the office of happily married Assistant DA Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) to seek help in solving the string of robberies at her wealthy aunt's estate. Before Cleve can stop himself, he and Thelma are involved in an illicit affair. But Thelma is a mysterious woman, and Cleve can't help wondering if she is hiding something. His suspicions are confirmed when Thelma confesses to him that she is married to Tony Laredo, though she swears that she never wants to see him again. When Thelma's aunt is found murdered, Cleve's suspicions are aroused once again, but he is too love-struck to keep himself from being drawn into the complicated series of events that ultimately lead to his ruination. Siodmak directs with his usual skill and polish, but the film really belongs to Barbara Stanwyck who is magnificent as Thelma. Unlike the usual cold, passionless femme fatale of film noir, Thelma has a heart and a conscience. She comes to love Cleve, and has concern for his life and his future. However, despite her wish that her life could be different, she realizes that she belongs in Tony's world, and despite her attempts to sacrifice herself to save Cleve, he is doomed, by his love for her and by his own weaknesses. The File on Thelma Jordan is a romantic, unusual mystery, with a great performance and superior direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, (more)
- 1948
The opening scene of Robert Siodmak's grim film noir depicts police lieutenants Candella (Victor Mature) and Collins (Fred Clark) observing wounded cop killer Martin Rome (Richard Conte) receive last rites. Though Rome recovers, he still must elude Candella and Collins in his desperate attempt to escape his fate. Rome has two visitors in the hospital: his girlfriend, Teena (Debra Paget), who goes into hiding, and Niles (Berry Kroeger), a crooked lawyer. Niles tries to bribe Rome to take a jewel theft and homicide rap for a client of his since Rome is facing the electric chair anyway. When Rome refuses, Niles threatens to frame Teena as the client's female accomplice. Worried that Candella might find Teena, Rome breaks out of jail and goes to Niles' office to accept the offer, but he actually plans to leave the country with Teena. When Niles reneges, Rome kills him, but not before learning the accomplice's identity and discovering the stolen jewels in the lawyer's safe. Rome finds the accomplice, Rose Given (Hope Emerson), and offers to trade the jewelry for the means to leave the country. She agrees, and they arrange a meeting in the subway, but Rome informs Candella of the plan. When the police arrive, Candella is shot, Rose is arrested, and Rome escapes to meet up with Teena in a church. As he is trying to convince Teena to run away with him, a wounded Candella shows up and tells Teena how Rome uses people and that everyone who helped in his escape will be paying a price. Teena rejects Rome, and he runs again, only to be shot down by Candella. The moral order is ultimately restored, but no one has been left unscarred. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Richard Conte, (more)
Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) returns home after a few years of knocking around the country following his divorce from good-time girl Anna (Yvonne De Carlo). Getting his old job back driving an armored car, and not even convincing himself that he's making a new start, he also wants his old wife back. When he finds Anna, he quickly learns that she is involved with gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). Nonetheless, they carry on a clandestine affair, with Steve foolishly believing that Anna will return to him. Even after she marries Slim, Steve, with her encouragement, masochistically clings to this doomed obsession. So when Slim catches them together, Steve ad libs plans for an armored car robbery that includes Slim. The two rivals form an uneasy and untrusting collaboration, but Steve and Anna plan to double cross Slim. However, the title of Robert Siodmak's film noir gem is, not incidentally, Criss Cross. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1947
Adapted from a novel by Rachel Field, Time Out of Mind is a slow-moving costume drama enlivened by its stars. Servant girl Kate Ferald (Phyllis Calvert, in her first Hollywood film) falls in love with Christopher Fortune (Robert Hutton), the scion of a wealthy New England sailing family. Chistopher is likewise smitten by Kate, but the class structure of the 19th century precludes their marriage. Aware that their union is not to be, Kate renounces Christopher and encourages him to wed someone from his own social class. As the years go by, Kate is the mute witness to Christopher's frustration and unhappiness, culminating in a fatal bout with alcohol. Standing out in the huge cast are Ella Raines as Christopher's "sensible" sister Rissa and Eddie Albert as the obligatory best friend/severest critic Jake Bullard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Calvert, Robert Hutton, (more)
Olivia De Havilland, with the assistance of some eye-popping special photographic effects, plays twins in The Dark Mirror. One twin commits a murder: The "good" twin is blamed, but provides no alibi in her own defense, since she can't believe that the "bad" twin is guilty. Psychologist Lew Ayres and detective Thomas Mitchell try to get to the truth, a task made difficult by the bad twin's habit of imitating her sister to perfection. Ayres solves the mystery and sorts out which twin is which, but not before nearly ending up on a slab in the morgue himself. Based on a novel by Vladimir Pozner (the same), The Dark Mirror was remade for television in 1984, with Jane Seymour in the lead--er, leads. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivia de Havilland, Lew Ayres, (more)
