Denison Clift (1885 – 1961) was an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter and film director. He directed in both America and Great Britain, mainly during the Silent Era.

Biography

Clift was educated at Stanford University. He began his career as a short story writer, novelist, and playwright. After he started writing,

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

entrusted him with writing Lasky scenarios. Clift entered the film industry in 1918, penning the screenplay for William S. Hart's '' Wolves of the Rail''. He began a contract writer with Fox, and was promoted director in 1920. Less than a year later, Clift was imported by a British firm in a larger movement to liven their domestic silent films by employing Hollywood directors. He directed a number of British films during the silent era, such as '' Demos'' (1921) featuring fellow American expatriate

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida, and known as Betty. When she was age 10, her mother Eleanor (née. Warner) died, ...

and '' The Love of Mary, Queen of Scots'' (1923), with

Fay Compton Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, (; 18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978), known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage per ...

in the title role. Clift remained in Great Britain after the transition to

sound films A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befor ...

, occasionally directing small-budget melodramas- including ''The Mystery of the Marie Celeste'', which he also wrote- but was predominantly a freelance screenwriter. His 1929 play ''Scotland Yard'' was adapted into films twice. Denison Clift - Jun 1920 MPN

Selected filmography

Director

* '' The Iron Heart'' (1920) * ''

A Woman of No Importance ''A Woman of No Importance'' by Oscar Wilde is "a new and original play of modern life", in four acts, first given on 19 April 1893 at the Haymarket Theatre, London. Like Wilde's other society plays, it satirises English upper-class society. It ...

'' (1921) * '' The Diamond Necklace'' (1921) * '' Demos'' (1921) * ''

Sonia Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

'' (1921) * '' A Bill of Divorcement'' (1922) * '' This Freedom'' (1923) * '' Ports of Call'' (1925) * ''

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

'' (1928) * '' Taxi for Two'' (1929) * ''

High Seas The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

'' (1929) * '' City of Play'' (1929) * '' The Mystery of the Mary Celeste'' (1935)

Screenwriter

* ''

Gambling in Souls ''Gambling in Souls'' is a 1919 American silent crime drama film directed by Harry F. Millarde and starring Madlaine Traverse, Herbert Heyes, Murdock MacQuarrie, Lew Zehring, Mary McIvor, and Henry A. Barrows. The film was released by Fox Film ...

'' (1919) * '' The Coming of the Law'' (1919) * '' The Hell Ship'' (1920) * '' The Little Wanderer'' (1920) * '' Power Over Men'' (1929) * '' All That Glitters'' (1936) * ''

Secrets of Scotland Yard ''Secrets of Scotland Yard'' is a 1944 American thriller film directed by George Blair and starring Edgar Barrier, Stephanie Bachelor and C. Aubrey Smith. The screenplay was by Denison Clift, adapting one of his own stories "Room 40, O.B." from ...

'' (1944)

References

External links

Full filmography of Denison Clift
at AFI * 1885 births 1961 deaths American film directors {{US-film-director-1880s-stub