Denison Clift (1885–1961) was an American playwright, novelist,

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He directed in both America and Great Britain, mainly during the

Silent Era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

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 filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most co ...

entrusted him with writing

Lasky Lasky is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Art Lasky (1909–1980), American heavyweight professional boxer * Bette Lasky (born 1947), American politician; New Hampshire state senator and former state representative * David Lask ...

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; from Italian , "that which is pinned to the scenery") is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and actio ...

s. 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 Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

'' (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 10 years old, her mother Eleanor ( Warner) die ...

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 film A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, 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, bu ...

s, occasionally directing small-budget melodramas- including ''

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste ''The Mystery of the Mary Celeste'' (U.S. title: ''The Phantom Ship'') is a 1935 British mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private invest ...

'', 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) * ''

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

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

'' (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 regiona ...

'' (1929) * '' City of Play'' (1929) * ''

'' (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 Co ...

'' (1919) * ''

The Coming of the Law ''The Coming of the Law'' is a 1919 American silent Western film directed by Arthur Rosson and starring Tom Mix, Agnes Vernon and George Nichols.Langman, Larry. ''A Guide to Silent Westerns''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1992. p. 86. . . Cast ...

'' (1919) * ''

The Hell Ship ''The Hell Ship'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Scott R. Dunlap and starring Madlaine Traverse, Alan Roscoe, Betty Bouton, Dick La Reno, and Jack Curtis. The film was released by Fox Film Corporation in February 1920. Plo ...

'' (1920) * '' The Little Wanderer'' (1920) * '' Power Over Men'' (1929) * '' All That Glitters'' (1936) * '' Secrets of Scotland Yard'' (1944)

References

External links

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