Ellis Roderick Dungan (May 11, 1909 – December 1, 2001) was an American

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 ...

, who was well known for working in Indian films, predominantly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

, from 1936 to 1950. He was an alumnus of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and moved to India in 1935. During his film career in South India, Dungan directed the debut films of several popular Tamil film actors, such as

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

in '' Sathi Leelavathi'', T. S. Balaiya, Kali N. Ratnam and N. S. Krishnan.

Biography

Early life

An Irish-American, Dungan was born in Barton, Ohio. on May 11, 1909. He attended St. Clairsville High School in St. Clairsville, where he played quarterback on the school football team. He bought his first box camera to take pictures for the school yearbook, for which he was editor-in-chief. He later enrolled at the

in 1932 in the newly established Cinematography & Motion Picture Production Department.

Career

Ellis Dungan SD Santhanalakshmi MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar Ambikavathy 1937

In 1935, he arrived in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

with his college mate Michael Ormalev at the invitation of another USC student - Manik Lal Tandon of

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. Tandon's family was then planning to enter the film industry. When those plans did not take off, Tandon invited them to

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

where he was directing the Tamil film '' Nandanar''. There Tandon introduced them to A. N. Marudhachalam Chettiar, a film producer who was making the film '' Sathi Leelavathi'' and recommended Dungan be hired to direct the film as he himself was busy directing ''Nandanar''. Thus Dungan made his directing debut with ''Sathi Leelavathi'' which was also the first film of future-

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de ...

. During 1936-50, Dungan made a number of Tamil films and one Hindi film - ''Meera'' (1947). Dungan had no knowledge of Indian languages, a problem which never affected his career as a director of films in Indian languages, especially Tamil. He introduced many new techniques to Indian cinema despite the technical limitations of that period. Many of his movies were based on the mythical characters of the

Hindu religion Hinduism () is an umbrella term for a range of Indian religious and spiritual traditions ( ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and right ...

and he had to shoot them in Hindu temples where non-Hindus were not allowed in those days. Dungan filmed his movies in the temples by passing himself off as a Kashmiri pundit. Dungan is credited with introducing modern make-up, the mobile camera and cabaret dance numbers to Tamil Cinema and moving it away from the influence of stage plays. For his introduction of intimate love scenes in ''

Ponmudi Ponmudi (the Golden Peak) is a hill station in the Peringamala gramapanchayath of Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala in India. It is located 22km west of Vithura town, 53 km north-east of Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram City, ...

'' (1950), Dungan was criticized by the press for introducing "vulgar" scenes and for "corrupting the population with American ways". His last Tamil film was ''

Manthiri Kumari ''Manthiri Kumari'' () is a 1950 Indian Tamil-language historical fiction film directed by Ellis R. Dungan, starring M. G. Ramachandran, M. N. Nambiar, Madhuri Devi and G. Sakunthala. The screenplay was written by M. Karunanidhi based on h ...

'' in 1950. He returned to America and settled in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

, in 1958. There he started his company - "Ellis Dungan productions" and for the next thirty years made documentary movies for the Hollywood producer Duke Goldstone.

Death

Dungan died in Wheeling on December 1, 2001, at the age of 92.

Legacy

Dungan is credited with having revolutionized Indian cinema and introduced western innovations. In 2013, Indian film maker Karan Bali made a one-hour documentary on Dungan titled '' An American in Madras'' by consulting West Virginia State Archives and interviewing people who had known Dungan.

Filmography

Tamil

* '' Bhakta Nandanar'' (1935) (uncredited) * '' Sathi Leelavathi'' (1936) * '' Seemanthini'' (1936) * '' Iru Sahodarargal'' (1936) * '' Ambikapathy'' (1937) * '' Surya Puthri'' (1941) * '' Sakuntalai'' (1940) * '' Kalamegam'' (1940) * '' Daasi Penn'' (1943) * ''Valmiki'' (1945) * ''Returning Soldier'' (1945) * '' Meera'' (1945) * ''

'' (1950) * ''

'' (1950)

Hindi

* ''Meera'' (1947)

English

* ''

The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...

'' (1952) (as associate producer) * '' Smilin' Ed's Gang'' (1951–1954) (TV show) * ''

Andy's Gang ''Andy's Gang'' is a children's television program broadcast on NBC from August 20, 1955, to December 31, 1960, hosted by the actor Andy Devine. It was the successor to the radio and television program ''Smilin' Ed McConnell and His Buster Brown ...

'' (1955–1960) (TV show) * '' Harry Black and the Tiger'' (1958) * '' Wheeling 1959: Wheels to Progress'' (1959) * '' The Big Hunt'' (1959) * '' Tarzan Goes to India'' (1962) (as second unit producer) * '' For Liberty and Union'' (1977) * '' A Ride of the Future'' (1977) *
Fox - Architect of the United States First Navy
' (1987)

Bibliography

* ''A Guide to Adventure - An Autobiography'' (with Barbara Diane Smik), Pittsburg: Dorrance Publishing Co. (2002)

References

External links

*
Entry in the Wheeling Hall of Fame

NYT blog post on Ellis R. Dungan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungan, Ellis R. 1909 births 2001 deaths Tamil film directors USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni American people of Irish descent Hindi-language film directors Film directors from Ohio Film directors from West Virginia People from Wheeling, West Virginia