Lothar Mendes (19 May 1894 – 24 February 1974) was a German-born
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 ...
. His two best known films are ''
Jew Süss'' (1934) and ''
The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (1936), both productions for British studios.
Career
Born in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Mendes began his career as an actor in Vienna and Berlin in
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...
's company. After directing his first two films in Berlin, he settled in the United States in the early 1920s and remained there until 1933, directing more than a dozen features, mostly frothy comedies, while under contract to
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS.
**Paramount Picture ...
. His films included the last silent film made in the USA, ''
The Four Feathers'' (1929), and the murder mystery ''
Payment Deferred'' (1933) starring British actor
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (; 1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British and American actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play wi ...
.
After
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
came to power, Mendes, who was
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, traveled to Britain to work at
Gaumont-British
The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont.
Film production
Gaumo ...
Pictures, directing films with
Michael Balcon
Sir Michael Elias Balcon (19 May 1896 – 17 October 1977) was an English film producer known for his leadership of Ealing Studios in west London from 1938 to 1956. Under his direction, the studio became one of the most important British film ...
producing. Under that banner, he directed ''
Jew Süss'' (1934)
starring
Conrad Veidt
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt ( , ; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German and British actor. He attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man ...
, who had also emigrated from Germany. (Mendes' ''Jew Suss'' should not be confused with the later Nazi
film of the same title released in 1940 which is a virulently antisemitic film.) Mendes' 1934 film version of Feuchtwanger's novel received strong notices at the time, and was considered an important and early film in exposing the origins of the
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
of the new
Nazi government; in particular, it was praised by
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
and the Jewish American leader, Rabbi
Stephen Wise, though the film itself did not attract an audience in Depression-era America.
Mendes best-known film, ''
The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (1936), is based on the
H.G. Wells
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
short story was made for
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956) 's
London Films
London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included '' The Private Li ...
, for which Wells co-wrote the adaptation. It features
Roland Young and
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...
,. His last British film was ''
Moonlight Sonata'' aka ''The Charmer'' and starred the piano legend
Paderewski as himself; it contains rare performance footage of the legendary pianist.
After returning to Hollywood in the late 1930s, he directed five more studio films. Mendes co-directed the pro-British ''
International Squadron'' (1941), starring
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
; this was one of several films on the
Eagle Squadron of American pilots who volunteered to fly in the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...
before the US entered the war. His last feature films were based on patriotic
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
themes with such stars as
Rosalind Russell
Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907November 28, 1976) was an American actress, model, comedian, screenwriter, and singer,Obituary '' Variety'', December 1, 1976, p. 79. known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in ...
as a Navy reconnaissance pilot who must fly one more mission before getting married in ''
Flight for Freedom'' (1943) and
Edward G Robinson as a man who may or may not have married a spy in ''
Tampico
Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fif ...
'' (1944).
"A competent, dependable director," commented film historian Larry Langman, "he never achieved the critical success in America that came to some of his compatriots."
Personal life
Mendes' first wife was the actress
Eva May, daughter of
Mia May and
Joe May
Joe May (born Joseph Otto Mandl; 7 November 1880 – 29 April 1954) was an Austrian film director and film producer and one of the pioneers of Cinema of Germany, German cinema.
Biography
After studying in Berlin and a variety of odd jobs, he b ...
. From 1926 to 1928, Mendes was married to the British-born silent film actress
Dorothy Mackaill. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1935, he married Countess Marguerite de Bosdari (better known as
Babe Plunket-Greene
Babe Plunket Greene (27 October 1907The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, later Supreme Court of Judicature: Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Files; Class: J 77; Piece: 916; Item: 7811 � ...
), former wife of Count Anthony de Bosdari and of
David Plunket Greene.
Mendes retired from films in 1946 and returned to London, where he remained until his death on 24 February 1974 at age 79. He was then living at 54, Embassy House,
West End Lane, London
NW6.
Partial filmography
* ''
The Island of Tears'' (1923)
* ''
Three Cuckoo Clocks'' (1926)
* ''
Prince of Tempters'' (1926)
* ''
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
'' (1927)
* ''
A Night of Mystery'' (1928)
* ''
The Street of Sin'' (1928)
* ''
Interference
Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to:
Communications
* Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message
* Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extra ...
'' (1928)
* ''
The Four Feathers'' (1929)
* ''
Dangerous Curves'' (1929)
* ''
The Marriage Playground
''The Marriage Playground'' is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Lothar Mendes, and written by Doris Anderson, J. Walter Ruben, and Edith Wharton. The film stars Mary Brian, Fredric March, Lilyan Tashman, Huntley Gordon, K ...
'' (1929)
* ''
Paramount on Parade'' (1930) co-director
* ''
Ladies' Man'' (1931)
* ''
Strangers in Love
''Strangers in Love'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Lothar Mendes, written by Grover Jones, William J. Locke and William Slavens McNutt, and starring Fredric March, Kay Francis, Stuart Erwin, Juliette Compton, Geor ...
'' (1932)
* ''
Payment Deferred'' (1932)
* ''
If I Had a Million
''If I Had a Million'' is a 1932 American pre-Code Paramount Studios anthology film starring Gary Cooper, George Raft, Charles Laughton, W. C. Fields, Jack Oakie, Frances Dee and Charlie Ruggles, among others. There were seven directors: ...
'' (1932)
* ''
Luxury Liner'' (1933)
* ''
Jew Süss'' (US title: ''Power'')
* ''
The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (1936)
* ''
Moonlight Sonata'' (1937)
* ''
Flight for Freedom'' (1943)
* ''
Tampico
Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fif ...
'' (1944)
* ''
The Walls Came Tumbling Down'' (1946)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Lothar
1894 births
1974 deaths
Film people from Berlin
German expatriates in the United States
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom