Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis was born on Apr 06, 1907 in USA. Joseph H. Lewis's big-screen debut came with The Miracle Rider directed by B. Reeves Eason in 1935. Joseph H. Lewis is known for The Big Combo directed by Joseph H. Lewis, Cornel Wilde stars as Police Lt. Leonard Diamond and Richard Conte as Mr. Brown. The most recent award Joseph H. Lewis achieved is Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. The upcoming new movie Joseph H. Lewis plays is Terror in a Texas Town which will be released on Sep 07, 1958.
The term "style over content" fits director Joseph H. Lewis like a glove. His ability to elevate basically mundane and mediocre low-budget material to sublime cinematic art has gained him a substantial cult following among movie buffs. The Bonnie & Clyde look-alike Gun Crazy (1950), shot in 30 days on a budget of $400,000, is often cited as his best film. This taut gangster flick about two gun-crazy sociopaths on a crime spree is impregnated with an electric atmosphere, zipping along at a breakneck pace. It has been likened to a "tone poem of camera movement" and described by Martin Scorsese as "unrelenting and involving". A master of expressive lighting, tight close-ups, tracking and crane shots and offbeat camera angles and perspectives, Lewis possessed an instinctive sense of visual style, which imbued even the most improbable of his B-grade westerns and crime melodramas. Significant peripheral detail was his stock-in-trade. He acquired these skills working as a camera assistant in the 1920's (his aptitude for the work may have been come from his optometrist father) and further honed them in the MGM editorial department in the early '30s. After that Lewis edited serials at Republic and served the remainder of his apprenticeship as second unit director. He was signed to a full directing contract by Universal in 1937.During the next two decades, Lewis spent time at Columbia (1939-40, 1946-49), Universal again (1942), PRC (1944), MGM (1950, 1952-53) and United Artists (1957-58), reliably turning out a couple of pictures per year. While he helmed more than his fair share of horse operas, it was invariably his films noir which attracted the most attention. Pick of the bunch were two slick second features during his spell at Columbia, My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), about a diabolical murder plot involving Nina Foch in her first starring role; and So Dark the Night (1946), an offbeat psychological thriller with character actor Steven Geray well cast as a French detective who unwittingly investigates his own crimes. Another candidate for inclusion on any Lewis "best" list would have to be The Big Combo (1955), made for Allied Artists and boasting impressive camera work by John Alton. It marked the beginning of a new cycle of films in which violence became rather more accentuated (the film ran into censorship trouble for that reason) and where the villain (in this case, philosophizing racketeer Richard Conte) was rather more interesting and dynamic than the maniacally obsessive but dullish nominal hero (cop Cornel Wilde).After suffering a heart attack in 1953, Lewis began to reduce his workload. His cinematic curtain call was the low-budget western Terror in a Texas Town (1958), characterized by deliberate and fluid camera movement and some neat touches, like the hero (Sterling Hayden) sporting a harpoon for the climactic final showdown. The idea of successfully uniting the townsfolk against the tyranny of arbitrary rule was also intended as a veiled attack on McCarthyism. With the credits shot through the spokes of a wagon wheel, "Terror" was a fitting finale to Lewis's career.He spent a few more years directing episodic TV westerns (including several of the better episodes of The Rifleman (1958)) and finally retired in 1966. When not addressing aspiring directors on the lecture circuit, he spent his remaining decades in leisure pursuits, in particular sailing and deep-sea fishing aboard his much-loved 50-foot trawler "Buena Vista".
Birthday
Apr 06, 1907Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Known For
Awards
2 wins & 0 nominations
Movies & TV Shows
- 1958
director
6.8 - 1956
director
5.8 - 1956
editorial department
4.4 - 1955
director
6.4 - 1955
director
7.3 - 1953
director
6.2 - 1952
director
5.8 - 1952
director
6.4 - 1950
director
6.1 - 1950
director
7.6 - 1949
director
6.6 - 1948
director
6.1 - 1948
director
5.8 - 1946
director
6.3 - 1945
director
7.0 - 1945
director
6.4 - 1944
director
4.8 - 1942
director
5.3 - 1942
director
6.1 - 1942
director
5.9 - 1942
director
5.1 - 1942
The Mad Doctor of Market Street
director
5.2 - 1941
director
5.3 - 1941
director
5.4 - 1941
director
5.2 - 1940
director
5.9 - 1940
director
5.8 - 1940
director
5.6 - 1940
director
7.0 - 1940
director
6.0 - 1940
director
7.2 - 1939
director
- 1938
director
5.4 - 1937
director
5.1 - 1937
director
6.4 - 1937
director, editorial department
5.5 - 1937
director, editorial department
5.2 - 1936
editor
3.6 - 1936
editorial department
5.6 - 1936
editorial department
4.9 - 1936
editorial department
4.6 - 1936
editorial department
5.6 - 1936
editorial department
- 1936
The House of a Thousand Candles
editorial department
5.2 - 1936
editorial department
6.0 - 1936
editorial department
6.0 - 1936
editorial department
5.4 - 1936
editorial department
6.3 - 1936
editorial department
6.7 - 1935
The Adventures of Rex and Rinty
editor, editorial department
6.2 - 1935
editor
6.0 - 1935
editorial department
6.9 - 1935
editorial department
5.9 - 1935
editorial department
6.2 - 1935
editorial department
6.0 - 1935
editorial department
6.2 - 1935
editorial department
5.3 - 1935
editorial department
5.8 - 1935
editorial department
5.8 - 1935
editorial department
5.8 - 1935
editorial department
6.0 - 1935
editorial department
6.7