Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor.

Mann initially started as a theatre actor appearing in numerous stage productions. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood where he worked as a talent scout and casting director. He then became an assistant director, most notably working for Preston Sturges. His directorial debut was ''Dr. Broadway'' (1942). He directed several feature films for numerous production companies, including RKO Pictures, Eagle-Lion Films, Universal Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His first major success was ''T-Men'' (1947), garnering notable recognition for producing several films in the ''film noir'' genre through modest budgets and short shooting schedules. As a director, he often collaborated with cinematographer John Alton.

During the 1950s, Mann shifted to directing Western films starring several major stars of the era, including James Stewart. He directed Stewart in eight films such as ''Winchester '73'' (1950), '' The Naked Spur'' (1953), and ''The Man from Laramie'' (1955). While successful in the United States, these films became appreciated and studied among French film critics, several of whom would become influential with the French New Wave. In 1955, Jacques Rivette hailed Mann as "one of the four great directors of postwar Hollywood". The other three were Nicholas Ray, Richard Brooks, and Robert Aldrich.

By the 1960s, Mann turned to large-scale filmmaking, directing the medieval epic ''El Cid'' (1961), starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, and '' The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964). Both films were produced by Samuel Bronston. Mann then directed the war film ''The Heroes of Telemark'' (1965) and the spy thriller '' A Dandy in Aspic'' (1968). In 1967, Mann died from a heart attack in Berlin before he had finished the latter film; its star Laurence Harvey completed the film albeit uncredited.

Early life

Mann was born Emil Anton Bundsmann in San Diego, California. His father, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, an academic, was born in the village of Rosice, Chrudim, Bohemia to a Sudeten-German Catholic family. His mother, Bertha Weichselbaum, a drama teacher, was an American of Bavarian Jewish descent. At the time of his birth, Mann's parents were members of the Theosophical Society community of Lomaland in San Diego County.

When Mann was three, his parents moved to his father's native country Austria to seek treatment for his father's ill health, leaving Mann behind in Lomaland. Mann's mother did not return for him until he was fourteen, and only then at the urging of a cousin who had paid him a visit and was worried about his treatment and situation at Lomaland. In 1917, Mann's family relocated to New York where he developed a penchant for acting. This was reinforced with Mann's participation in the Young Men's Hebrew Association. He continued to act in school productions, studying at East Orange Grammar and Newark's Central High School. At the latter school, he portrayed the title role in ''Alcestis''; one of his friends and classmates was future Hollywood studio executive Dore Schary. After his father's death in 1923, Mann dropped out during his senior year to help with the family's finances.

Career

Theater career

Back in New York, Mann took a job as a night watchman for Westinghouse Electric, which enabled him to look for stage work during the day. Within a few months, Mann was working full-time at the Triangle Theater in Greenwich Village. Using the name "Anton Bundsmann", he appeared as an actor in ''The Dybbuk'' (1925) with an English translation by Henry Alsberg, ''The Little Clay Cart'' (1926), and ''The Squall'' (1926) by Jean Bart. Towards the end of the decade, Mann appeared in the Broadway productions of ''The Blue Peter'' and ''Uncle Vanya'' (1929).

In 1930, Mann joined the Theatre Guild, as a production manager and eventually as a director. Nevertheless, he continued to act, appearing in ''The Streets of New York, or Poverty is No Crime'' (1931), and ''The Bride the Sun Shines On'' (1933) portraying the "Duke of Calcavalle". In 1933, Mann directed a stage adaptation of Christopher Morley's ''Thunder on the Left'', which was performed at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre. In a theatre review for ''The New York Times'', Brooks Atkinson dismissed the play, writing "its medley of realism and fantasy grows less intelligible scene by scene, and some of the acting is disenchantingly profane." He later directed ''Cherokee Night'' (1936), ''So Proudly We Hail'' (1936), and ''The Big Blow'' (1938). He worked for various stock companies, and in 1934, he established his own, which later became Long Island's Red Barn Playhouse.

Early Hollywood and television career

In 1937, Mann began working for Selznick International Pictures as a talent scout and casting director. He also directed screen tests for a number of films, including ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1938), ''Intermezzo'' (1939), ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), and '' Rebecca'' (1940). One of the unknown actresses he tested was Jennifer Jones. After a few months at Selznick, Mann moved to Paramount Pictures to serve as an assistant director for several film directors, most particularly for Preston Sturges on ''Sullivan's Travels'' (1941). Mann recalled, " restonlet me go through the entire production, watching him direct – and I directed a little. I'd stage a scene and he'd tell me how lousy it was. Then I watched the editing and I was able gradually to build up knowledge. Preston insisted I make a film as soon as possible." He served three years in the position.

Meanwhile, Mann did notable, but mostly lost, work as a director for NBC's experimental television station W2XBS from 1939 to 1940. This included condensations of the hit Western play ''The Missouri Legend'' and the melodrama '' The Streets of New York''. A five-minute silent clip of the latter show survives in the Museum of Television and Radio, including noted actors Norman Lloyd and George Coulouris.

Directing career

1942–1949

Through the efforts of his friend MacDonald Carey, Mann made his directorial debut with ''Dr. Broadway'' (1942) at Paramount, which starred Carey. Decades later, Mann remembered he was told to complete shooting the film in eighteen days. Upon its release, Herman Schoenfeld of ''Variety'' was dismissive of the film writing, "The dialog could have just as well have been written in baby talk, and Anton Mann's direction just wasn't. The photography is spotty and the production looks inexpensive. Acting is weak, only Edward Ciannelli as the killer who gets killed, turning in an adequate job." ''Harrison's Reports'' was more complimentary, stating the film was a "fairly good program entertainment" with "colorful characters, human interest, fast action, and situations that hold one in suspense."

His follow-up film was ''Moonlight in Havana'' (1943) at Universal Pictures. The film featured Allan Jones and Jane Frazee

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