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

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

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

Silent Era A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...

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 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 Lasky ...

scenarios. 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 and '' The Love of Mary, Queen of Scots'' (1923), with Fay Compton in the title role. Clift remained in Great Britain after the transition to

sound films A sound film is a motion picture with 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, but decades passed befo ...

, occasionally directing small-budget melodramas- including ''The Mystery of the Marie Celeste'', 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 Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* So ...

'' (1921) * '' A Bill of Divorcement'' (1922) * ''

This Freedom ''This Freedom'' is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Denison Clift and starring Fay Compton, Clive Brook, and John Stuart. It was based on the novel ''This Freedom'' by A.S.M. Hutchinson Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson (2 J ...

'' (1923) * '' Ports of Call'' (1925) * ''

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

'' (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 region ...

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

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste ''The Mystery of the Mary Celeste'' is a 1935 British mystery film directed by Denison Clift and starring Béla Lugosi, Shirley Grey and Arthur Margetson. It is one of the early films from Hammer Film Productions. It is based on the story of th ...

'' (1935)

Screenwriter

* '' Gambling in Souls'' (1919) * '' The Coming of the Law'' (1919) * '' The Hell Ship'' (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 American film directors {{US-film-director-1880s-stub