Michael Curtiz was an exceptional director - and quiet about it. When he directed you didn't hear the constant chatter of how amazing he is -even though you don't really like his pictures (like some Scorsese) or how touching and unspoiled his vision is (like Spielberg - don't get me started) or about how his vision is beyond yours (Coppola) or about staying true to his dream - no matter how boring (Lucas).
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No, Michael Curtiz did his job from 1913 in Austria-Hungary to 1962 in Hollywood. Along the way he tortured the English Language more than once:
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- . During filming of The Charge of the Light Brigade, he wanted many riderless horses in the background during the final charge. His instructions were, "Bring on the empty horses", later the title of the autobiography of one of the stars of the film, David Niven (I)' .
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- Another time he was chewing out an assistant for neglecting to do a job assigned to him, and yelled, "The next time I want an idiot to do this, I'll do it myself!"
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- His grasp of the English language made him the subject of many long standing Hollywood anecdotes. He once berated David Niven on set declaring: "You think you know f*ck everything and I know f*ck nothing. Well let me tell you, I know f*ck all!!"
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And yet, it is hard to image the movies without him. See how many of his movies below you know...
FYI:
Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, The Adventrues of Robin Hood, Charge of the Light Brigade, The Sea Wolf, Man with a Horn, White Christmas and King Creole.
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During World War II, this man found time to direct "This is the Army", which raised over 10 Million dollars for the US government and "Meeting in Moscow" for Franklin Rosevelt.
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Although he left Austria/ Hungary before Hitler, he lost his sister and cousins at Auschwitz and donated millions to the European Relief Fund.
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I love the fact that he just went to work, did amazing things and moved on. Two of my favorite "forgotten" movies were directed by him, Flamingo Road and The Kennel Murder Case.
.In Flamingo Road (left) Sydney Greenstreet talks to Joan Crawford about her questional "carny" past. "Glad you forgot about it. People around here don't forget so easy. I don't forget so easy."
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Joan says, "You know, we had an elephant in the carnival like that. Held a grudge against a keeper for years. Finally turned and tried to attack the keeper. Had to shoot the poor animal. (looking Sydney in the face) You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get rid of a dead elephant."