Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (June 3, 1902 – December 15, 1974), commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian and American filmmaker.
Born to Jewish parents in Kiev, then in the Russian Empire, he began his theatrical training at age 13 in Saint Petersburg, where he lived through the end of the Russian Revolution. He began his film directing career in Germany and France, before moving to the United States in the late 1930s.
Litvak was notable for directing little-known foreign actors to early fame and is believed to have contributed to several actors winning Academy Awards. In 1936 he directed Mayerling, a film which made French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux international stars. He returned Swedish star Ingrid Bergman to popularity with American audiences in 1956 with Anastasia, in which she won her second Oscar. He directed Olivia de Havilland to an Academy Award nomination for The Snake Pit (1948). He directed Jean Gabin in his screen debut and directed Elia Kazan in his earliest acting role, City for Conquest.
Litvak directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, starring Edward G. Robinson, which used actual newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. As a refugee from Nazi Germany, Litvak was among the few directors who tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.
During World War II, he enlisted and co-directed documentaries with Frank Capra, including Why We Fight films. On his own he directed The Battle of Russia (1943), which won numerous awards and was nominated for an Oscar. Because of Litvak's fluency in multiple languages, he supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings. He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force. He was promoted to full colonel by the end of the war for his volunteer wartime efforts. He received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States.
Early years Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak was born in Kiev to a Jewish family that had originated from Lithuania (his surname means "Lithuanian" in Yiddish).Wakeman, John (ed.) World Film Directors: 1890–1945, H. W. Wilson Co. (1987) pp. 677–683Heinze, Andrew R. Jews and the American Soul: Human Nature in the Twentieth Century, Princeton Univ. Press (2004), p. 198 The family moved to Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, when Litvak was still a child. As a teenager, he worked at a theater and took acting lessons at the state drama school, and later graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University.
Litvak remained there through the Russian Revolution, and began his filmmaking career at Nordkino Studios, where he was assistant director and a production designer for nine silent films during the 1920s. For political and ideological reasons, and especially because Russian theaters were nationalized by the Soviet government in the 1920s, he left Russia for Berlin, Germany in 1925. There he would have more artistic possibilities.Packer, Sharon. Cinema's Sinister Psychiatrists: From Caligari to Hannibal, McFarland (2012) p. 204
Director in Europe Germany Litvak's first film as director was the musical Dolly Gets Ahead (1930) with Dolly Haas. He followed it with two Lilian Harvey films, No More Love (1931) and Calais-Dover (1931).
He directed Lilac (1932) in France. He returned to Germany for The Song of Night (1932), shot at the same time as an English version, released as Tell Me Tonight (1932). He went to England to direct Sleeping Car (1933), starring Ivor Novello.
France Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power with the Nazi Party in 1933, Litvak moved to France. Paris became his favored locale for shooting films. Thirteen of his thirty-seven films were set there.
He made The Old Devil (1933) and The Crew (1935).
According to film historian Ronald Bowers, Litvak became skilled in using location shooting and realistic documentary effects as early as the 1930s. He also became known in the industry for emphasizing sound effects over dialogue in sound films. He preferred to keep the camera running with tracking shots and pans.Bowers, Ronald; Hillstrom, Laurie Collier, ed. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Directors (3rd ed.) St. James Press, 1997 pp. 613–615 Given his preference for achieving motion in camerawork, he often used crane shots and sat with the cameraman to be sure he was getting what he wanted.Harrisburg Telegraph, 13 September 1937 p. 12
Mayerling Mayerling (1936), which starred French actors Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux, is credited with establishing Litvak's international reputation as a producer and director. Critics widely praised the film; some reviewers called it "one of the most compelling love stories the cinema has produced," and "a romantic tragedy of the highest order." American writer Lincoln Kirstein claimed the film became "a kind of standard for the romantic film in a historical setting." In describing Litvak's cinematography style in the film, critic Jack Edmund Nolan writes that it is "replete with the camera trackings, pans, and swoops, techniques which later became the trademark of Max Ophuls."
Hollywood and World War II Warner Bros The worldwide success of Mayerling brought Litvak invitations from Hollywood; he was offered a four-year contract by Warner Brothers. After accepting the contract, Litvak became one of Hollywood's leading directors by the late 1930s. He was lucky to have left France before it fell to the Nazi invasion and occupation.
He directed the films The Woman I Love (1937); Tovarich (1937) with Boyer, a comedy celebrating "outmoded values of the ruined Russian aristocracy"; The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938); and The Sisters (1938), starring Bette Davis and Errol Flynn.
Also with Warner Brothers, he directed Confessions of a Nazi Spy, a 1939 film starring Edward G. Robinson as an FBI agent who breaks up a Nazi spy ring. It was released at a time of increasing tensions in Europe as the Nazis promoted their expansion. Among the techniques he used in the film to achieve realism was the inclusion of newsreel footage from U.S. Nazi rallies. While the story was fictional, the espionage methods that it revealed were considered factual. The film was described as the "strongest and most thrilling dramatic movie" that had ever been put on screen."Sensational Nazi Spy Drama Opens at the Capitol Today", The Evening Standard, 10 July 1939, p. 14 The film was banned in Germany, and by its Fascist allies Italy and Spain. Neutral countries such as Switzerland and Ireland also banned it. The producers hoped to arouse concern in the United States, where many people wanted to pursue isolation and escape any "European war.""'Nazi Spy': A Potboiler Meant to Stir Outrage", The Los Angeles Times, 20 February 1992, p. 154
Biographer Alexander Walker said in his book about Vivien Leigh, that Litvak tried to open Hollywood's eyes to the threat Germany posed to Europe and the world.Walker, Alexander. Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh, Grove Press (1987) p. 130 Leigh, who later starred in Litvak's The Deep Blue Sea (1955), recalls her Sunday morning visits to Litvak and his wife, Miriam Hopkins. She learned from him that the studios were trying to protect their investments in the German box office and did not want to produce films that would offend that country. Hollywood's "comfortable isolationism affronted her."
After Castle on the Hudson (1940), Litvak produced and directed All This and Heaven Too, starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture.
That same year he co-produced and directed City for Conquest, starring James Cagney and supporting actor Elia Kazan. This was one of Kazan's few film roles before he became a leading director. The Hollywood Reporter gave Litvak's directing special praise:
He directed two films released the same year: Out of the Fog (1941) and Blues in the Night (1941). 20th Century Fox borrowed him under contract to direct This Above All (1942).
World War II and Why We Fight Litvak, having by then become an American citizen, enlisted in the United States Army at the beginning of US involvement in World War II. During the war, when he directed training and other films, and documentaries about the war, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He joined with fellow director Frank Capra to make the Why We Fight war training film series, most of which included newsreel footage.
Films they co-directed for the series included Prelude to War (1942), The Nazis Strike (1943), Divide and Conquer (1943), The Battle of China (1944) and War Comes to America (1945). Capra was in charge of production for all the films.
Litvak became involved with helping the Soviet Union in August 1941, soon after it was invaded by Nazi Germany. He was treasurer of the Russian War Relief Association, which sponsored international radio benefits with stars such as Edward G. Robinson and Ronald Colman.Capua, Michelangelo. Anatole Litvak: The Life and Films, McFarland (2015)
Litvak co-produced and alone directed The Battle of Russia in 1943. After the film was released, he was sent to Russia on a special mission, in which he held a private screening for the Russian General Staff. The theme of the film was to show the heroic manner that the Russian people fought against the Nazis. U.S. ambassador to Russia W. Averell Harriman asked Litvak to narrate the English-language film in Russian during the screening.
Litvak recalled:
Litvak was decorated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for his work on this film. It was shown in theaters throughout Russia.Lyons, Leonard. "Lyons Den", Detroit Free Press, 29 July 1944, p. 16 During his trip to Russia, Litvak briefly reunited with his mother in Leningrad; they had not seen each other for nearly 20 years. After the film's excellent reception in the U.S., it won the New York Film Critics Award as Best Documentary.
He later directed War Comes to America (1945), the final film in the Why We Fight series. The films were scripted by Anthony Veiller and narrated by Walter Huston, with music by Dimitri Tiomkin, another Russian-born émigré to Hollywood. Prelude to War won the Oscar for Best Documentary of 1942. Because of Litvak's ability to speak Russian, German, and French, he subsequently supervised the filming of the D-Day Normandy landings.Robinson, Harlow. Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood's Russians: Biography of an image, Northeastern University Press (2007) pp. 27, 116 He also filmed aerial warfare with the U.S. Eighth Air Force.
Because Litvak joined the army to help Capra produce the film series, the director said he was one of the "Hollywood knights" who came to America's "rescue," and without whose help "no one could have made the Why We Fight films."Capra, Frank. The Name Above the Title, Macmillan (1971) pp. 340, 350–351
Ending the war as a full colonel, Litvak received special awards from the governments of France, Britain, and the United States for his work. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre. The British government awarded him with a gold medal, ribbon, and citation as an honorary officer of the Order of the British Empire. By an order from Winston Churchill, all the films in the Why We Fight series were to be shown in all public theaters throughout Britain. From the U.S., he received the United States Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star Medal.
Post-war films Hollywood At the end of the war, Litvak returned to filmmaking with The Long Night (1947), a flop thriller at RKO.