Happy Birthday, Joseph H. Lewis! Born today in 1907, this American B-movie film director's stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966.
Among his credits, Lewis is best known for directing the 1950 American black and white noir/crime film 'Gun Crazy' (also known as 'Deadly is the Female').
The film was based off of American journalist, novelist and screenwriter MacKinlay Kantor's short story published in 1938 in the Saturday Evening Post.
Kantor also co-wrote the film with American screenwriter and novelist Dalton Trumbo, as he was "fronting" for the blacklisted screenwriter.
This gem of low-budget filmmaking tells of gun-obsessed pacifist Bart Tare (John Dall) witnesses expert shooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) demonstrate her firearm prowess at a carnival one night, it's love at first sight.
Afterwards, the aimless Bart joins the traveling show and begins a romance with Annie, but her dangerously rebellious spirit soon gets them both fired. The film was loosely based on the exploits of Bonnie and Clyde.
After eloping, the young lovers embark on an armed robbery spree, entering a life of crime for the "pleasure" of it. The both manage to elude the authorities until Annie insists on pulling one last job before the mentally unbalanced lovers meet a violent end.
Prior to 'Gun Crazy' Lewis is also known for directing the 1955 American black and white film noir/crime film 'The Big Combo'.
In 1998, 'Gun Crazy' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
It was Lewis' gritty, fast-paced low-budget films that so transcended the conventions of the B-movie that filmmakers and screenwriters like Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich and Jay Cocks were moved to elevate him to the pantheon of auteurs.
His "style over content" and 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.
Lewis had been active from 1937–1966.
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