Happy Birthday, Alexander Mackendrick! Born today in 1912, this American-born Scottish teacher and film director was one of the most distinguished (if frequently overlooked) directors ever to emerge from the British film industry.
Mackendrick had a sad and lonely childhood. His father passed of influenza as a result of a pandemic that swept the world just after World War I.
His mother, in desperate need of work, decided to be a dress designer. In order to pursue that decision, it was necessary for her to hand her only son over to his grandfather.
He then took the young MacKendrick back to Scotland when he was seven years old. Unfortunately, Mackendrick never saw or heard from his mother again.
Years later, between 1936 and 1938, Mackendrick scripted five cinema commercials. He later reflected that his work in the advertising industry was invaluable, in spite of his extreme dislike of the industry itself.
At the start of World War II, Mackendrick was employed by the Minister of Information making British propaganda films.
In 1942, Mackendrick went to Algiers and then to Italy, working with the Psychological Warfare Division. While there, he shot newsreels, documentaries, made leaflets, and did radio news.
The following year, Mackendrick became the director of the film unit.
He even approved the production of Italian film director, screenwriter and producer of Roberto Rossellini's 1945 Italian black and white neorealist war/drama film 'Roma città aperta' ('Rome, Open City').
In 1946 Mackendrick joined the British television and film production company Ealing Studios, of which is now the oldest studio in the world,
Mackendrick originally joined as a scriptwriter and production designer, where he worked for nine years, directing five films for them.
Of the five, the most notable were the 1949 British black and white comedy/crime film 'Whiskey Galore!' and the 1955 British black comedy/crime film 'The Ladykillers'. These two features are the first and second films of which he is best known.
'Whiskey Galore!' is set during World War II, and the tiny Scottish island of Todday runs out of whisky.
When the freighter S.S. Cabinet Minister runs aground nearby during a heavy fog, the islanders are delighted to learn that its cargo consists of 50,000 cases of whisky.
When officious English commanding officer Captain Paul Waggett (Basil Radford) demands return of the liquor, shopkeeper Joseph Macroon (Wylie Watson) and his daughters Peggy (Joan Greenwood) and Catriona (Gabrielle Blunt) spearhead an island rebellion.
The film is an adaptation of Compton Mackenzie's titular 1947 comedy farce fiction novel.
He had also co-written the screenplay along with English screenwriter Angus MacPhail, who is remembered for his work with Alfred Hitchcock. Mackenzie also appears in the film as Captain Buncher.
'The Ladykillers', (shot in color), tells of and old lady named Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson). She likes to report suspicious behavior to the police.
Unaware of her reputation, the dapper thief Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) rents rooms in the elderly widow's home for himself and his band of cohorts.
Posing as a string quintet, the thieves pull off a bank robbery, but slip up in front of the old woman as they try to escape.
Agreed that they need to murder her, the bumbling crooks wind up double-crossing each other and slowly killing themselves off.
One year later, 'The Ladykillers' won the BAFT Award for Best British Screenplay. This occurred at the 9th British Academy Film Awards in early March 1956.
American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films William Rose claimed to have dreamt the entire film and merely had to remember the details when he awoke.
Later that month, Rose was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. However, he did not win. This occurred at the 28th Academy Awards in late March 1956.
Another of Mackendrick's notable featurs that came out of Ealing Studios was the 1951 British black and white satirical comedy drama/fantasy film 'The Man in the White Suit'.
Mackendrick often spoke of his dislike of the film industry and decided to leave the United Kingdom for Hollywood in 1955.
When the base of Ealing studios was sold that year, Mackendrick was cut loose to pursue a career as a freelance director, something he was never prepared to do.
He had said: "At Ealing ... I was tremendously spoiled with all the logistical and financial troubles lifted off my shoulders, even if I had to do the films they told me to do.
The reason why I have discovered myself so much happier teaching is that when I arrived here after the collapse of the world I had known as Ealing, I found that in order to make movies in Hollywood, you have to be a great deal-maker ... I have no talent for that ... I realized I was in the wrong business and got out."
For the rest of his professional life, Mackendrick was spent commuting between London and Los Angeles, California.
His first film after his initial return to the United States, (and the third film for which he is best known for co-writing [uncredited] and directing).
This was the 1957 American black and white noir/drama film 'Sweet Smell of Success'. It starred Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.
The film is based on American screenwriter Ernest Lehman's 1957 fiction novelette Sweet Smell of Success: And Other Stories.
In the film, Lancaster portrayed the powerful and sleazy newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker (based on the syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator Walter Winchell).
The following year, 'Sweet Smell of Success' was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor (Tony Curtis). However, he didn't win. This occurred at the 11th British Academy Film Awards in early March 1958.
After more than twenty years in the film industry as a screenwriter, storyboard editor, and director of memorable films, Mackendrick turned his back on Hollywood and began a new career as the Dean of one of the country's most demanding and influential film schools.
After only three more features Mackendrick spent the last twenty-five years of his life teaching film at the California Institute of the Arts, and is today acknowledged as one of the finest instructors of narrative cinema who ever lived.
In 1993, 'Sweet Smell of Success' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
In the early 2000s, the Coen brothers adapted their own take on Rose's screenplay. The result was the 2004 American black comedy/crime film 'The Ladykillers', starring Tom Hanks.
Upon release, the film received mixed reviews upon its release, and several critics consider it one of the Coen brothers' weaker efforts, negatively comparing it to the English classic.
Roger Ebert gave 'The Ladykillers' 2.5 out of 4, and wrote: "The Coens' Ladykillers, on the other hand, is always wildly signaling for us to notice it.
Not content to be funny, it wants to be FUNNY! Have you ever noticed that the more a comedian wears funny hats, the less funny he is?"
In the late 2010s, a remake of 'Whiskey Galore!' was remade into the titular 2016 British comedy/romance film.
According to Mackendrick's filmmaking philosophy, he had said In an interview: "Hearing the lines, hearing the playing of the lines in your mind's ears, and seeing the performance in your mind's eye, is the essence of filmmaking.
The other thing—getting it on the screen—is the medium; film begins between the ears and under the hair of one character, and ends between the ears and under the scalpel of the audience."
The overall sense of Mackendrick's career is of great potential unfulfilled. He was a visually acute filmmaker who thought in images and movement whilst always remaining in command of cinematic storytelling.
Mackendrick was a director whose films offer a complex and ambiguous mix of pessimism, callousness, and mordant humor.
Nicknamed Sandy, Mackendrick had been active from 1937–1967.
