Happy Birthday, Albert Lewin! Born today in 1894 as Albert Parsons Lewin, this American script supervisor, production supervisor, screenwriter, producer and film director had lived a full life before ever becoming involved with film.
Lewin was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Years later, he earned B.A in English, followed by a Master's degree at Harvard University. Afterwards, Lewin taught English at the University of Missouri 1916 to 1918.
During World War I, he served in the military and was afterwards appointed assistant national director of the American Jewish Relief Committee (JDC). Years later, he fought as an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II in Europe.
Lewin would have gone on to a professorship, if not for a chance viewing of a German film by director Robert Wiene.
This was the 1920 German silent black and white (tinted) horror film 'Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari' ('The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'). It was this film of which persuaded Lewin to enter the film business.
Initially, he was employed by the Jewish Tribune as a drama and film critic, then as a reader for Polish-American film producer Samuel Goldwyn.
In 1924, Lewin also worked as a script clerk for American film director, film producer, and screenwriter King Vidor ('The Big Parade', 'The Crowd', 'Stella Dallas') before becoming a screenwriter at MGM.
Lewin had also worked as a script clerk for pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor Victor Sjöström ('The Phantom Carriage').
Lewin joined MGM in 1924, after his first scenario was accepted. He was later appointed head of the studio's script department.
By the late 1920s, he was American film producer Irving Thalberg's personal assistant and closest associate.
Also, during the late 1920a, Lewin had served as a screenwriter for 'The Fates of a Flirt' (1925) and 'Spring Fever' (1927).
Lewin also became head of the MGM script department in 1929. However, this was before working as an associate producer on several key MGM films in the 1930s.
Nominally credited as an associate producer, Lewin produced several of MGM's most important films of the 1930s. Lewin's fortunes were also inextricably linked to his mentor, Thalberg, a fellow intellectual.
When Thalberg, nicknamed "The Boy Wonder", passed suddenly from pneumonia on September 14, 1936, Lewin resigned from MGM on the spot and moved to Paramount, remaining there until 1941.
Lewin's most notable producing credits during this period included producing 'True Confessions' (1937), 'Spawn of the North' (1938), 'Zaza' (1939) and co-producing 'So Ends Our Night' (1941).
In 1942, Lewin worked as director, writer and producer on just six motion pictures, before a heart attack prompted his early retirement.
The trademarks of Lewin's films include a hearing aid, Savile Row suits. He is best known for his literary adaptations.
In the early 1950s, Lewin wrote, co-produced and directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1951 British Technicolor romance/drama film 'Pandora and the Flying Dutchman'.
The film tells of a fisherman in 1930s Spain who finds the bodies of a 17th-century Dutch sea captain Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason).
The fisherman also finds a woman named Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), who is willing to die for him.
'Pandora' had been borrowed from American film producer Joe Kaufman's screenplay, who also co-produced. He had based his script on the legendary ghost ship De Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman).
According to the legend, if hailed by another ship, the crew of the Flying Dutchman was said to try to send messages to land, or to people long dead.
Purported sightings in the 19th and 20th centuries claimed that the ship glowed with a ghostly light. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom.
However, MGM delayed the film's release until Gardner's star-making performance in the 1951 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy-drama 'Show Boat' could be seen. The tactic worked, and this film solidified her status as a rising star.
Among his credits, Lewin is also known for directing 'The Moon and Sixpence' (1942), 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1945), 'The Private Affairs of Bel Ami' (1947), 'Saadia' (1954) and 'The Living Idol' (1957).
Nicknamed Allie or Al, Lewin had been active from 1923–1968.
