Curt Siodmak | |
---|---|
Born | Kurt Siodmak August 10, 1902 Dresden, Germany |
Died | September 2, 2000 Three Rivers, California, US | (aged 98)
Occupation | Novelist and filmmaker |
Nationality | German-American |
Period | 1929–2000 |
Genre | Short stories, novels and screenplays |
Relatives | Robert Siodmak (brother) |
Curt Siodmak (August 10, 1902 – September 2, 2000)[1] was a German-American novelist, screenwriter and director. He is known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, with such films as The Wolf Man and Donovan's Brain (the latter adapted from his novel of the same name). He was the younger brother of noir director Robert Siodmak.[2]
Life and career
[edit]Siodmak was born Kurt Siodmak in Dresden, Germany, the son of Rosa Philippine (née Blum) and Ignatz Siodmak.[3] His parents were both from Jewish families in Leipzig. Siodmak acquired a degree in mathematics before beginning to write novels.[4] He invested early royalties earned by his first books in the 1929 movie Menschen am Sonntag, a documentary-style chronicle of the lives of four Berliners on one Sunday, based on their own lives. The movie was co-directed by Curt Siodmak's brother Robert and Edgar G. Ulmer, with a script by Billy Wilder in collaboration with Fred Zinnemann and cameraman Eugen Schüfftan.[2] Siodmak was the nephew of film producer Seymour Nebenzal, who funded Menschen am Sonntag with funds borrowed from his father, Heinrich Nebenzahl.
In the following years Siodmak wrote many novels, screenplays, and short stories, including the novel F.P.1 antwortet nicht (F.P.1 Doesn't Answer) (1932) which was adapted into a film featuring Hans Albers and Peter Lorre.[4]
Siodmak decided to emigrate after hearing an anti-Semitic tirade by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and departed for England where he made a living as a screenwriter before moving to the United States in 1937.[4] His big break in Hollywood came with the screenplay for The Wolf Man (1941), starring Lon Chaney Jr., which established the titular fictional creature as the most popular movie monster after Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.[2] In the film, Siodmak created several werewolf "legends" — being marked by a pentagram; being practically immortal apart from being struck/shot by silver implements/bullets; and the famous verse:
Even a man who is pure of heart,
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright
(The last line was changed in the sequels to "And the moon is full and bright".)
Siodmak's science-fiction novel Donovan's Brain (1942) was a bestseller that was translated into many languages and was adapted for the cinema several times, beginning in 1943 with The Lady and the Monster, then 1953's Donovan's Brain and 1962's The Brain.[4] Other films he wrote the screenplays for include Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, I Walked with a Zombie and The Beast with Five Fingers. An extensive interview with Siodmak about his career in both Germany and Hollywood is found in Eric Leif Davin's Pioneers of Wonder. In the plots of his work, Siodmak utilised the latest scientific findings, combining those with pseudo-scientific motifs like the Jekyll and Hyde complex, the Nazi trauma and the East–West dichotomy.
In 1998, he won the Berlinale Camera at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.[5]
Siodmak died in his sleep on September 2, 2000, at his home in Three Rivers, California.[6]
Works
[edit]Novels
[edit]- F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (1933)
- Black Friday (1939)
- Donovan's Brain (1942)
- The Beast with Five Fingers (1945)
- Whomsoever I Shall Kiss (1952)
- Riders to the Stars (1954) (novelisation of the film Riders to the Stars)
- Skyport (1959)
- For Kings Only (1964)
- Hauser's Memory (1968)
- The Third Ear (1971)
- City in the Sky (1974)
- Frankenstein Meets Wolfman (1981)(novelisation of the film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man)
- Gabriel's Body (1991)
Short stories
[edit]- The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika (1926)
- Variation of a Theme (1972)
- The P Factor (1976)
- Experiment with Evil (1985)
Non-fiction
[edit]- Even a Man Who Is Pure in Heart: The Life of a Writer, Not Always to His Liking (1997)
- Wolf Man's Maker (2001) (Posthumous autobiography)
Filmography
[edit]Film adaptations
[edit]- The Shot in the Talker Studio , directed by Alfred Zeisler (1930, based on the novel Schuß im Tonfilmatelier)
- F.P.1 antwortet nicht, directed by Karl Hartl (1932, based on the novel F.P.1 antwortet nicht)
- I.F.1 ne répond plus, directed by Karl Hartl (1933, based on the novel F.P.1 antwortet nicht)
- F.P.1, directed by Karl Hartl (1933, based on the novel F.P.1 antwortet nicht)
- Girls Will Be Boys, directed by Marcel Varnel (1934, based on the play The Last Lord)
- The Lady and the Monster, directed by George Sherman (1944, based on the novel Donovan's Brain)
- Donovan's Brain, directed by Felix E. Feist (1953, based on the novel Donovan's Brain)
- Studio One: Donovan's Brain (1955, TV series episode, based on the novel Donovan's Brain)
- The Brain, directed by Freddie Francis (1962, based on the novel Donovan's Brain)
- Hauser's Memory, directed by Boris Sagal (1970, TV film, based on the novel Hauser's Memory)
- Der Heiligenschein, directed by Heinz Schirk (1977, TV film, based on the story Variation of a Theme)
References
[edit]- ^ "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
- ^ a b c "Wettbewerb/In Competition". Moving Pictures, Berlinale Extra. Berlin: 85. 11–22 February 1998.
- ^ Jacobsen, Wolfgang (September 26, 1998). Siodmak Bros: Berlin-Paris-London-Hollywood. Argon. ISBN 9783870244750 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d Freyermuth, Gundolf S. (1997-09-14). "Despite His Fate, He Found His Fortune". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
- ^ "Berlinale: 1998 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
- ^ "Curt Siodmak; Writer Created the 'Wolf Man'". Los Angeles Times. 2000-09-09. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
- ^ "Mascottchen". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Flucht in die Fremdenlegion". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Menschen am Sonntag". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Der Schuß im Tonfilmatelier". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Der Kampf mit dem Drachen oder: Die Tragödie des Untermieters". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Der Bal". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Le Bal". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Die unsichtbare Front". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ a b "Die unsichtbare Front". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "Marion, das gehört sich nicht". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ "F.P. 1". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Girls Will Be Boys". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "La crise est finie". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ a b "It's a Bet". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Crouching Beast". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "I Give My Heart". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Tunnel". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Non-Stop New York". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Her Jungle Love". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Invisible Man Returns". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Black Friday". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Ape". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Invisible Woman". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Aloma of the South Seas". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Pacific Blackout". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Wolf Man". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Invisible Agent". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "London Blackout Murders". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Mantrap". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "False Faces". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "I Walked with a Zombie". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Purple V". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Son of Dracula". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Climax". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The House of Frankenstein". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Frisco Sal". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Shady Lady". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Return of Monte Cristo". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Beast with Five Fingers". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Berlin Express". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Tarzan's Magic Fountain". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Bride of the Gorilla". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Magnetic Monster". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Riders to the Stars". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Creature with the Atom Brain". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Curucu, Beast of the Amazon". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Love Slaves of the Amazons". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Devil's Messenger". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Ein Toter sucht seinen Mörder". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Das Feuerschiff". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Liebesspiele im Schnee / Ski Fever". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Ritual". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "The Wolfman". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
- ^ "Cercasi modella". Filmportal.de. Retrieved May 8, 2021.