Lewis Milestone(1895-1980)
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Lewis Milestone, a clothing manufacturer's son, was born in Bessarabia
(now Moldova), raised in Odessa (Ukraine) and educated in Belgium and
Berlin (where he studied engineering). He was fluent in both German and
Russian and an avid reader. Milestone had an affinity for the theatre
from an early age, starting as a prop man and background artist before
traveling to the US in 1914 with $6.00 in his pocket. After a
succession of odd jobs (including as a dishwasher and a photographer's
assistant) he joined the Army Signal Corps in 1917 to make educational
short films for U.S. troops. Following World War I, having acquired
American citizenship, he went on to Hollywood to meet the director
William A. Seiter at Ince Studios.
Seiter started him off as an assistant cutter. Milestone quickly worked
his way up the ranks to become editor, assistant director and
screenwriter on many of Seiter's projects in the early 1920s,
experiences that would greatly influence his directing style in years
to come.
Milestone directed his first film,
Seven Sinners (1925), for
Howard Hughes and two years later
won his first of two Academy Awards for the comedy
Two Arabian Knights (1927).
He received his second Oscar for what most regard as his finest
achievement, the anti-war movie
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930),
based on a novel by
Erich Maria Remarque. The film,
universally praised by reviewers for its eloquence and integrity, also
won the Best Picture Academy Award that year. A noted Milestone
innovation was the use of cameras mounted on wooden tracks, giving his
films a more realistic and fluid, rather than static, look. Other
trademarks associated with his pictures were taut editing, snappy
dialogue and clever visual touches, good examples being the screwball
comedy The Front Page (1931), the
melodrama Rain (1932)--based on a play by
W. Somerset Maugham--and an
adaptation of John Steinbeck's
Of Mice and Men (1939). When
asked in 1979 about the secret behind his success, he simply declared
"Arrogance, chutzpah--in the old Hollywood at least that's the thing
that gave everybody pause" (New York Times, September 27, 1980).
Milestone had a history of being "difficult", having clashed with
Howard Hughes, Warner Brothers and a host of studio executives over
various contractual and artistic issues. Nonetheless, he remained
constantly employed and worked for most of the major studios at one
time or another, though never on long-term contracts. While he was not
required to testify before HUAC, Milestone was blacklisted for a year
in 1949 because of left-wing affiliations dating back to the 1930's.
His output became less consistent during the 1950s and his career
finished on a low with the remake of
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
and its incongruously cast, equally headstrong star
Marlon Brando.
Milestone must be credited with a quirky sense of humor: when the
producer of "All Quiet on the Western Front",
Carl Laemmle Jr., demanded a "happy
ending" for the picture, Milestone telephoned, "I've got your happy
ending. We'll let the Germans win the war".
Having suffered a stroke, Lewis Milestone spent the last ten years of
his life confined to a wheelchair. He died September 25, 1980, at the
University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.
(now Moldova), raised in Odessa (Ukraine) and educated in Belgium and
Berlin (where he studied engineering). He was fluent in both German and
Russian and an avid reader. Milestone had an affinity for the theatre
from an early age, starting as a prop man and background artist before
traveling to the US in 1914 with $6.00 in his pocket. After a
succession of odd jobs (including as a dishwasher and a photographer's
assistant) he joined the Army Signal Corps in 1917 to make educational
short films for U.S. troops. Following World War I, having acquired
American citizenship, he went on to Hollywood to meet the director
William A. Seiter at Ince Studios.
Seiter started him off as an assistant cutter. Milestone quickly worked
his way up the ranks to become editor, assistant director and
screenwriter on many of Seiter's projects in the early 1920s,
experiences that would greatly influence his directing style in years
to come.
Milestone directed his first film,
Seven Sinners (1925), for
Howard Hughes and two years later
won his first of two Academy Awards for the comedy
Two Arabian Knights (1927).
He received his second Oscar for what most regard as his finest
achievement, the anti-war movie
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930),
based on a novel by
Erich Maria Remarque. The film,
universally praised by reviewers for its eloquence and integrity, also
won the Best Picture Academy Award that year. A noted Milestone
innovation was the use of cameras mounted on wooden tracks, giving his
films a more realistic and fluid, rather than static, look. Other
trademarks associated with his pictures were taut editing, snappy
dialogue and clever visual touches, good examples being the screwball
comedy The Front Page (1931), the
melodrama Rain (1932)--based on a play by
W. Somerset Maugham--and an
adaptation of John Steinbeck's
Of Mice and Men (1939). When
asked in 1979 about the secret behind his success, he simply declared
"Arrogance, chutzpah--in the old Hollywood at least that's the thing
that gave everybody pause" (New York Times, September 27, 1980).
Milestone had a history of being "difficult", having clashed with
Howard Hughes, Warner Brothers and a host of studio executives over
various contractual and artistic issues. Nonetheless, he remained
constantly employed and worked for most of the major studios at one
time or another, though never on long-term contracts. While he was not
required to testify before HUAC, Milestone was blacklisted for a year
in 1949 because of left-wing affiliations dating back to the 1930's.
His output became less consistent during the 1950s and his career
finished on a low with the remake of
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
and its incongruously cast, equally headstrong star
Marlon Brando.
Milestone must be credited with a quirky sense of humor: when the
producer of "All Quiet on the Western Front",
Carl Laemmle Jr., demanded a "happy
ending" for the picture, Milestone telephoned, "I've got your happy
ending. We'll let the Germans win the war".
Having suffered a stroke, Lewis Milestone spent the last ten years of
his life confined to a wheelchair. He died September 25, 1980, at the
University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.