Paul Leni

Paul Leni

Paul Leni (8 July 1885, Stuttgart – 2 September 1929, Los Angeles) born Paul Josef Levi was a German filmmaker and a key figure in German Expressionist filmmaking, making Backstairs (Hintertreppe, 1921) and Waxworks (1924) in Germany, and The Cat and the Canary (1927), The Chinese Parrot (1927), The Man Who Laughs (1928), and The Last Warning (1929) in the U.S.

Biography

Leni became an avant-garde painter at the age of 15, he studied at Berlin's Academy of Fine Arts, and subsequently worked as a theatrical set designer, working for a number of theatres in Berlin (but not with Max Reinhardt).

In 1913 he started working in the German film industry designing film sets and/or costumes for directors such as Joe May, Ernst Lubitsch, Richard Oswald, and E. A. Dupont.

During World War I he started directing as well with films such as Der Feldarzt / Das Tagebuch des Dr. Hart (1917), Patience (1920), Die Verschwörung zu Genua (1920/21) and Backstairs (1921). Waxworks (1924) was planned as a four part omnibus feature, but the last part was not shot when money ran out. He also made a series of unusual short animated films Rebus-Film Nr. 1 - 8, which were filmed crossword puzzles.

From 1925 Leni designed short prologues for festive film premieres in Berlin cinemas, e.g. Dupont's Variety, Lubitsch's Forbidden Paradise, and Herbert Brenon's Peter Pan.

In 1927, he moved to Hollywood to accept Carl Laemmle's invitation to become a director at Universal Studios. There Leni made a distinguished directorial debut with The Cat and the Canary (1927), an adaptation of John Willard's stage play. The film had a great influence over Universal's later classic "haunted house" horror series, and was subsequently remade several times, notably in 1939 with Bob Hope. The following year he directed the big budget The Man Who Laughs, one of the most visually stylized of late period silent films.

Paul Leni died of blood poisoning in Los Angeles on 2 September 1929.

Filmography

German films

As art director

• 1913 Ein Ausgestoßener (dir: Joe May)
• 1914 Das Panzergewölbe (dir: Joe May)
• 1915 Der Katzensteg (dir: Max Mack)
• 1917 Der Blusenkönig (dir: Ernst Lubitsch)
• 1918/19 Veritas vincit (dir: Joe May)
• 1919 Rausch / Intoxication (dir: Ernst Lubitsch)
• 1920 Der weiße Pfau (dir: E. A. Dupont)
• 1921 Die Geier-Wally (dir: E. A. Dupont)
• 1921 Lady Hamilton (dir: Richard Oswald)
• 1921/22 Frauenopfer (dir: Karl Grune)
• 1922/23 Tragödie der Liebe (4 parts, dir: Joe May)
• 1924/25 Der Farmer aus Texas (dir: Joe May)
• 1925 Die Frau von vierzig Jahren (dir: Richard Oswald)
• 1925 Der Tänzer meiner Frau (dir: Alexander Korda)
• 1925/26 Manon Lescaut (dir: Arthur Robison)
• 1925/26 Einspänner Nr. 13 / Fiaker Nr. 13 (dir: Michael Kertész)
• 1926 Der goldene Schmetterling (dir: Michael Kertész)

As director (and art director)

• 1917 Der Feldarzt / Das Tagebuch des Dr. Hart
• 1917 Prima vera
• 1917 Dornröschen
• 1918 Die platonische Ehe
• 1919 Prinz Kuckuck
• 1920 Patience. Die Karten des Todes
• 1920/21 Die Verschwörung zu Genua
• 1921 Hintertreppe (dir with Leopold Jessner)
• 1923 Das Wachsfigurenkabinett
• 1925/26 Rebus-Film Nr. 1-8 (series of short films)

Universal Studio films

• The Cat and the Canary (1927)
• The Chinese Parrot (1927)
• The Man Who Laughs (1928)
• The Last Warning (1929)

External links

• Paul Leni at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Leni at AllRovi
• Paul Leni, the forgotten master