George Fitzmaurice
1885 - 1940George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and producer.
Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914 until his death in 1940, he directed over 80 films, including several successful movies such as The Son of the Sheik, Raffles, Mata Hari, and Suzy.
At the beginning of his directorial career, Fitzmaurice was astute at directing stage actresses in their initial films with the first wave of great Broadway stars that migrated to motion pictures during the World War I era, including Mae Murray, Elsie Ferguson, Fannie Ward, Helene Chadwick, Irene Fenwick, Gail Kane, and Edna Goodrich.
Son of the Sheik is his most famous extant silent film, no doubt aided by the sudden death of its star, Rudolph Valentino. Lilac Time is a classic war/romance film. Fitzmaurice however directed scores of silent films of which the majority of them are lost to the ravages of decompostion. Recent discoveries in Gosfilmofond in Russia include 1919's Witness for the Defense with Elsie Ferguson and 1923's Kick In with Bert Lytell. A restoration of his 1928 part talkie hybrid The Barker is winning praise from many film buffs. Rumours of other Fitzmaurice films in Gosfilmofond include 1920s Idols of Clay (with Mae Murray) and Three Live Ghosts with Norman Kerry, Anna Q. Nilsson, Cyril Chadwick, and Edmund Goulding.
On with the Dance
George Fitzmaurice
Mae Murray, David Powell
Sonia, a Russian dancer, comes to New York seeking her fortune. She marries Peter Derwynt, a young architect, but their marriage is not a good one. Sonia falls under the spell of a rich Broadway mogul, Jimmy Sutherland, whose wife is in love with Peter. The mix of relationships comes crashing apart when Sutherland ends up murdered.
On with the Dance
Big Jim Garrity
George Fitzmaurice
Robert Edeson, Eleanor Woodruff
Big Jim Garrity, a mine superintendent, is falsely accused of murder by a dope doctor and is forced into exile in Europe. After several years, he has made a fortune and returns to the U.S. under an assumed name. He makes his way into society, where he falls in love with the girl whose brother he is accused of murdering.
Big Jim Garrity
Paying the Piper
George Fitzmaurice
Dorothy Dickson, Rod La Rocque
Larry and Barbara, both the products of rich but broken homes, plan a marriage of convenience. He really loves Marcia, a dancer, and Barbara vamps Keith, an architect. Keith's good sense prevails, and he marries Marcia and helps Larry make a man of himself. Barbara, after an unsuccessful attempt at an acting career, returns and asks forgiveness.
Paying the Piper
Cytherea
George Fitzmaurice
Irene Rich, Lewis Stone
Lee Randon, weary of business duties and a conventional home life, acquires a long-lost sense of excitement and romance with young flapper Claire Morris. When he meets her married aunt, Savina Grove, she appears to be the woman he imagines whenever he gazes at a doll he has christened Cytherea, goddess of love -----Cytherea features two dream sequences filmed in an early version of the Technicolor color film process.
Cytherea
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
Fred Niblo
Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman
Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
The On-the-Square Girl
George Fitzmaurice
Mollie King, L. Rogers Lytton
Anne Blair is a model at a modiste's shop who accepts the attention of wealthy Thomas Brockton so she can help support her invalid mother. One day Brockton tries to force himself on her and she stabs him. Later that day Anne finds out that her mother has died, and delirious from the shock, she wanders out into the snow where she is found, unconscious, by artist Richard Steel.
The On-the-Square Girl
The Dark Angel
George Fitzmaurice
Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky
Alan Trent (Ronald Colman), his cousin Gerald Shannon (Wyndham Standing) and neighbor Kitty Vane (Vilma Bánky) have grown up together, as close playmates When World War I starts, both Alan and Gerald enlist in the British Army as officiers, and Kitty sees them off to war. Many months later, Alan and Gerald come back to Kitty, on a short furlow. Alan and Kitty reveal their love for each other. Gerald (who's in love with Kitty, too) congratulates his friends. But before Kitty and Alan can arrange to be married the next day, the furlow is cut short and both men head back to the front lines. Weeks later, Gerald will not give Alan leave to marry Kitty. Still arguing, both men volunteer for a reconiscience raid into enemy lines, where a grenade goes off near Alan and appears to kill him. Gerald and Kitty mourn Alan's death. After the war ends, Gerald and Kitty become engaged to be married.
The Dark Angel
The Hunting of the Hawk
George Fitzmaurice
William Courtenay, Marguerite Snow
On a voyage from Europe to the U.S., Desselway meets and falls in love with Diana Curran. Diana has a dark past, however -- she is married to Wrenshaw, a criminal known as "the Hawk." Diana got involved with Wrenshaw because she thought he was honest, and he keeps her under his thumb by making her believe she killed a man.
The Hunting of the Hawk
The Night of Love
George Fitzmaurice
Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky
Montero, son of a Gypsy leader, is about to take a bride according to primitive ritual, when the Duke de la Garda demands his right as feudal lord--to take the bride to his castle for a night. Rather than accede to the duke's advances, the girl chooses death by her own hand. Montero swears vengeance.....
The Night of Love
