Robert Siodmak born August 8, 1900, Dresden, Saxony, Germany (or Memphis, Tennessee)

died March 10, 1973, Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland

by Chris Justice

Chris Justice in an English Instructor at The Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Maryland. He teaches writing, literature, and film studies classes.

Robert Siodmak: The Brightest Shade of Noir

Robert Siodmak's career is one of the more underrated and misunderstood in the history of

Hollywood. The merit of Siodmak's cinematic art is also one of the most controversial.

Among fanatic cinephiles, particularly those with a penchant for film noir thrillers, Siodmak is

considered the primary architect of the genre. No other director has produced more quality

film noir thrillers than Siodmak. His canon is a viewing list for any authentic study of the

genre. His most notable film noirs include Phantom Lady, The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry,

The Spiral Staircase, The Killers, The Dark Mirror, Cry of the City, Criss Cross and The File on

Thelma Jordan. However, among a small minority of film critics, he is considered a one-

dimensional “yes” man who simply followed marching orders established by studio execu-

tives. These critics suggest Siodmak's success was a direct product of the studio system and

the cadre of filmmakers studios arranged for him. Lastly, Siodmak's popularity among casual

movie fans is virtually nonexistent. Many have never heard of him, and when they have, they

rarely can even pronounce his name (see-odd-mak – emphasis on the “odd”). The latter two

assessments of Siodmak's career are inaccurate, because he was the primary auteur of one

of America's most important film genres.

Even the birthplace of Siodmak is disputed. Some argue that he was born in Memphis, Ten-

nessee in 1900 when his mother and father, the latter a banker, were vacationing in Amer-

ica. The Siodmaks soon returned home to the city of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Other

critics, most notably J. Greco in his analysis of Siodmak's noir cycle, The File on Robert

Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941–1951, suggest that Siodmak's birthplace was Dresden and that

his American birthplace was a myth used by the director to obtain a visa in Paris (1). If

Greco is accurate, the fact remains that Siodmak was well aware of the importance in the

1940s of being a German director born in America. This dispute is a microcosm of the con-

troversy surrounding Siodmak's prolific directorial career.

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There are two eerie coincidences surrounding Siodmak's birth. First, the fact he was born in

the first year of the new century suggests he is chronologically linked with modernism, one

of the twentieth century's primary aesthetic principles. However, while this may be a chrono-

logical coincidence, stylistically it is not. The fact that his films address many modern themes

such as psychological trauma, domestic turmoil, criminology, gender conflicts, and profes-

sional gangsterism and violence is not coincidental. Neither is his cutting edge use of mod-

ernist cinematic techniques such as deep focusing, multiple flashbacks, mise-en-scène, and

expressionistic lighting.

Second, film noir is an American style of filmmaking heavily influenced by European ideas.

Existentialism, German Expressionism and the extensive exposure to European culture

prompted by World War II created a new European sensibility that profoundly affected

American culture. If film noir is considered a successful marriage of American and European

aesthetic sensibilities, and if one believes birthplace inevitably shapes perspectives, no other

Hollywood director upheld those vows better than Robert Siodmak. His disputed birthplace

and his stature in the noir cycle make him a prophet at the crossroads of American and

European cinematic styles.

Siodmak attended the University of Marburg and in

the mid-1920s began working for the state funded

German film company Universum Film A.G., or Ufa,

founded by General Erich Ludendorff and sup-

ported by the Third Reich. His early work included

translations of intertitles for American silent films.

In 1929, Siodmak directed his first film, the quasi-

Menschen am Sonntag

documentary Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday), which featured an all-star lineup

of prominent German filmmakers who all found success in Hollywood in the ensuing years.

These filmmakers included Edgar G. Ulmer as codirector, Fred Zinnemann as the assistant

cinematographer, and brother Curt Siodmak and Billy Wilder as the coscreenwriters. Siod-

mak's steady directorial skills were inevitably shaped by the collaboration he exemplified

during his early work with these talented men.

Siodmak's modestly successful directorial career in Germany produced a total of 15 films. He

moved to Paris in 1933 to escape the growing tides of Nazism in Hitler's Germany, and in

1939 he sailed to America one day before the official start of World War II. Arriving in Hol-

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lywood, Siodmak signed his first contracts with Paramount in 1941. There he made three

uninspiring B-films: West Point Window (1941), Fly-by-Night (1942) and My Heart Belongs

to Daddy (1942). His hiring was mainly due to the encouragement of Preston Sturges, who

reportedly was “amused by the gnomelike man with the German accent” (2). Although

Siodmak was displeased with his growing reputation as a B-movie director, his hopes were

raised when his brother, Curt, who immigrated to America in 1937 and found success as a

horror film screenwriter, landed him a directorial spot with Universal. The brothers collabo-

rated on Son of Dracula (1943) and in this film, the origins of the Siodmak “style” began to

emerge.

The Siodmak brothers' relationship was a good one. A mutual respect was maintained

throughout their lives, although Curt, who died in 2000, believed Robert never fully reached

his potential as a director. The Siodmak brothers used the popularity of horror films in the

late 1930s and early 1940s to launch their Hollywood careers. While Robert only dabbled in

the horror genre, Curt, whose career is arguably as notable as his brother's, was immersed

in it. Curt's prolific career as a horror movie screenwriter includes such notable films as The

Invisible Man Returns (Joe May, 1940), The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941), and Frank-

enstein Meets the Wolf Man (Roy William Neill, 1943). Curt also wrote science fiction novels;

his most popular was Donovan's Brain.

After Son of Dracula, Siodmak experimented with Technicolor in Cobra Woman (1944). Al-

though the film did little to boost Siodmak's career, it did reveal his proclivity for experiment-

ing with colour and visual aesthetics (3). Immediately after production ended for Cobra,

Siodmak was hired to shoot Phantom Lady (1944), a film many consider to be the first truly

trademark noir. Based on a Cornell Woolrich novel, Phantom established Siodmak as one of

the high priests of the genre. Some have suggested Siodmak's film noirs became the arche-

type. Others, such as David Shipman, have argued that Siodmak's obsession with the genre

“not only failed to enhance his reputation, but virtually ruined it” (4) because it made him a

typecast and one-dimensional director.

Shipman's comments highlight the paradoxical nature of Siodmak's career. He directed sev-

eral films many critics revere, yet his films rarely make any all-time lists. His career was un-

fortunately paralleled and subsequently overshadowed by Alfred Hitchcock's, yet Siodmak

claims a banner year unlike any of Hitchcock's: 1946. In that year, three of Siodmak's films

were nominated for Academy Awards. They included Ethel Barrymore in The Spiral Staircase

for Actress in a Supporting Role, Siodmak himself in The Killers for Directing, Vladimir Pozner

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in The Dark Mirror for Original Motion Picture Story, Anthony Veiller in The Killers for Screen-

play, Miklos Rozsa in The Killers for Scoring of a Dramatic or Comic Picture, and Arthur Hilton

in The Killers for Film Editing. As with everything related to Siodmak's career, the question

remains: was Siodmak the benefactor of good filmmaking teams, or were these teams the

benefactors of Siodmak's directorial skills?

The biggest criticism of Siodmak's career is that his talents blossomed in only one genre. If

he had directed a masterful film in at least one or two other genres, like, for example, his

contemporary Fred Zinnemann, whose talents shone in the Western High Noon (1952), the

film noir Act of Violence (1948), and the romantic drama From Here to Eternity (1953), no

argument would exist against Siodmak's place in cinematic history. But this is not the case.

Siodmak's career shines during a brief ten-year span, from 1943 to 1953, and it is not a co-

incidence that this span also marks the zenith of the noir cycle. Certainly, his career during

this span was prolific, but his failure to extend beyond the parameters of film noir has forced

many to question his talents. Conversely, full mastery of a style can only develop when one

fully immerses themselves in their art. So, using Greco's clever title, what is the file on

Robert Siodmak?

If there is one characteristic of a Siodmak film, it lies

in the richness of his cinematic vision. Like all great di-

rectors, he was a master at weaving many parts into a

whole. Siodmak was never content to use a film as a

vehicle for a singular cinematic motif or technique. His

films reveal a plexus of converging directorial styles

that creates a powerful feeling of mise-en-scène.

Siodmak's holistic vision often enabled him to manage

several aesthetic impulses simultaneously.

The Killers

Like all classic films that serve as the high-water mark of a particular style, The Killers, for

example, tackles virtually every major theme in the noir cycle, unlike many other noirs,

which only focus on a particular subset of motifs. The Killers includes a haunting femme

fatale in Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins, a seminal heist scene, psychiatric profiles of a network

of professional gangsters, a devastating double cross, the spirit of heavy fatalism, and a

hard-boiled protagonist doomed by existential fate in Burt Lancaster as Ole Andersen. Each

motif is developed with precision and style. Secondly, Siodmak was also brilliant in inspiring

stellar performances from minor characters. Reviews of his films often include references to

these outstanding performances. Elisha Cook in Phantom Lady, Ethel Barrymore in The Spi-

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ral Staircase and Richard Long in The Dark Mirror are excellent examples. But while the

whole is always the sum of its parts in a Siodmak film, those parts were always brilliant.

In many Siodmak films, domestic strife is a key staple. Marital decay, unresolved Oedipal

tensions and sibling rivalries resonate in many of his films. The pervasiveness of these

themes produce a general feeling of unease suggesting that the basic unit of human inter-

action is off kilter, has gone awry, or is changing at a disturbingly rapid pace. For example,

in Criss Cross (1949), Steve Thompson and Anna Dundee, played by Burt Lancaster and

Yvonne DeCarlo, struggle to resolve the paradoxical nature of their relationship. Already

divorced, they cannot keep apart. Anna plays with Steve's fatalistic desire for her, knowing

that she can manipulate him for her own material gain. Their relationship is an impossible

one, yet they know they must participate in its demise to fulfill their own selfish desires. For

Steve, these desires are carnal; for Anna, they are financial. Furthermore, in Criss Cross and

The Spiral Staircase, powerful mother figures warn the protagonists about impending dan-

gers. In the former, the danger is Anna, and in the latter the danger is a stalking murderer,

but in both cases the domineering presence of the maternal figures is ignored to satisfy

either bodily (Steve's passion for his ex-wife) or intellectual (Helen's curiosity to investigate

the murderer) desires. Additionally, the conflict between the two Warren stepbrothers in

The Spiral Staircase heightens an already tense domestic setting. Finally, in the Phantom

Lady, Scott Henderson, an unhappily married engineer, is accused of killing his wife and

when he is unable to provide a satisfactory alibi, the domestic tensions are conjured in the

minds of both the detectives and viewers. Here domestic strife is safely assumed. Through-

out Siodmak's films, domestic settings are not a place of refuge, but rather a source of addi-

tional psychological trauma.

Siodmak is also notorious for creating sets full of other psychological tensions. For example,

in Phantom Lady, Inspector Burgess, played by Thomas Gomez, provides a relatively sophis-

ticated explanation of the criminal mind. Burgess describes how the nascent field of psy-

chology is “simply European” and how Jack Marlow, the murderer, is a “paranoiac” with an

“incredible ego” and “contempt for life”. The detective's reflections on the criminal mind

form some of the basic principles of modern psychology. Tony Williams suggests that Mar-

low's elaborately disturbed mind is a reflection of how German Expressionism influenced

Siodmak's style (5). Grotesquely abnormal characters, such as Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu,

two of the Expressionists' most famous creations, are direct ancestors to the insane Marlow.

Also, in The Dark Mirror, the use of twins as murder suspects is a visual metaphor for the

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psychological dangers of schizophrenia and split personalities. Also in this film, a psychiatrist

becomes a major character in the form of Lew Ayres as Dr. Scott Elliott.

Another trademark of the Siodmak film is his

use of music, visual images and the expression-

istic montage to convey sexual energy. No-

where is this more powerful than in Phantom

Lady. When the sexually charged Elisha Cook

brings Ella Raines to a speakeasy to hear some

jazz, Siodmak quickly cuts from the faces and

Phantom Lady

body parts of the players to those of Raines to create a montage that, when accompanied

by the climactic sounds of the jazz and ecstatic faces of the players, creates a visual orgasm

unparalleled in cinematic history. A similar scene occurs in Criss Cross when Steve first sees

Anna in The Round-Up. Here the quick cuts focus on the many dimensions and angles to

Anna's personality juxtaposed against the one-dimensional view Steve has of her in this

scene. As Greco notes, “it is perhaps the most skillfully crafted seduction scene anywhere in

film noir” (6). The expressionistic montage in this case represents the source of Steve's sex-

ual desire; his inability to grasp the “big picture” of Anna's character is the impetus of his

fall. Finally, the discordant rhythms at the Green Cat toward the end of The Killers also un-

dermine the sexual act that Kitty is playing for Ole. Kitty has no intention of cooperating

with Ole, and the discordance in the melodies at the club foreshadows that fact. Although

Siodmak's creativity was robust and can be found in these expressionistic montages, he was

also indebted to the brotherhood of directors and often paid tribute to them in his films.

Fritz Lang was one of Siodmak's idols. Although his influence is found in many of Siodmak's

films and those of any director successful in the 1930s, '40s or '50s, Siodmak's obsessive

use of mirrors is a particular tribute to Lang (7).

Siodmak used mirrors to further emphasise the psychological richness of his films and their

characters. Rarely can one experience 30 minutes of a Siodmak film without at least once

being struck by a provocative mirror shot. Mirrors abound in his films because they visually

amplify the psychology of his characters. Perhaps the greatest example occurs in Phantom

Lady, when Marlow discusses the nature of the criminal acts with Burgess. As Burgess de-

tails his understanding of the criminal mind, Marlow is sitting at a performer's table with a

three-paned mirror. As Burgess' theories mount, so do the reflections of Marlow's profile.

First, only Marlow is shown. Next, Marlow and his reflection are shown. Finally, Marlow and

his two reflections are revealed, a beautiful manifestation of his multiple personalities. The

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mere presence of mirrors in virtually every room of a Siodmak set suggests that his charac-

ters live in a world where self-image is a complex and fractured network of influences.

Siomak's use of deep-focus is also notable. With deep focus, Siodmak accomplished two

important goals. First, he was able to visually explain this sense of a complex self by using

deep-focus to create chaotic and layered sets that contain foregrounds, backgrounds, and

middle-grounds full of activity, objects and sound. The disorder in a typical Siodmak set is

usually one of the reasons why so many characters have a fractured self and thus suffer

from some form of psychological stress. The setting of the mansion in The Spiral Staircase is

full of Victorian ornaments that suggest a longing for not only the chronological past, but for

something sensed but not altogether identifiable. Siodmak's use of deep-focus also reveals

his tribute to Orson Welles and Citizen Kane, the high priest of that directorial brotherhood.

Siodmak clearly used Kane's influence to embellish his own films, and like most good direc-

tors during that era, did so in a creative manner that commemorated Welles without directly

copying him. The Killers is film noir's narrative response to Citizen Kane. The film's use of at

least eight flashbacks is a direct tribute to Welles' use of that narrative technique. Siodmak

followed a similar, albeit less sophisticated, approach in Christmas Holiday (1944).

If the heist scene is one of the standards of film noir, then Siodmak directed two of the most

memorable. In Criss Cross, the haunting scenes of the heist perpetrators walking in gas

masks through clouds of tear gas remind viewers of battlefield scenes directly pulled from

World War II newsreels. The surreal images create a sense of alienation because the charac-

ters appear as ghosts of their former selves displaced from their previous intentions (8). The

scene reminds the viewer that the characters, particularly Steve, are already dead and only

their apparitions exist. J.P. Telotte takes this one step further in his analysis of Siodmak's

male characters. Telotte argues that “his (Siodmak's) male characters…seem fluid, poten-

tially phantoms, as if they, too, were infected by a contagious evaporation of the self” (9).

Additionally, the heist scene in The Killers is easily one of the most provocative in all of noir.

Shot in a single take with an elaborate crane shot, the scene is perfectly chaotic. Even Siod-

mak himself admitted that many mistakes were made during the scene, but the mistakes

worked (10). The fluidity of this scene undermines the careful planning orchestrated to con-

duct it, and yet it further undermines the dangers looming ahead for the suspects. The use

of a crane shot creates a sense of objective detachment as well, thus making the heist seem

normal, mundane and impersonal. As Robert Porforio notes, “This detachment is enhanced

by the objective persuasion of the crane-mounted camera…Such codes of expression com-

bine to dissipate much of the tension implicit in the immediacy of the spatio-temporal order”

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(11). Once again, Siodmak masterfully directs yet another trademark of the noir cycle.

As with any noir director, Siodmak was a genius with evocative lighting techniques. His use

of low- and high-key lighting and elaborate filler, back, and key lights are standards for the

noir cycle. The examples are numerous, but one that resonates is found in the opening of

The Killers. The film begins with a key light far in the background and the camera placed in

the foreground. The distance between clarity and confusion or light and darkness is enlight-

ening. This key-light is the only light in the scene, which is shot at night. The diner and two

approaching “killers” searching for Ole are cast more in shadow than in reality. Their figures

are overwhelmed by the looming presence of their shadows.

However, unusual for a noir director is Siodmak's use

of sunlight. He routinely used sunlight to offer a con-

trast to the stereotypical noir scenes. For example, in

Criss Cross, the scenes of Steve walking to his par-

ent's neighbourhood home are illuminated by natural

sunlight, suggesting that clarity for Steve can be

found in domestic stability, as opposed to the dim

Criss Cross

lighting in the local bar. However, the domestic front offers little refuge for Steve in this

film, thus making the sunlight part of the trap that engulfs him. In one Phantom Lady

scene, Scott Henderson leans over a railing while being visited by his persistent secretary-

saviour, Carol. The sunlight dispersed through the prison window radiates an almost cathe-

dral-like atmosphere, suggesting that Carol represents some semblance of hope. However,

the mixture of shadow and sunlight creates an unusual noir quality that suspends moral

judgment and enhances the suspense by prolonging the ambiguous nature of Henderson's

fate.

Finally, Siodmak frequently has his male characters wearing uniforms (12). Uniforms help

male characters reclaim their lost identity, which is a motif noir is famous for emphasising.

In many noirs, male characters struggle to regain identities that they lost during their mili-

tary tenures due to the gains women earned in many of society's labour institutions. Tellote

argues “Siodmak's films appear almost classic texts for illustrating gender tensions that were

surfacing in post-World War II America” (13). Placing many characters in uniforms visually

allows men to regain their former identities or to cultivate new ones, even if they are false.

In Criss Cross, Steve wears the uniform of an armoured car security guard. In The Killers,

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Swede is first seen wearing a gas attendant's uniform. Clearly, male identity is a major

theme in Siodmak's work.

Once the noir cycle reached its zenith in the early 1950s, Siodmak's stock in Hollywood

waned. He collaborated with the novelist Budd Schulberg on a screenplay that later became

On the Waterfront, but because Schulberg held Communist ties, the work ended abruptly.

Siodmak later sued Sam Spiegel, who purchased the rights to the screenplay, for $100,000

and won, although he never received any screen credits for his contributions (14). After a

tumultuous directorial experience during the making of The Crimson Pirate in 1952, he left

California and returned to Europe, where he worked for 16 years. According to Siodmak, the

majority of this tumult occurred in the egomaniacal attitudes of the actors, who had been

given an unprecedented degree of control over production of the film. In particular, he was

especially disappointed with Burt Lancaster's off-camera antics and exaggerated demands,

even though the two had worked successfully together in The Killers and Criss Cross. In

many ways, The Crimson Pirate was Siodmak's last stand. After 1952, Siodmak collaborated

with a variety of filmmakers in Europe to make an additional 14 films, but each was met

with modest success. For all intents and purposes, by the mid-1950s, the file on Siodmak

was shut.

Siodmak's career should be judged on the films he did make and not those he didn't. If he

never diversified the breadth of his directorial purview, he did generate a depth of directo-

rial successes in the noir cycle that is unparalleled in Hollywood history. That is the record

Siodmak should be remembered for. As the legendary American football coach, Bill Parcells,

once quipped, “you're only as good as your record”. Siodmak's “record” or filmography

speaks for itself.

Endnotes:

1. J. Greco, The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941-1951, United States, Disser-tation.com, 1999, p. 9

2. Greco, p. 7

3. Michael Grost, The Films of Robert Siodmak, Classic Film and Television Page, 2003,http://members.aol.com/MG4273/siodmak.htm

4. David Shipman, The Story of Cinema, New York, St. Martin's Press, 1982, p. 699

5. Tony Williams, “Phantom Lady, Cornell Woolrich, and the Masochistic Aesthetic” in Alain Silver and James Ursini (eds), Film Noir Reader, New York, Limelight Editions, 1996, p. 136

6. Greco, pp. 126–128

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7. Grost, op cit

8. Lawrence Russell, Criss Cross, Film Court, 2000, http://www.culturecourt.com/F/Noir/CrissX.htm

9. J.P. Telotte, “Siodmak's Phantom Women and Noir Narrative”, Film Criticism, 11.3, Spring, 1987, p. 9

10. Greco, p. 98

11. Robert G. Porfirio, “The Killers: Expressiveness of Sound and Image in Film Noir” in Alain Silver and James Ursini (eds), p. 179

12. Grost, op cit

13. Telotte, p. 2

14. Greco, p. 162

Filmography Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday) (1929) codirected with Edgar J. Ulmer Abschied (Farewell) (1930) Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht (Looking for His Murderer) (1931) Voruntersuchung (Inquest) (1931) also writer Stürme der Leidenschaft (Storms of Passion) (1932) Quick I and II (1932) Brennendes Geheimnis (The Burning Secret) (1933) Le Sexe faible (The Weaker Sex) (1933) La Crise est finie (The Depression Is Over) (1935) La Vie parisienne (The Parisian Life) (1935) Mister Flow (1936) Symphonie D'Amour (1946) Cargaison Blanche (Woman Racket) (1937) Mollenard (Hatred) (1938) Ultimatum (1938)

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Pièges (Personal Column) (1939) West Point Window (1941) Fly-By-Night (1942) The Night Before the Divorce (1942) My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1942) Someone to Remember (1943) Son of Dracula (1943)

Cobra Woman (1944) Phantom Lady (1944) Christmas Holiday (1944) The Suspect (1945) The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) The Spiral Staircase (1946) The Killers (1946) The Dark Mirror (1946) Phantom Lady Time Out of Mind (1947) Cry of the City (1948) Criss Cross (1949) The Great Sinner (1949) The File on Thelma Jordan (1950) Deported (1950) The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951) The Crimson Pirate (1952) Card of Fate (1954) The Rats (1955) The Devil Came at Night (1957) Dorothea Angermann (1958)

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The Rough and The Smooth (1959) Adorable Sinner (1960) My School Chum (1960) The Nina B. Affair (1961) also writer Escape from East Berlin (1962) The Shoot (1964) also writer The Treasure of the Aztecs (1965) Pyramid of the Sun God (1965) Custer of the West (1967) The Fight for Rome I and II (1968–1969)