Curt Siodmak Explained

Curt Siodmak
Birth Name:Kurt Siodmak
Birth Date:10 August 1902
Birth Place:Dresden, Germany
Death Place:Three Rivers, California, US
Relatives:Robert Siodmak (brother)
Nationality:German-American
Occupation:Novelist and filmmaker
Period:1929 - 2000
Genre:Short stories, novels and screenplays

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

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.[4]

Siodmak died in his sleep on September 2, 2000, at his home in Three Rivers, California.[5]

Works

Novels

Short stories

Non-fiction

Filmography

Title YearCredited as Notes
width=6% Director!width=6%Screenwriter!width=6% Screen story writer!width=6% Other
Mascots 1929[6]
Escape to the Foreign Legion 1929[7]
People on Sunday 1930Based on reportage by Siodmak[8]
1930[9]
1930[10]
1931[11]
1931[12]
1931[13]
1932[14]
1932[15]
1932
Marion, That's Not Nice1933[16]
1933[17]
Girls Will Be Boys1934[18]
1934[19]
It's a Bet1935[20]
Abdul the Damned1935
1935Treatment[21]
1935Treatment[22]
1935[23]
Non-Stop New York1937[24]
Her Jungle Love1938[25]
1940[26]
Black Friday1940[27]
1940[28]
1940[29]
Aloma of the South Seas1941[30]
Pacific Blackout1941[31]
1941[32]
Invisible Agent1942[33]
London Blackout Murders1943[34]
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man1943[35]
1943[36]
False Faces1943[37]
I Walked with a Zombie1943[38]
1943[39]
Son of Dracula1943[40]
1944[41]
House of Frankenstein1945[42]
Frisco Sal1945[43]
Shady Lady1945[44]
1945[45]
1946[46]
Berlin Express1946[47]
Tarzan's Magic Fountain1949[48]
Bride of the Gorilla1951[49]
1953[50]
Riders to the Stars1954[51]
Creature with the Atom Brain1955[52]
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon1956[53]
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers1956[54]
Love Slaves of the Amazons1957Producer[55]
1962[56]
The Brain1962Based on "Donovan's Brain"[57]
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace1962[58]
1963[59]
Ski Fever1966[60]
Ritual2002Based on I Walked With a Zombie[61]
The Wolfman2010Based on The Wolf Man (1941)[62]
Cercasi modella[63]

Film adaptations

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress). 2021-01-19. The Library of Congress.
  2. Wettbewerb/In Competition . Moving Pictures, Berlinale Extra . 85 . Berlin . 11–22 February 1998 .
  3. Book: Jacobsen, Wolfgang. Siodmak Bros: Berlin-Paris-London-Hollywood. September 26, 1998. Argon. 9783870244750. Google Books.
  4. Web site: Berlinale: 1998 Prize Winners . 2012-01-21 . berlinale.de . 2013-10-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131012072825/http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1998/03_preistr_ger_1998/03_Preistraeger_1998.html . dead .
  5. Web site: 2000-09-09. Curt Siodmak; Writer Created the 'Wolf Man'. 2021-01-19. Los Angeles Times. en-US.
  6. Web site: Mascottchen. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  7. Web site: Flucht in die Fremdenlegion. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  8. Web site: Menschen am Sonntag. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  9. Web site: Der Schuß im Tonfilmatelier. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  10. Web site: Der Kampf mit dem Drachen oder: Die Tragödie des Untermieters. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  11. Web site: Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  12. Web site: Der Bal. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  13. Web site: Le Bal. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  14. Web site: Die unsichtbare Front. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  15. Web site: Die unsichtbare Front. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  16. Web site: Marion, das gehört sich nicht. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.
  17. Web site: F.P. 1. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  18. Web site: Girls Will Be Boys. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  19. Web site: La crise est finie. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  20. Web site: It's a Bet. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  21. Web site: The Crouching Beast. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  22. Web site: I Give My Heart. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  23. Web site: The Tunnel. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  24. Web site: Non-Stop New York. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  25. Web site: Her Jungle Love. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  26. Web site: The Invisible Man Returns. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  27. Web site: Black Friday. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  28. Web site: The Ape. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  29. Web site: The Invisible Woman. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  30. Web site: Aloma of the South Seas. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  31. Web site: Pacific Blackout. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  32. Web site: The Wolf Man. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  33. Web site: The Invisible Agent. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  34. Web site: London Blackout Murders. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  35. Web site: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  36. Web site: The Mantrap. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  37. Web site: False Faces. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  38. Web site: I Walked with a Zombie. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  39. Web site: The Purple V. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  40. Web site: Son of Dracula. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  41. Web site: The Climax. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  42. Web site: The House of Frankenstein. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  43. Web site: Frisco Sal. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  44. Web site: Shady Lady. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  45. Web site: The Return of Monte Cristo. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  46. Web site: The Beast with Five Fingers. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  47. Web site: Berlin Express. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  48. Web site: Tarzan's Magic Fountain. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  49. Web site: Bride of the Gorilla. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  50. Web site: The Magnetic Monster. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  51. Web site: Riders to the Stars. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  52. Web site: Creature with the Atom Brain. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  53. Web site: Curucu, Beast of the Amazon. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  54. Web site: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  55. Web site: Love Slaves of the Amazons. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  56. Web site: The Devil's Messenger. American Film Institute. May 9, 2021.
  57. Web site: Ein Toter sucht seinen Mörder. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  58. Web site: Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  59. Web site: Das Feuerschiff. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  60. Web site: Liebesspiele im Schnee / Ski Fever. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  61. Web site: Ritual. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  62. Web site: The Wolfman. Filmportal.de. May 9, 2021.
  63. Web site: Cercasi modella. Filmportal.de. May 8, 2021.

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