Ophùls, Max

(Max Oppenheimer / May 6, 1902, Saarbrucken, Germany-March 25, 1957, Hamburg, Germany)

   His rich German-Jewish parents had made their fortune in the garment business. At the age of sev­enteen, following a brief experience in journalism, he began a career as a stage actor. In 1923, he started directing plays (about 200 until the early 1930s) and soon won great fame in all German-speaking countries. At age twenty-four, he was working at the prestigious Burgtheater in Vienna, but after being an assistant and dialogue director for Anatole Litvak (1930 No wieder Liebe / USA: No More Love), he gave up the boards to direct films. In France from 1933, he had to take refuge in the USA during the occupation of France. Going back to France after the liberation, he still directed four masterpieces before dying of a heart attack at age fifty-four. He was on the point of directing a new picture, Montparnasse 19 / Gli amori di Montparnasse / UK: The Lovers of Montparnasse / USA: Modigliani of Montparnasse. Jacques Becker, who finally shot the film, dedicated it to his memory. In 1957, a few weeks before his death, he directed onstage a Baumarchais play (La Folle Journée ou Le Mariage de Figaro). He shot a few scenes of Marcel L'Herbier's Le Scandale (1934). German director Martina Muller fil­med a documentary on him (1990 Max Ophuls—Den Schônen guten waren; Germany).

 Filmography

1930 ◘ Dann schon lieber Lebertran / UK: I'd Rather Have Cod Liver Oil (short; also co-screenwriter; Germany)

1932 ◘ Die verliebte Firma (also co-screenwriter; Germany)

        ◘ Die verkaufte Brot / UK and USA: The Bartered Bride (also co-screenwriter; Germany)

1933 ◘ Die lachenden Erben / UK: The Merry Heirs / USA: Laughing Heirs (also co-screenwriter; Germany)

        ◘ Liebelei / UK and USA: Flirtation / Light O'Love / Playing at Love (also co-screenwriter; Germany)

1934 ◘ Une Histoire d'Amour (French-language version of Liebelei; also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ On a vole un Homme / UK and USA: Man Stolen

        ◘ La signora di tutti / USA: Everybody's Woman (also co-screenwriter; Italy)

        ◘ Divine (also co-adapter)

        ◘ La Tendre Ennemie / USA: The Tender Enemy (also co-screenwriter, co-producer)

        ◘ Valse brillante de Chopin (short)

        ◘ Avé Maria / Avé Maria de Schubert (short)

        ◘ Komedie om Geld / Comedie om Geld (also co-screenwriter; Netherlands)

        ◘ Yoshiwara (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter)

        ◘ Le Roman de Werther / Werther (also co-adapter)

        ◘ Sans Lendemain / USA: There's No Tomorrow (also co-adapter)

        ◘ De Mayerling à Sarajevo / UK: Sarajevo / USA: Mayerling to Sarajevo / US video: From Mayer-ling to Sarajevo (also co-adapter)

        ◘ L'Ecole des Femmes (unfinished)

1947 ◘ The Exile (USA)

        ◘ Letter from an Unknown Woman (also uncred-ited screenwriter; USA)

        ◘ Caught (USA)

        ◘ The Reckless Moment (USA)

1950 ◘ La Ronde / UK and USA: Roundabout (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter)

        ◘ Vendetta (Max Ophuls shot a few scenes and was fired by producer Howard Hughes in 1946; Stuart Heisler, Preston Sturges, and Paul Weatherwax directed some sequences; Mel Ferrer reshot the ending and added se­quences in 1950)

        ◘ Le Plaisir / UK: House of Pleasure / USA: Pleas­ure (three segments: "Le Masque", "La Maison Tellier", "Le Modèle"; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, producer)

        ◘ Madame de . . . / Gioielli di Madame de . . . / UK: Diamond Earrings / USA: The Earrings of Mad­ame de . . . (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter; France / Italy)

1955 ◘ Lola Montès / Lola Montez / UK: The Fall of Lola Montes / USA: The Sins of Lola Montes (also screenwriter, co-adapter; France / West Germany)