Curtis Bernhardt mini-bio: If Curtis Bernhardt is a relative unknown, it's because he didn't direct his first Hollywood feature until 1940 at the age of 41. Bernhardt worked for years in Germany until his Jewish heritage made living there impossible by 1933, making a harrowing underground escape to France after being arrested by the Gestapo. With Europe plunging into WW2, he left for America in 1939. Despite his limited grasp of the English language, he was offered seven-year contracts at both Warner Brothers and MGM, largely on the strength of _Carrefour_ (1936), that proved so enduring that it was ultimately remade as _Dead Man's Shoes_ (1938) in the UK, and as _Crossroads_ (1942) by MGM. Most émigrés would have jumped at MGM's offer, but Berhardt went with Warner's, favoring the studio's reputation for hard-boiled realism. His career in Hollywood began with a false start; after working on his first assignment he fell ill and was reassigned an Olivia de Havilland vehicle, _My Love Came Back_ (1940) that gained him good notices. Bernhardt rapidly achieved a reputation as a woman's director with occasional forays into suspense with varied results. He directed one of Humphrey Bogart's least popular films, _Conflict_ (1945), burdened by ludicrous plot contrivances but soon snapped back with a winner with _My Reputation_ (1946), a melodrama starring Barbara Stanwyck. He misfired with the critically panned _Devotion_ (1946) and would end his contract with the studio after three more films in 1947 and moved to briefly to MGM. Ironically, he would later look back fondly upon Warner's assembly line production methods when compared to MGM, where he felt compelled do bend to the whims of it's stars and serve at the behest of Louis B. Mayer. But Berhardt managed to make two above-average films during his short stay at Metro: the suspenseful _High Wall_ (1947) starring Robert Taylor in one of his best mid-career roles, and _The Doctor and the Girl_ (1949), starring the likable Glenn Ford. He moved to RKO, which was entering it's final chaotic decade, directing _The Blue Veil_ (1951), a remake of a French film. He did a one-shot gig at Columbia, directing Bogie once again in the hopelessly set-bound _Sirocco_ (1951) and rounded out the remainder of the 1950's back at MGM, but ending his Hollywood career with the middling comedy, _Kisses For My President_ (1964) at Warner's. He retired from directing due to illness in the mid-1960's.
