Michael Curtiz (Mihály Kertész, 1888-1962) directed more than 100 films for Warner Brothers. Born and raised in Budapest, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary), Curtiz began his film work there around 1912. He claimed to have served in the Austro-Hungarian army as an officer in WWI. After being wounded, he was released to film a Red Cross documentary. (Much of the biographical information for Curtiz's European period is sketchy at best.) Political turmoil in Hungary forced him to go to Austria and Germany around 1919, although Curtiz had already made his first feature film for the Austrian Sascha studios in 1912. Despite his weak German (later to be weak English in the US), he went on to direct many films for the Austrian film company.

In 1926 Curtiz was off to Hollywood at the invitation of studio president Harry Warner. The eldest Warner brother was on a European talent hunt for his studio when he found Curtiz, whose work on the British-Austrian film The Slave Queen (1924, also known as “Moon of Israel”) particularly impressed the Warners.

There has been a tendency to underestimate Curtiz and to label his cinematic successes—and especially Casablanca—as lucky flukes or “happy accidents.” But a closer look at Curtiz' body of work reveals a talent that can't be dismissed so easily. Although Curtiz had a reputation for being autocratic, stubborn, difficult, and even mean—often hated by both cast and crew, he seemed to thrive on the Warner studio system. Although Curtiz and Warners would later have a bitter parting, he produced over 100 films for the studio. In 1930 alone, Curtiz directed six films, more than any other director at Warners. At his peak in the 1930s and '40s Curtiz produced a variety of excellent movies—usually on time and on budget—ranging from Errol Flynn swashbucklers to film noir to musicals (White Christmas). For his directing of Casablanca Curtiz was honored with an Academy Award.

There seems to be universal agreement that Curtiz was tough to work with. Most actors and crew members who worked with him have told similar stories of his nasty temperament on the set, and Casablanca was no exception. Although Bergman and Rains seem to have gotten along well with the director, others weren't as fortunate. Francis Scheid, a sound technician quoted in Aljean Harmetz's Round Up the Usual Suspects, said simply, “Curtiz was a miserable bastard to work for.” But Scheid—who had more than his share of run-ins with the director during the filming of Casablanca—also adds: “All the pictures I worked on where everybody was lovey dovey ended up lousy.”

Most of the emigrés who worked on and in Casablanca had fled Austria and Germany in the 1930s as Hitler's intentions became ever clearer and more ominous. Curtiz had arrived earlier in Hollywood, but you never would have known it by listening to his English. No one who ever worked with the famous director has failed to comment on his “Curtizisms.” (David Niven's second memoir, Bring on the Empty Horses, took its title from just such a Curtizism during filming of The Charge of the Light Brigade.) Curtiz's stepson has said, “He spoke five languages, and I am told he spoke all of them equally badly.” Curtiz was often heard using variations of, “The next time I send some big damn fool to get something, I go myself.”

As James Robertson has pointed out in his excellent biography, The Casablanca Man: The Cinema of Michael Curtiz, the director was 37 years old and had an extensive European film career behind him when he arrived in Hollywood. His Hungarian and Austrian work has been largely neglected, “although it was in Europe where his formative, possibly the most crucial, professional years of his life were spent, and where any panoramic survey of Curtiz's work must begin.”

If his work in the 1950s and early '60s didn't measure up to his prime in the 1930s and '40s, one shouldn't lose sight of the best of Curtiz's massive body of work, not the least of which was his achievement with Casablanca. Often dismissed as just another cog in the Warner Bros. machinery—and directors in those days did have much less say in the making of a picture than today—Curtiz still must be given credit for his important contribution to the film's success.

Other US Films by Curtiz: The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), Female (1933), Captain Blood (1935, music by Korngold), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, music by Korngold), Four Wives (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940, music by Korngold), Mildred Pierce (1945, considered a classic film noir, Flamingo Road (1949), Jim Thorpe—All-American (1951), The Egyptian (1954), White Christmas (1954), We're No Angels (1955), King Creole (1958, with Elvis in New Orleans), A Breath of Scandal (1960), The Comancheros (1961).

POSTERS > Casablanca Posters and Photos in association with art.com
POSTERS > More Movie Posters

NEXT > 2 Conrad Veidt

MORE > Casablanca 2

Copyright © 1997-2005 Hyde Flippo