Billy Wilder once described director Mitchell Leisen, who worked on many of his early scripts, as little more than a ‘window dresser.’ Preston Sturges, another venerated master, seemed to share his disdain for Leisen, which may have been prompted as much by the man’s homosexuality as the quality of his work. Whatever the case may be, this master of misc-en-scene has been unfairly neglected by historians due to Wilder and Sturges’ derogatory comments in spite of the fact that he was responsible for a number of excellent romantic comedies and melodramas. After designing sets and costumes for years, Leisen began directing films in the early thirties and made his finest films from the scripts of Wilder, Sturges, and Charles Brackett; rather than butchering their stories, as was reported, he added sentiment and a stylish visual gloss which made them widely appealing to viewers. Even after his collaborators began to direct their own films, Leisen continued to make superior vehicles for Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, and Fred MacMurray which displayed his skill with both comedic and dramatic situations. Sadly, his output did decline in quality by the fifties and sixties, resulting in Leisen becoming a forgotten and even maligned figure by the time of his death; based on the number of classics made during his prime, he certainly deserved and still deserves better.
Born in Michigan, Leisen studied architecture in St Louis before finding work at the art department of the Chicago Tribune. He also began to act part-time on stage after serving in the First World War, which led him to try his luck in Hollywood; though Leisen was unable to establish himself as a performer, the sets he created for a local community theater caught the attention of silent pioneer Cecil B DeMille. He was hired to design the opulent costumes for ‘Man and Woman,’ then constructed sets for DeMille until around 1922; at that point, he moved to United Artists and began developing elaborate designs for the period vehicles of Douglas Fairbanks, like ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘The Thief of Baghdad.’ Even after Leisen began his career as a director, he continued to work as a costume and set designer on his own films in addition to those of his contemporaries. After transitioning from MGM to Paramount in the early sound years, he moved behind the megaphone by essentially taking the reins of films like ‘The Eagle and the Hawk’ from official director Stuart Walker.
That work ethic allowed him to make his directorial debut with a take on the play Cradle Song (1933) by Gregorio Martinez Sierra. The story of a Mother Superior whose admiration for a younger nun borders on the sexual, that oddball drama already displayed his skill with subverting sexual norms. Leisen did uncredited work on “Bolero,” a musical vehicle for George Raft and Carole Lombard which proved widely successful, before the dark comedy Death Takes a Holiday (1934) established him as a filmmaker with wit, intelligence, and charm. Fredric March plays Death, who takes human form to better understand people and winds up falling for a girl played by Evelyn Venable; a funny, touching, and intriguing comedy/drama, that film was both a box office and critical success which later spawned a radio show, 1971 TV movie, and the remake ‘Meet Joe Black.’ It also established Leisen, after years of designing sets and directing the occasional stage production, as a filmmaker to the Paramount brass.
Murder at the Vanities displays Leisen’s penchant for high camp and is a lot of fun; after a murder occurs at the musical revue produced by Jack Oakie, Victor McLaglen’s cop investigates as the singers, dancers, and managers prepare for their next show. With scantily clad showgirls, a song called ‘Sweet Marihuana,’ and casual attitudes towards murder and sex, it was the sort of free-spirited, risqué comedy which caused censors to clamp down a few months later. Behold My Wife was produced by BP Schulberg as a vehicle for his lover, Sylvia Sidney, cast as an Indian girl who marries millionaire Gene Raymond; he weds her to offend his conservative family, but falls in love over the course of a predictable but entertaining romantic story. Hands Across the Table (1935) cast Carole Lombard as a manicurist and Fred MacMurray as a bum who try to help each other find wealthy spouses; inspired by the sexy farces of Ernst Lubitsch, that film featured witty dialogue from Norman Krasna and displayed Leisen’s skill at constructing light, effervescent comedies. A now-neglected classic from the early years of screwball, it was enough of a hit for Paramount to produce many other Lombard/MacMurray teamings.
Four Hours to Kill was also written by Krasna, but made in a more serious vein with its story of a condemned man, played by Richard Barthelmess, who has a few hours at a theater (where he’s being held by police) to get revenge on a stoolie. Filmed entirely on a vaudeville stage, that underrated melodrama proved that the director’s technical expertise was growing. With Thirteen Hours by Air (1936), Leisen reunited with MacMurray, who plays a passenger on a transcontinental flight who begins to suspect a beautiful girl on board, played by Joan Bennett, of being a murderess. With the claustrophobic sets used well, it was an above average thriller. The Big Broadcast of 1937 was Paramount’s third entry in the popular musical series, telling the flimsy story of a radio station with employees who struggle to stay on the air; though the superior cast included Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, and leading Big Bands from the time, that hastily assembled cash-grab is regarded as the weakest of the BB films.
Swing High Swing Low (1937) reunited the popular team of Lombard and MacMurray in a more dramatic vehicle; she plays a hairdresser who falls for Fred while stranded on an island, while he is a bandleader who eventually allows success to go to his head. Less revered than the duo’s previous teaming on its release, that glossy drama has grown in stature after falling into public domain. Easy Living was the first of Leisen’s comedies to be written by Preston Sturges, and it’s a minor classic due to the screenwriter’s skill with screwball setups and the director’s talent for production designs (he worked on the costumes and hairstyles for the film). Jean Arthur plays the working girl who catches a priceless fur coat which has been thrown out the window by financier Edward Arnold; before long the press accuses her of being his mistress, even as she falls for Arnold’s son, Ray Milland. Leisen followed that effervescent, neglected classic with the lesser Artists and Models Abroad (1938), in which Benny and his musical troupe are stranded in Paris, where he has to scheme their way out of many jams; mostly forgettable, it still featured the director’s usual gloss and some diverting musical numbers like ‘You’re Broke You Dope.”
The Big Broadcast of 1938 redeemed the director’s previous entry in the popular musical series and is considered to be the best of the lot, with WC Fields as a man trying to sabotage the chances of a cruise ship winning a race as various musical acts play on board. Bob Hope made his film debut and got to sing his signature tune, ‘Thanks for the Memories,’ while playing a radio announcer trying to fend off his many ex-wives, with ample support provided by the sexy Dorothy Lamour and funny Martha Raye. Leisen next worked with Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett on Midnight (1939), though his alterations to the script led Wilder to hold a longtime grudge which ultimately damaged the director’s reputation. The film is still a classic screwball farce, with Claudette Colbert at her peak playing a showgirl who is hired by millionaire John Barrymore, in one of his best later turns, to break up the relationship between his wife, Mary Astor, and her lover, Frances Lederer. With Don Ameche as the taxi driver who falls for Colbert, witty dialogue, and Leisen’s usual skill with comedic timing, that intelligent and sexy film was a hit on its release which has been rediscovered as a minor classic in recent years.
He made another rom-com, Remember the Night (1940), which was written by Sturges and became a great success, even though the screenwriter objected to some of Leisen’s cuts and additions. Barbara Stanwyck plays a shoplifter who is put on trial by district attorney MacMurray shortly before Christmas; feeling guilty, he agrees to take her to his home for the holidays and it isn’t long before an attraction between the two begins to grow. Leisen may have softened some of Sturges’ more acerbic scenes, but he ultimately created a funny, sentimental, and unique holiday favorite which is still his most popular feature. He worked with Wilder and Brackett again on the war drama Arise My Love, which begins as reporter Colbert saves flyer Milland from a Spanish firing squad and continues with their adventures in Europe during the early years of WWII. With elements of romantic melodrama mixed in with an interventionist message, that glossy star vehicle has dated but was popular among American viewers who were gearing up to enter the conflict.
Hold Back the Dawn (1941) was the last film Leisen worked on with Wilder, who subsequently started helming his own scripts to keep them from being ‘butchered.’ Once again, the screenwriter overreacted; Leisen’s soap opera is a powerful one featuring Charles Boyer as a gigolo who, to escape the Nazi occupation of his homeland, marries American spinster Olivia de Havilland. Featuring a meta-narrative (with Boyer telling his story to Paramount producers) mixed with a genuinely tender love story and fine performances, including from Paulette Goddard as a seductive immigrant, it was a box office success and something of a high point for the Hollywood melodrama. There’s a scene in that film which references Leisen’s next movie, I Wanted Wings, which has Milland, William Holden, and Wayne Morris training to enter the Army Air Corps. With a Frank Weed story which, once again, encouraged American involvement in WWII, it was an occasionally rousing if often predictable bit of propaganda which is most notable for introducing Veronica Lake, and her now-iconic hair, as a rising star.
Still considered one of Paramount’s leading directors, with his personal signature featured on the credits of most films, Leisen began producing his own work in the future, including his comedy The Lady is Willing (1942). Marlene Dietrich plays a woman who wants to adopt a baby and, to do so, marries a pediatrician played by MacMurray in a funny if not always memorable farce, one which keeps spirits high until arriving at a surprisingly downbeat finale which spoils it. Take a Letter Darling found the openly gay Leisen toying with gender roles by casting Rosalind Russell as a successful advertising executive who hires love interest MacMurray as her secretary; witty dialogue and a funny supporting turn from Robert Benchley, among other character actors, make that comedy worth viewing today. He continued to explore the battle of the sexes with No Time for Love (1943), in which haughty reporter Colbert becomes attracted to day laborer MacMurray regardless of their class differences. In spite of wartime shooting restrictions, the chemistry between the two stars and Leisen’s skillful handling of risqué situations helped make it a hit; some sequences, like Colbert’s vaguely erotic dream of Fred, also made for a tight satire on similar comedies, with more adult themes than were typically permissible at the time.
Lady in the Dark (1944) also focused on a successful if repressed career woman; in this case, Ginger Rogers plays a magazine editor who goes to a psychoanalyst to discover the cause of her recent nightmares and finds she is attracted to her assistant, played by Milland. Based on a musical by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, Leisen’s film cut the songs but benefitted from Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s funny adaptation and another strong, actress-dominated cast. Frenchman’s Creek, which was adapted from Daphne du Murier’s novel, was produced by David O Selznick and touted as one of the most expensive Paramount productions of its day; the story is pure escapism, with Joan Fontaine as a British noblewoman who falls for pirate Arturo de Cordova and goes on an adventure. Not seen as a success on its release, perhaps due to the excessive cost, it’s still one of the most ambitious of all female-centered adventure stories. Practically Yours has MacMurray as a downed pilot who sends a message of love to his dog Piggy; the press thinks he said ‘Peggy,’ the name of Colbert’s character, which causes a number of misunderstandings after he is rescued. Though the plot of that romantic comedy was somewhat contrived, once again the Colbert/MacMurray teaming proved to be a winning one.
The drama Kitty (1945) gave Goddard one of her finest roles as an impoverished Cockney girl who is hoisted to the nobility by penniless duke Milland, for whom she develops an obsessive love even as they marry other people. Leisen again proved that he could handle historical melodramas with the same skill as his comedies, enabling his film to become a box office success. Masquerade in Mexico, sadly, was an inferior remake of the director’s classic ‘Midnight” featuring Lamour as the girl who is hired by a millionaire to distract his wife’s lover; superficial and forgettable, it was just the sort of trifle that Wilder and Sturges once accused Leisen of making. To Each His Own (1946) offered a return to the weepie genre, with a superior script by Brackett and performance from de Havilland as the mother who is forced to give up her child for adoption, finds success in the business world, and is finally reunited with the boy (played by John Lund in his debut) during WWII. De Havilland won an Oscar for her performance in that emotional film, a hit which maintained Leisen’s reputation as a major talent in the postwar years.
Golden Earrings (1947) was another superior wartime thriller starring Milland as a POW who escapes from the Nazis by joining a Gypsy troupe led by Dietrich; even if some of the situations were implausible, the able cast and exciting moments made for another engaging excursion. Suddenly It’s Spring cast Goddard as a WAC who comes home to discover husband MacMurray, who was off fighting for several years, wants a divorce; not the best of Leisen’s comedies, it was still able to benefit from his sense of pacing and the cast of likable stars. His next comedy, Dream Girl (1948), showcased the talents of Betty Hutton as a girl who struggles to keep a job because of her tendency to daydream, though it lacked the spark found in Leisen’s prior farces. Bride of Vengeance (1949) gave Goddard the choice role of Lucrezia Borgia, who is asked by her family to kill a man she has fallen in love with, but the melodramatic sequences were second rate.
Without the scripts of acclaimed figures like Wilder and Sturges to work with, the overall quality of Leisen’s films continued to decline; this was certainly the case with a drama, Song of Surrender, in which uneducated beauty Wanda Hendrix marries the wealthy, much older Claude Rains and comes to regret it. By this point, the middle aged Leisen was suffering from a decline in critical respect, his sham marriage to would-be singer Sandra Gahle, and problems with his boyfriend, the dancer Billy Daniels. He rebounded somewhat with another drama, No Man of Her Own (1950), starring Stanwyck as an unwed pregnant woman who assumes the identity of a dead man’s fiancée to find support for her child. Pure soap opera, it still benefitted from Stanwyck’s typically strong performance, Lyle Bettger’s villainous turn as her ex-boyfriend, and enough histrionics to cause filmmakers from many different countries to remake it. Captain Carey USA was a superior war flick starring Alan Ladd as a US Army officer who returns to Italy after the war to find out who betrayed his battalion to the Nazis; along the way he finds out that old flame Hendrix has married baron Lederer, who may know more than he’s letting on.
With suspenseful scenes and the Oscar-winning song ‘Mona Lisa’ on the soundtrack, it was a return to form for the filmmaker which was maintained with his adaptation of Brackett’s The Mating Season (1951). Thelma Ritter is superb as a woman who goes to live with her son, Lund, after her hamburger restaurant closes; she is mistaken for a maid by his fiancée, Gene Tierney, and causes many mix-ups with her upper crust family. An often scathing and hilarious satire on class distinctions in America, the film would sadly be one of Leisen’s last certified classics before his career began its decline. Though it was based on a play by James M Barrie, the comedy Darling How Could You was little more than a feature-length sitcom episode; after watching a risqué play, a young girl becomes convinced that mom Fontaine is cheating on father Lund. Young Man With Ideas (1952) featured Glenn Ford as a lawyer who moves his family from Montana to California, where he tries to pass the state bar as a number of comedic situations arise; sadly, the farcical spark which lighted many of Leisen’s prior hits was absent. The musical Tonight We Sing (1953) featured David Wayne as impresario Sol Hurok; a standard biopic, that film had a flimsy plot which is barely compensated for by musical performances from current celebrities portraying those musicians whom Hurok had discovered years before.
The drama Bedevilled (1955) was mostly shot by Leisen in Paris, with Anne Baxter as a chanteuse accused of murder who hides out with priest-in-training Steve Forrest; by this point working for MGM, the director was given limited control over the film and eventually replaced by an uncredited Richard Thorpe. He made his way to RKO a couple years later for a comedy remake called The Girl Most Likely (1958) starring Jane Powell as a girl who accepts three marriage proposals and must decide which man she will actually wed; disillusioned with the lack of control after his split from Paramount, brought about by a decline in his critical reputation due to derogatory comments on his style by Wilder, Leisen next turned to television with episodes of “Shirley Temple’s Storybook.” He also helmed some popular episodes of “The Twilight Zone” in the early sixties, then similarly contributed to “Markham,” “Thriller,” “General Electric Theater,” “Wagon Train,” “Follow the Sun,” “Adventures in Paradise,” and “The Girl from UNCLE.”
Leisen would sometimes bring furniture from his own home to add some class and glamour to those often routine television productions, while he only returned to theaters once with the documentary Spree (1967). An exploration of Las Vegas nightlife which featured performances by Jayne Mansfield and Vic Damone, it at least displayed some of the glitz and glamour so often associated with the washed-up filmmaker’s prime. After a few more years of trying unsuccessfully to get new projects off the ground, at which time he was interviewed about his career at length for the book ‘Hollywood Director,’ Mitchell Leisen passed away from coronary problems in 1972. Though Leisen has always had his champions, those rare critics who dared to claim that Wilder and Sturges’ early scripts were improved by a too-often-neglected master, only in recent years, with his films regularly played on channels like TCM, has his once-venerated reputation been restored.