5 big names in cinema who have signed only one film

It’s not exactly a discovery. Shooting a film, in front of and / or behind the camera, is not always a long calm river. The experience can even go downright extreme, as was the case for Apocalypse Now, whose Homeric filming is told in the mind-blowing making-of Heart of Darkness. Or Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog, and his conflicting relationship with Klaus Kinski.

If some film talents do not particularly show the desire to put on the director’s hat one day, just as many are those who end up giving in to the sirens of directing, out of desire and/or challenge. Still, some of these attempts will not be repeated. For what ? Painful and exhausting experiences, financial reasons… Explanations are not lacking.

Our small selection of the previous dossier having apparently been appreciated, here are five new examples in this vol. 2!

What is it about ?

During the First World War, a young soldier was injured by a mine: he lost his arms, his legs and a whole part of his face. He cannot speak, hear or smell but remains conscious. In a hospital room, he tries to communicate and remembers his story…

Undoubtedly one of the most famous people blacklisted by Hollywood during the Witch Hunt in full McCarthyism, Dalton Trumbo is above all known for his great work as a screenwriter. Holder of two Oscars (for Roman Holidays in 1953 and Les clamours se silent in 1956), we also owe him the script for Spartacus, Le Rodeur by Joseph Losey, that of Papillon… He will however wait until 1971, at the age 66 years old, to sign as director his first film.

The film Johnny Goes to War is based on its director’s eponymous book, first published in 1939, just two days after the start of World War II. The film also indirectly echoes the Vietnam War.

Having never made films, Dalton Trumbo thought of entrusting the adaptation of his novel to his friend Luis Buñuel; he also mentioned the participation of Salvador Dalí. But the latter refused, considering that the film belonged only to its author. However, Buñuel will make his contribution by collaborating on certain shots (the scenes with Jesus Christ).

What is it about ?

In Germany, shortly after the end of the Second World War, doctor Karl Rothe, who took the name of Neumeister, works in a refugee camp. He sees one day appear under the name of Novak his former colleague, Hosche. The two men share a heavy secret.

In 1943, Hosche had helped Karl, in agreement with a certain Colonel Winkler, to cover up the murder of his girlfriend, Inge. Indeed, entrusted by the Nazi regime with important research, Rothe had strangled her when Hosche and Winkler had told him that his fiancée had betrayed him by communicating the results of his work to London…

The great actor Peter Lorre, we especially remember his disturbing face, unforgettable in his most famous role, that of child killer in M ​​le Maudit at Fritz Lang; but also with John Huston in The Maltese Falcon, and other supporting roles in successful Hollywood productions in the 1940s (Casablanca by Michael Curtiz, Intrigues en Orient by Raoul Walsh…). We know much less director Peter Lorre.

He is in this case the director and principal interpreter of a single film shot in 1951, L’Homme perdu. Set in post-war Germany which is still struggling to rise from its rubble, the film, of great darkness, is at once a tale of espionage, a story of revenge, and a portrait psychology of a killer.

The film was a commercial failure; and only remained, it seems, ten days on the screens. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons for this failure is due to the fact that in Germany, still traumatized by the years of Nazism and in full reconstruction, the time was not right to feed the feeling of guilt of a country with regard to of a past whose ruins were still smoking…

What is it about ?

Desert ants suddenly come together to form a collective intelligence and declare war on humans. It is up to two scientists and a girl whom they saved from the mandibles of ants that falls to the mission of destroying them.

Little known to the general public, the Graphic Designer Saul Bass (1920-1996) has always produced avant-garde film opening credits. He worked with Alfred Hitchcock on three films: Cold Sweats, Psychose and Death by Northwest. We also owe him those of West Side Story, Spartacus, or even that of Alien, the eighth passenger, although not credited for the latter.

A great admirer of his work, Martin Scorsese brought him out of his semi-retirement in the early 90s, to ask him to sign the credits of Les Affranchis, that of Les Nerfs à vive, and, in what remains his final work, the fabulous opening of Casino, on the musical theme “Matthaus Passion” by Jean-Sébastien Bach. In short, a leader in his field.

Long before Bernard Werber and his obsession with ants, Saul Bass made his first and last feature film in 1974: Phase IV; an astonishing work to be discovered, in the vein of Mystery Andromeda, at the crossroads of SF, a touch of horror and Thriller. The story of a life-and-death struggle between man and ants.

The title of the film is explained by its narrative structure, divided into four parts. A bitter failure at the Box Office, the film was quickly buried by Paramount, in addition to making cuts (some scenes present in the BA are not in the film for example) and in particular the mythical end initially planned by Saul Bass.

A surreal and psychedelic montage of four minutes, eyeing the side of 2001: a space odyssey. An original ending long considered lost, before being found and shown in June 2012. In France, the film was not even released until ten years later; that is to say the then confidential distribution of the work. The publisher Carlotta has also released a splendid DVD / blu-ray box of this very original nugget.

What is it about ?

Raymond’s family, his wife Val and his brother-in-law Billy live in a working class area of ​​London. Billy is drugged and Raymond kicks him out of his house, forcing him to live outside, hoping for help from his mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Raymond, father of a little girl, is drunk most of the time and sometimes becomes violent, including with his pregnant wife…

Huge actor whose reputation has long been established, absolute model for a whole generation of actors (notably for Tom Hardy), Gary Oldman has played many memorable roles, from Dracula to True Romance via JFK, The Taupe , Leon, Hannibal, The Dark Hours and his extraordinary composition as Churchill, his incarnation of Commissioner Gordon in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy…To name but a handful of his incarnations.

In 1997, he signed what remains his only achievement and his only screenplay: Do not swallow. A shock film, financed with the help of Luc Besson moreover, which had even been presented at the opening of the Cannes festival.

Portrait of the daily life of a family torn apart by violence, alcohol and drugs, the film was also partly (and partly only) autobiographical. “I wanted it to be honest, true, without concessions, like the photo album of all those who have touched and troubled me in my life” he explained; he who spent his youth in a disadvantaged suburb of south-east London. Her sister, Laila Morse, and her mother even star in the film.

BFI

25 years after its release, Oldman still talks about it with great emotion, in a long exchange in public organized within the British Film Institute. “I don’t know how cathartic the film is. I’m a huge fan of John Cassavetes, the film also has an influence of Italian neo-realism, and of course that of Ken Loach.

In my extended family, someone had a problem with heroin, and obviously needed the money to buy their drugs. He stole from me, broke my apartment, that of my sister… The basic idea of ​​the film was initially based on it. The script for the film took me three years, but it ended up taking 30 years to develop.”

He adds : “Nobody wanted my film. It was very difficult to finance. People often ask me why I haven’t made another film since. The irony is that often those who ask that are those who run the society [de production], those who have the money or have the facilities to obtain this money. They don’t want that movie. They want another Four weddings and a funeral. They’re okay with me doing another movie, but not a movie like this.”

Seaside Productions

We can understand the bitterness of Oldman, who also underlines how the experience was certainly interesting for him, but exhausting and painful, even to the point of having considered at one point to close the shooting altogether, because he lacked $1 million to pay his team. Now 64 years old, he is not necessarily in a hurry to repeat the experience.

So there remains this unique, singular work, which was crowned in particular by two BAFTAs: that of Best Screenplay, and that of Best British Film. Invisible for years with us, it has not even been, to our knowledge, published on DVD with us. Unfortunately, you have to turn to imports, as the copy restored in 4K by the BFI precisely.

What is it about ?

Kyle Niles, a hitman, is hired by an acquaintance to kill two men. He accepts, and, after having accomplished his work, he receives the wages due. However, he does not know that the money he receives is that of a heist, and that each ticket number is known by the police. Taken in a pincer movement, Kyle kidnaps the fiancée of the policeman who is pursuing him, in order to cover his escape.

We hardly present James Cagney, one of the greatest actors of the first golden age of Hollywood. The one who spent his childhood in New York in a difficult neighborhood will be the star of the unforgettable Public Enemy, which will make him the essential star of the gangster film of the 1930s. But he was also able to excel in other registers , even the musical.

27 years after his debut in front of a camera, he will sign his directorial debut with A stone’s throw from hell, a detective thriller which has remained his only contribution. In addition to the fact that this film marks the debut of Yvette Vickers, who enjoyed ephemeral glory thanks to her measurements revealed in Playboy magazine, it was presented as a double program in Drive-in cinemas, and was a commercial failure.

Cagney actually had no desire to become a director. According to the archives paid by the studio at the Library of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the studio did not mention Cagney’s salary on this film, which cost just over $346,000 to make. In fact, the actor reportedly did it as a favor for his friend AC Lyles, who was a longtime Paramount executive.