Tunisian Victory

Hugh St Clair Stewart MBE was a British film editor and producer whose notable contributions included filming Bergen-Belsen concentration camp following its liberation in April 1945. Born in Falmouth, England, Stewart was educated first at Clayesmore School and then at St John’s College at... Cambridge where was taught and influenced by F. R. Leavis. He entered the film industry in the early 1930s. He trained as a film editor at Gaumont-British, initially cutting together out-takes from Marry Me and working as assembly cutter on The Constant Nymph that same year. His first film as editor was Forbidden Territory . Among the films he cut were Evergreen , Alfred Hitchcock’s original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much , Dark Journey , Action for Slander , South Riding , St. Martin’s Lane , and The Spy in Black . During World War II, Stewart was commissioned into the Army Film and Photographic Unit in 1940 and in 1942 led No. 2 AFPU during the Allied landings in Tunisia. The following year he edited film footage from the fighting into the documentary Desert Victory.
more

Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s. His rags-to-riches story, having worked his way through college, has led film historians... like Ian Freer to consider Capra the "American dream personified." Capra became one of America's most powerful directors during the 1930s, winning three Oscars as Best Director. Among his leading films was It Happened One Night , which became the first film to win all five top Oscars, including Best Picture. Other leading films included Mr. Deeds Goes to Town , Lost Horizon , You Can't Take It With You , Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Meet John Doe , Arsenic and Old Lace , It's a Wonderful Life and State of the Union . Because of his early fame as a director, his name was listed "above the title" of his films when they were publicized. People "flocked to the theaters" during the 1930s and 1940s to see films directed by Frank Capra.
more

John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplay for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen... , Moulin Rouge , The Misfits , and The Man Who Would Be King . During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, winning twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston, to Oscar wins in different films. Huston was known to direct with the vision of an artist, having studied and worked as a fine art painter in Paris in his early years. He continued to explore the visual aspects of his films throughout his career: sketching each scene on paper beforehand, then carefully framing his characters during the shooting. In addition, while most directors rely on post-production editing to shape their final work, Huston instead created his films while they were being shot, making his films both more economical and more cerebral, with little editing needed.
more