Mankiewicz Joseph L.

USA, 1909-1993

Dopo aver lavorato a Berlino, si trasferì ad Hollywood dove, per un ventennio, si affermò come produttore e sceneggiatore. Ai suoi primi film di gusto gotico, Dragonwyck (1945) e The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), seguì A Letter to Three Wives (1949), film più maturo che manifestò la sua capacità di tratteggiare ritratti femminili. Questa abilità si confermò in uno dei suoi film più noti e riusciti, All About Eve (1950) dove si fronteggiano Bette Davis e una giovane Marilyn Monroe. Dialogo magistrale, capacità di descrivere gli ambienti, robusta e articolata struttura narrativa (flashback, voci narranti fuori campo) sono gli ingredienti del suo cinema. Dopo il film People Will Talk (1951), diresse una serie di capolavori come Julius Caesar (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), noir tetro e nervoso sullo show business che esibisce l’appeal di Ava Gardner, e Guys and Dolls (1955), musical ambientato nei bassifondi di New York con Marlon Brando e Frank Sinatra. Dopo Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) e The Quiet American (1958) girò il supercolossal Cleopatra (1963), con la coppia Richard Burton/Liz Taylor. La sua carriera si chiude con Sleuth (1972), la più crudele e amara delle sue commedie.

After working in Berlin, Mankiewicz moved to Hollywood where, for twenty years, he made a name for himself as a producer and screenwriter. After his early gothic films, Dragonwyck (1945) and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), he directed A Letter to Three Wives (1949, a more mature film that revealed his ability to sketch out female portraits. This talent was confirmed in one his most noted and successful films, All About Eve (1950), in which Bette Davis plays opposite the young Marilyn Monroe. His films are characterized by brilliant dialogue, the capacity to describe an atmosphere, and a robust and flowing narrative structure (flashbacks, off-screen narrative voices). After the film People Will Talk (1951), he directed a series of masterpieces including Julius Caesar (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), a gloomy and tense film noir about show business that paraded the sex appeal of Ava Gardner, and Guys and Dolls (1955), a musical set in the New York underworld starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. After Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) and The Quiet American (1958), he directed the monumental Cleopatra (1963), with the couple Richard Burton/Liz Taylor. His career ended with Sleuth (1972), the most cruel and bitter of his comedies.