Bram john

Early years and early career

Hans Bram was born on August 17, 1893 in Hamburg . He was the son of the German actor Ludwig Brahma and the nephew of the European theater impresario Otto Brahma ^[1] . Hans followed in the footsteps of his father and began performing on the stages of Vienna, Berlin and Paris ^[2] . After World War I, he rose to the level of a director. His first attempt at working in the movie business was staging scenes in a joint Franco-German film, in which his future wife Dolly Haas played a major role ^[2] .

Movie career

The coming to power of Hitler in 1934 forced Brahm to emigrate to England, where after a short work as a film director, in 1936 he received the first opportunity to produce his own film ^[1] , an unremarkable remake of D. U. Griffith ’s film “ Broken Shoots ” ^{[2 ]} .

In 1937, Bram arrived in Hollywood , where he changed his name from German to English Hans, John, and signed a three-year contract with the studio Kolambia (1937-40) ^[2] , "putting on this studio a lot of films of category A- and B" ^{[1 ]} .

In 1939, Brahm produced the film “ Let Us Live ”, which had a difficult fate. Based on a true story, the film told the story of two prisoners unjustly sentenced to death and almost executed in Massachusetts . The state authorities were extremely upset by this film and began to put pressure on the studio in order to cancel the film demonstration. The studio nevertheless finished the film, but did it quietly and with a modest budget.

In 1941, Bram moved to the studio " 20 Century-Fox ", where he worked until 1944 ^[1] . “Bram began to specialize in suspense - thrillers , often with psychological overtones, sometimes introducing the theme of madness. His thirst for filming sinister and grotesque films is largely associated with the influence of his uncle Otto Brahm: at one time an influential theater producer introduced his nephew to the dark and fantastic features of German expressionist films on the example of films such as Faust (1926) ” ^{[ 2]} .

“At Fox Studios, Bram put two masterpieces in a row: stylish and atmospheric, reminiscent of the story of Jack the Ripper , the film Tenant (1944), and, in a similar vein, The Hangover Area (1945), the gothic melodrama about madness and murder whose action takes place in Victorian London . In both films, he played a great, unfortunately, not long-lived actor Laird Cregar , whose professionalism and well-adjusted game Bram really appreciated. Significant contribution to the definition of the course and tempo of the narration, as well as to the selection of details, was made personally by Bram, who meticulously prescribed every scene and every angle before starting the shooting ” ^[2] . In between these films, the psychological thriller “ Guest in the House ” (1944) featuring Anne Baxter appeared .

In 1947, Bram took three more notable pictures: the film Noir “ Medallion ” at the RKO studio with Lorain Day and Robert Mitchum , the film noir “ Blood money ” at the 20th Century-Fox studio based on the novel by Raymond Chandler and George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe and the Singapore crime adventure drama (1947) at the Universal Studio with Fred MacMurrem and Ava Gardner .

In 1952, Bram staged the drama “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima ” (1952), based on a Christian legend. “Another of the films is Brahma, although not from the same league, but nevertheless also bringing great pleasure is“ The Crazy Magician ”(1954). Having become something like the predecessor of low-budget horror films with the participation of Vincent Price , who later began to shoot the company " American International ", he was shot using an experimental process of three-dimensional image . What the picture lacked in terms of content, it compensated for the historical details and the star game that gave pleasure, reminding the House of Wax figures (1953), released a year earlier ^[2] .

Work on television

American film historian and critic Andrew Sarris, in his book American Cinema: Directed by and Directions 1929-1968, argued that "in the 1930s Bram" entered his rut ​​with "melodramas soaked in a gloomy mood", suggesting that after During this period, Brahm began a creative recession, however, Sarris further notes that Bram did not suffer from a lack of work, as he put on “about 150 television films” ^[3] .

In the 1950s, Brahma's film career really began to decline, and he turned his attention to television ^[1] , but he never moved far from the terrible genre ^[2] . He put on some of the most beloved films of such television series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Beyond the Possible , (1963), Alfred Hitchcock's Hour (1962), and especially Twilight Zone (1959) ( “Time is at last enough” and “Monsters must appear on Maple Street” stand out especially) ^[2] . Bram also staged selected films from the TV series “Doctor Kilder”, “Thriller”, “Defenders”, “Journey to the Ocean Floor”, “ Bonanza ”, “Virginina”, “The Man from ANKL”, “The Girl from ANKL” (1966), and also many other classic television films ^[4] .

In 1960, Bram received a nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award for outstanding achievement in directing the production of the episode “Finally Time Enough” on the TV series “ Twilight Zone ” ^[5] .

Brahma's latest film was the “careless Riders to Hell” (1967), which was originally planned for hire on television ” ^[1] .

While still working in Germany, “Bram first married an actress who soon ran away from him with another actor, which led him into a state of deep depression” ^[4] . In England in 1937, Bram married for a second time the famous actress Dolly Haas , "who later, after their divorce, married cartoonist Al Hirschfeld " ^[4] . “In the 1950s, Bram met and married Anna, who bore him two children.” ^[4]

In 1968, Bram retired. He spent the last years of his life chained to a wheelchair and died in October 1982 at the venerable age of 89 years ^[2] .

Movies

TV Series

• John Bram on IMDb website
• John Bram on the Allmovie website
• John Brahm on Sumishta