Parrish, Robert

Parrish was born on January 4, 1916 in Columbus , Georgia , in the family of a factory cashier and actress. In the 1920s, the family moved to Los Angeles . Two of his sisters also became actresses: Beverly (she died in 1930 at the age of 10, having played one role) and Helen (started acting in 1927 at the age of 4, died in 1958 at the age of 35, playing until her death small roles in movies and television series) ^{[4] [5] [6]} .

According to film critic Kevin Brownlow, “Parrish denied the popular belief that“ the worst start for a child in the movie is to become an actor-child. ” ^[7] Parrish made his movie debut in 1927 in a teenage short film from the series“ Shooters ”called The Olympic Games (1927) ^[8] . In the same year, he played in the famous film “ Sunrise ” (1927) by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau , where he dressed as adults to create an expressionist directorial vision “11-year-old Parrish and other children of his age costumes and instructed them to portray in mature society ” ^[7] . In the epic film about Admiral Nelson “ The Divine Lady ”(1929), Parrish was a boy-carrier of gunpowder. Then he made a“ revealing trip to his eyes to nature with Raul Walsh for filming in the grand western “The Big Trail “(1930), made with sound and for the wide screen.” ^[7] . In the early 1930s, as a child actor, he played episodic roles in such significant films as “ City Lights ” (1931) by Charlie Chaplin and “ On the western front without change ”(1930) by Lewis Milestone ^[5] . According to Parrish, in The Lights of the Big City, he was the child who "shot Charlie with a toy gun." And it was this film that aroused his desire to become a director ^[7] .

Parrish continued to act in films in small and episodic roles until 1938 ^[9] .

In 1935, Parrish received the position of apprentice editor in the creative group of the famous director John Ford , who worked on the film “The Informant ” (1935) ^[7] . After that, Parrish began to constantly work in the Ford team. In particular, he participated in the editing of his films “ Mary of Scotland ” (1936), “ Young Mr. Lincoln ” (1939) and “ Bunches of Wrath ” (1940). In addition, Parrish edited the sound of Ford's Stagecoach (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Drums of the Mohawk Valley (1939), The Bunches of Wrath (1940), The Long Way Home (1940), and The Tobacco Road (1941) ^{[8] [4]} .

While serving in the Navy during World War II, Parrish continued to work with Ford as the editor of several documentaries and educational films ^[1] . Ford's short film “ The Battle of Midway ” (1942), where Parrish was an editor, won an Oscar in 1943 as the best documentary ^[7] .

After the war ended, Parrish (together with Francis Long) won an Oscar for installing Robert Rossen ’s boxing noir “ Body and Soul ” (1947) ^{[7] [5]} . He was also the editor of George Cucor 's Oscar-winning noir Double Life (1947) and Max Ofuhls 's noir melodrama The Captive (1949). In 1950, Parrish (along with Al Clark) was nominated for an Oscar for the installation of yet another Oscar-winning drama, Robert Rossen's “ All the Royal Army ” (1949) about the rise and fall of an unprincipled politician from Louisiana ^[5] .

In the 1950s and 70s, Parrish worked as a director ^[5] . “When he achieved his goal of becoming a director, the years spent in the editing room paid off handsomely” ^[7] .

His first directorial work, the noir thriller Scream of Danger (1951) about an unjustly convicted hero ( Dick Powell ), who undertakes to restore his good name and bring real criminals to the open, “received good criticism and was well received by the public” ^{[ 7]} thanks to the captivating narrative, high pace and good humor ^[10] . Allen Grant Richards, notes that “criticism enthusiastically accepted this action drama, quite typical, but fascinating” ^[3] . The film noir " Mafia " (1951) talked about the introduction of a detective ( Broderick Crawford ) undercover in the New York port mafia. Film critic Bruce Eder wrote that “the pace and course of the narrative of the film is almost dizzying, plot details are revealed without wasting time and with the help of some very colorful cool lines; in addition, the authors leave room for several comic turns that do not slow down the action until the very end ” ^[11] . The action thriller “ Shot on the Hunt ” (1953) was scripted by the famous criminal author Eric Ambler and talked about how the incident on the hunt led the hero to expose the espionage network in England.

“Throughout his career, Parrish received the best critique for his other genre films, such as the military drama Purple Plain (1954), the adventure drama Fire from the Underworld (1957) and Western Ride the Wind (1958) ^{[ 3] [7]} . The military adventure drama Purple Plain (1954) spoke of a Canadian pilot ( Gregory Peck ) serving in the British Air Force in Burma in the last months of World War II, who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown after his wife’s death. The film was a success at the box office and was nominated for 4 BAFTA awards, including for the best film and best screenplay by Eric Ambler ^[12] . The action of the adventure melodrama “ Fire from the Underworld ” (1957), scripted by Irwin Shaw, takes place in the Caribbean in the early 1950s, where Robert Mitchem and Jack Lemmon play a couple of small smugglers who fall in love with the mysterious passenger of their small ship ( Rita Hayworth ).

One of Parrish’s most well-received works was the sad psychological western Riding the Wind (1958) ^[5] , which talked about the tragic relationship between a former professional shooter ( Robert Taylor ) and his young uncontrollable brother ( John Cassavetes ). “The excellent Western Wonderful Country (1959) is permeated with a sense of melancholy and expecting something worse, and at the same time remains an honest and unbiased look at realistic adventures” ^{[13] of the} mercenary ( Robert Mitchem ), who had once fled from the USA to Mexico and now forced to meet his homeland again. Kevin Brownlow, calling the painting “a wonderful western,” writes that “he was impressed by the visual qualities of Wonderland, achieved according to Parrish, largely thanks to the work of the second cameraman living in Mexico, Russian (in fact, a Canadian who lived for some time in Russia) Alex Philips , who went to the extreme risk when filming. Parrish notes that “sometimes his shots were completely useless, but for the most part they were exciting” ” ^[7] .

Traveling from the United States to Europe , Parrish spent most of the work of the 1960s and 1970s filming films that, in his own words, became "all second-rate and second-rate." “Neither critics nor the public objected to such an assessment when he produced bundles of boring thrillers, comedies, and even the Italian western” ^[3] .

“Together with the writer and screenwriter Irwin Shaw, Parrish became a co-producer of the lightweight melodrama“ In the French manner ”(1963), which he set with enthusiasm, but she did not captivate the critics” ^[3] . The film tells about a young American ( Gene Seeberg ), who comes to Paris in order to plunge into the artistic and bohemian life of the city. After a series of romantic intrigues, she leaves the man she loved ( Stanley Baker ), marries a California surgeon, and returns to America for a rich and peaceful life ^[14] . The military drama with Cliff Robertson's “Offshore” (1965) told of an American detachment that had landed in Normandy in 1944, and his attempts to introduce the French civilian population from the combat zone. The picture was presented by the studio as a sequel to the successful epic drama " The Longest Day " (1962) about the landing of the Allies in Normandy.

Among the "less successful experiences" Parrish Brownlow attributed a parody of the James Bond movie " Casino Royale " (1967) ^[7] , where he was one of five directors. Despite the commercial success of the film, criticism “everywhere sharply criticized it as a promiscuous and prolonged failure with individual funny episodes lost in an illegible environment” ^[15] .

The sci-fi drama “ Journey Beyond the Sun ” (1969) tells the story of a spacecraft flying to a planet that is in the same orbit as the Earth, but from the opposite side of the Sun. After the flight, decorated with psychedelic effects, the astronaut reaching his destination does not immediately realize that he was on an almost identical Earth, but still a different planet. As Variety magazine wrote in its review, “unfortunately, despite some excellent and imaginative special effects and high production qualities, the film is so overloaded with confused details that it often loses its meaning” ^[16] .

The thriller Marseille Contract (1974) was the last feature film in Parrish's career. The film takes place in the south of France , where an American anti-drug agent ( Anthony Quinn ) hires a killer ( Michael Kane ) to destroy the drug lord ( James Mason ). The press critically evaluated the picture. “ Sunday Telegraph ” considered him “a thriller that throws all modern cliches ... into one awkward story, offering not so many”, and the Financial Times called it “meaningless potpourri of car racing, drug trafficking and murders” ^[17] .

After working mainly in Europe from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Parrish turned to documentary film after an almost ten-year pause ^[1] . Back in 1962, while working on the film In the French Style, Parrish met the French director Bertrand Tavernier , and 20 years later they jointly made the Mississippi Blues documentary (1983), dedicated to the struggle for US civil rights in the 1960s years ^[7] . “Although the film was sincere and felt, it looked lethargic and apathetic, and did not attract much attention” ^[3] .

Working in Hollywood since the age of 14, Parrish “had a unique look at the history of Hollywood, and among his colleagues he was known as a narrator of fascinating stories and jokes, many of which were included in two of his books,“ Raised in Hollywood “(1976) and“ Hollywood is here no longer lives “(1988)” ^[1] . Allen Grant Richards even remarked that “thanks to his two memoirs, Parrish will be remembered most of all as the storyteller of Hollywood stories” ^[18]

Brownlow notes that “Parrish seemed to know the whole history of cinema from personal experience. There was no film that he would not know, and no director with whom he would not work. ” He further wrote: “His stories about these films were wonderful in themselves, and he often approached them from such an unexpected side that not only the denouement, but the situation itself came as a surprise to the listener. We all urged him to write down his stories, and in 1976, he did this by creating one of the most charming and fun books about the movie business ever written, titled “Raised in Hollywood” ... ^[7]

After the movie " Mississippi Blues " in 1983, "Parrish can be said to have retired, although he still lived for many years in the small town of Sag Harbor, on Long Island with his wife Katie" (whom she had been married since 1942) ^[7] .

Robert Parrish died on December 4, 1995 in Southampton , Long Island , NY .

Director

Editor

• Robert Parrish at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Parrish at Allmovie
• Robert Parrish at Turner Classic Movies