Anthony Veiller

Anthony Veiller

Birth : 1903-06-23, New York, New York, USA

Death : 1965-06-27

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anthony Veiller (23 June 1903 – 27 June 1965) was an American screenwriter and film producer. The son of the screenwriter Bayard Veiller and the English actress Margaret Wycherly, Anthony Veiller wrote for 41 films between 1934 and 1964. He was born on 23 June 1903 in New York City to Bayard Veiller and Margaret Wycherly. He moved to Hollywood in 1930. Veiller was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. In 1937, he co-wrote (with Morrie Ryskind) the screenplay for Stage Door, starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou. This very loose adaptation of the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Veiller was also Oscar-nominated for writing (with uncredited help from John Huston and Richard Brooks) The Killers (1946), an adaptation of the short story by Ernest Hemingway. This seminal example of film noir, which introduced Burt Lancaster to filmgoers, won an Edgar Award as best mystery film of 1946, and in 2008 was enshrined in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Veiller frequently worked with top directors. During the Second World War he worked with Frank Capra on several films in the documentary/propaganda film series collectively titled Why We Fight. In 1946 (the same year as The Killers), Veiller co-wrote The Stranger, directed by and starring Orson Welles. For State of the Union (1948), again directed by Capra, Veiller was credited as co-producer as well as co-writer. Veiller worked with director John Huston on several films: Moulin Rouge (1952), Beat the Devil (1953), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), and The Night of the Iguana (1964), the film of the Tennessee Williams play that became Veiller's final screen credit. Veiller died on 27 June 1965 of cancer, in Hollywood, California. He was buried in the St Mary Churchyard, Bepton, Chichester, West Sussex, England as was his mother.

Profile

Anthony Veiller

Movies

Why We Fight: World War II: The Battle of China / War Comes to America
Narrator
Part of Frank Capra's World War II propaganda series made for the U.S. Armed Forces, this program presents newsreel footage addressing the Battle of China and shifting opinion as the United States moves from isolationism to supporting the war. Highlights include Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's moving address to Congress, Edward R. Murrow's reports from London during the Blitz and Charles Lindbergh expressing his opposition to America entering the war.
Why We Fight: World War II: The Battle of China / War Comes to America
Writer
Part of Frank Capra's World War II propaganda series made for the U.S. Armed Forces, this program presents newsreel footage addressing the Battle of China and shifting opinion as the United States moves from isolationism to supporting the war. Highlights include Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's moving address to Congress, Edward R. Murrow's reports from London during the Blitz and Charles Lindbergh expressing his opposition to America entering the war.
The Night of the Iguana
Screenplay
A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.
On the Trail of the Iguana
Self
Behind the scenes documentary of the filming of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana.
The List of Adrian Messenger
Screenplay
Adrian Messenger, a famous writer, asks his friend Anthony Gethryn, a former British agent, to help him investigate the whereabouts of the people who appear on a list, without asking him the reason why he should do so.
Solomon and Sheba
Screenplay
Under the rule of King David, Israel is united and prosperous although surrounded by enemies including Egypt and its allies. The aging King David favors his younger son, Solomon, as his successor, but David's elder son Prince Adonijah, a warrior, declares himself King. When David learns of this, he publicly announces Solomon to be his successor. Adonijah and Joab, his general, withdraw in rage. Israel prospers under King Solomon's wise and benevolent rule and is seen as a threat to more tyrannical monarchs in the region. The Pharaoh of Egypt agrees to cede a Red Sea port to the Queen of Sheba in a plot to undermine Solomon's rule. Sheba is to seduce Solomon and introduce Sheban pagan worship into Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Prince Adonijah, now banished, also conspires with Pharaoh and is given an army to defeat Solomon. The film is a highly fictionalized dramatization of events depicted in The Bible -- First Kings chapter 10 and Second Chronicles chapter 9.
Timbuktu
Screenplay
An American wheeler-dealer woos a colonel's wife amid danger at a French Foreign Legion fort.
Monkey on My Back
Screenplay
The painfully true story of welterweight boxing champion Barney Ross is detailed in Monkey on My Back. Cameron Mitchell stars as Ross, whose meteoric ring career is interrupted when he joins the Marines at the outset of WWII. A highly decorated hero, Ross contracts malaria oversees and is given morphine to assuage the pain. By the time he returns to the states, Ross is a confirmed drug addict. Before he can rise to the top again, he must hit rock bottom and his descent into the hell of narcotics dependency is graphically illustrated (so much so that the film was almost denied a Production Code seal). Though a cured Barney Ross served as technical advisor for Monkey on My Back, he ended up suing the producers for defamation of character -- and lost.
Safari
Screenplay
Wealthy eccentric Sir Vincent Brampton and his fiancée Linda Latham hire Ken Duffield to lead them on a jungle hunt. Duffield is looking for the murderer of his son; he gets the killer and Linda.
That Lady
Screenplay
In 1570, widowed Princess Ana de Mendoza becomes the love object of a deadly rivalry between her cousin Don Inigo, King Philip II of Spain and his secretary of state Antonio Perez.
Moulin Rouge
Screenplay
Born into aristocracy, Toulouse-Lautrec moves to Paris to pursue his art as he hangs out at the Moulin Rouge where he feels like he fits in being a misfit among other misfits. Yet, because of the deformity of his legs from an accident, he believes he is never destined to experience the true love of a woman. But that lack of love in his life may change as he meets two women
Red Planet Mars
Writer
Husband-and-wife scientists (Peter Graves, Andrea King) pick up a pie-in-the-sky TV message supposedly from Mars.
Red Planet Mars
Producer
Husband-and-wife scientists (Peter Graves, Andrea King) pick up a pie-in-the-sky TV message supposedly from Mars.
Force of Arms
Producer
During the winter of 1943, the German army halted the American advance in the mountains of Italy; back-and-forth combat decimates Joe Peterson's platoon. On leave in Naples, Joe meets WAC lieutenant Eleanor MacKay; initially cool, she begins to melt during a bombing raid. Their romance develops despite Joe's periodic returns to the front. But whether he'll come back in the end becomes more than doubtful...
Fort Worth
Producer
Ex-gunfighter Ned Britt returns to Fort Worth after the civil war to help run a newspaper which is against ambitious men and their schemes for control.
Along the Great Divide
Producer
New Federal marshal Len Merrick saves Tim Keith from lynching at the hands of the Roden clan, and hopes to get him to Santa Loma for trial. Vindictive Ned Roden, whose son Ed was killed, still wants personal revenge, and Tim would like to escape before Ned catches up with him again. Can the marshal make it across the desert with Tim and his daughter? Even if he makes it, will justice be served?
Dallas
Producer
After the Civil War, Confederate soldier Blayde Hollister travels to Dallas to avenge the savage murder of his family. Discovering his enemy is now an esteemed citizen, Hollister plots to expose the outlaw and his syndicate.
Chain Lightning
Producer
Former World War II flying ace Matt Brennan takes a position as a test pilot for a commercial aircraft corporation and bumps into his old girlfriend, Jo Holloway, who now works as a receptionist for the company.
Backfire
Producer
When he's discharged from a military hospital, ex-GI Bob Corey goes on a search for his army buddy Steve Connolly. A reformed crook, Connolly is on the lam from a trumped-up murder rap, and Corey hopes to clear his pal. Tagging along is Army nurse Julie Benson, who has fallen for Corey.
Colorado Territory
Producer
In Colorado territory, outlaw Wes McQueen escapes jail to pull a railroad robbery but, upon meeting pretty settler Julie Ann, he wonders about going straight. Western remake of High Sierra with Joel McCrea taking over the Humphrey Bogart role.
State of the Union
Screenplay
An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.
The Killers
Screenplay
Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
The Stranger
Screenplay
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.
Here Is Germany
Narrator (uncredited)
A "know-your-enemy" propaganda film similar to "Know Your Enemy: Japan" and "My Japan", films about Japan with the same objective. It contains a history of the prelude to WW II, the death camps and other Nazi war crimes, and commentary on the character of the German people. Directed by Frank Capra, this film is in essentially the same format as his "Why We Fight" series. It was intended to be shown to American troops participating in the invasion and occupation of Germany. But by the time it was ready, events had overtaken it -- Germany was already well on its way to falling -- so the film was shelved. Although it is readily available for public-domain viewing on the Internet, it has never been widely distributed or shown.
Your Job in Germany
Writer
Your Job In Germany is a short film made for the United States War Department in 1945 just before Victory in Europe Day (VE). It was shown to US soldiers about to go on occupation duty in Germany. The film was made by the military film unit commanded by Frank Capra and was written by Theodor Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss.
Why We Fight: The Battle of China
Narrator
The sixth film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series illustrates Japan's occupation of China, including Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's stirring address before congress, the rape of Nanking, the great 2,000 mile migration, and Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.
Attack: The Battle for New Britain
Narrator (voice)
War - Documentary film depicting the attack by Allied forces on the Japanese strong-holds of Arawe Beach and Cape Gloucester, New Britain, in the South Pacific theatre of the Second World War in 1943. - Leo Genn, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Veiller
Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia
Narrator
The fifth film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, revealing the nature and process of the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World War.
Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain
Director
The fourth of Frank Capra's Why We Fight series of seven propaganda films, which made the case for fighting and winning the Second World War. It was released in 1943 and concentrated on the German bombardment of the United Kingdom in anticipation of Operation Sea Lion, the planned German invasion.
Assignment in Brittany
Screenplay
A French Resistance fighter discovers he's a dead ringer for a Nazi official.
Her Cardboard Lover
Screenplay
A flirt tries to make her fiancée jealous by hiring a gigolo.
Why We Fight: Prelude to War
Writer
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
New York Town
Producer
Victor Ballard, a happy-go-lucky albeit impoverished sidewalk photographer, shares a New York City studio apartment with Polish immigrant painter Stefan Janowski. The big city doles out joy and misery indiscriminately: In the apartment below Victor and Steve, Gus Nelson learns that his wife has given birth to quintuplets, while the lonely tenant in the apartment below Gus has given up on life and committed suicide.
Victory
Producer
A hermit's idyllic life on an island is disturbed by the arrival of a bunch of cutthroats.
Moon Over Burma
Producer
The managers of a teak lumber camp in Burma compete for the affections of a beautiful American entertainer who gets stranded in Rangoon.
Safari
Producer
Millionaire Baron de Courland and his fiancée Linda Stewart employ Jim Logan as a guide for their hunting trip in the jungle. Linda finds unplanned adventure in her sudden love for Jim, ultimately forsaking her future with the Baron for the joys of true love.
Typhoon
Producer
Two men searching for black pearls are marooned on an island when their crew mutinies. There they run into a beautiful girl who had been washed up on the island in her childhood. They must fight angry natives and a typhoon in order to survive.
Disputed Passage
Screenplay
A doctor's medical studies are threatened by his infatuation with a Chinese girl. The girl returns to China, but complications ensue when she runs into him in Nanking during a Japanese bombing raid.
Let Us Live
Screenplay
When a confused eyewitness identifies New York City cabbie Brick Tennant as a killer, he is sentenced to death for a murder that he wasn't involved in. Though no one is willing to listen to the innocent prisoner's pleas for freedom, Brick's faithful fiancée, Mary, knows that her lover is innocent because she was with him when the crime was committed. As the scheduled execution draws ever nearer, Mary begins to investigate the murder herself.
The Saint in New York
Treatment
A crime spree in New York forces the police commissioner to turn to Englishman Simon Templar, who fights lawlessness and corruption through unorthodox methods. Templar sets his sights on individual crimes bosses, and after bringing down two vicious leaders through disguise and deception, discovers that there is a mastermind behind all the city's crime.
Radio City Revels
Screenplay
A down-on-his-luck songwriter attempts to peddle musical compositions of a naive Arkansas hillbilly under his own name. Comedy.
Stage Door
Screenplay
The ups and downs in the lives and careers of a group of ambitious young actresses and show girls from disparate backgrounds brought together in a theatrical hostel. Centres particularly on the conflict and growing friendship between Terry Randall, a rich girl confident in her talent and ability to make it to the top on the stage, and Jean Maitland, a world weary and cynical trouper who has taken the hard knocks of the ruthless and over-populated world of the Broadway apprentice.
The Soldier and the Lady
Screenplay
In the face of rebellion in Russia, Czar Alexander II sends soldier Michael Strogoff 2,000 miles away, with a critical message for Grand Duke Vladimir. On the train journey, Michael befriends a traveler and comes into contact with a mysterious spy, who both unexpectedly aid him in his quest. Once behind enemy lines, Michael is near his hometown and his mother, whom he must avoid in order to fulfill his mission.
Winterset
Screenplay
A man is determined to find the real culprit behind the crime for which his father was wrongly executed.
A Woman Rebels
Screenplay
A Victorian-era woman struggles to break free of the moral codes established by society and enforced by her father.
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Screenplay
A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a race track by his mystery writer ex-wife.
The Lady Consents
Screenplay
Civilized wife doesn't protest when husband runs off with uncivilized professional golfer pretending to be civilized.
Seven Keys to Baldpate
Writer
A writer, looking for some peace and quiet in order to finish a novel, takes a room at the Baldpate Inn. However, peace and quiet are the last things he gets, as there are some very strange goings-on at the establishment.
Jalna
Screenplay
A young poet, accompanied by his new bride, returns home to his large family at their Canadian farm.
Break of Hearts
Screenplay
Constance, a poor but aspiring composer, meets the great conductor, Franz, through their old music teacher. They fall in love, despite Constance knowing about Franz's weakness for pretty women.
Star of Midnight
Screenplay
When a dancer disappears from a theater, Clay Dalzell is asked to investigate, leading him on a trail of murder and deception.
Menace
Writer
A psychotic man stalks three innocent people whom he believes are responsible for his brother's death.
The Notorious Sophie Lang
Story
After an extended stay in England, Sophie Lang returns to America. She is beautiful, sophisticated--and a notorious jewel thief. A New York police detective who's been trying to nail her finally comes up with what seems a foolproof scheme--to catch her off guard by having her fall for a handsome and suave jewel thief who happens to be in the U.S. traveling under an assumed name.
The Witching Hour
Producer
Jack Brookfield, a gambler with clairvoyant and hypnotic powers, is able to win at cards through his unique gift. But when he inadvertently hypnotizes young Clay Thorne, Thorne kills an enemy of Brookfield's while under a trance. No one believes Brookfield's protestations that Thorne is innocent of any murderous intent, so Brookfield teams up with retired lawyer Martin Prentice in hopes of saving the young man from the gallows.
The Witching Hour
Writer
Jack Brookfield, a gambler with clairvoyant and hypnotic powers, is able to win at cards through his unique gift. But when he inadvertently hypnotizes young Clay Thorne, Thorne kills an enemy of Brookfield's while under a trance. No one believes Brookfield's protestations that Thorne is innocent of any murderous intent, so Brookfield teams up with retired lawyer Martin Prentice in hopes of saving the young man from the gallows.