The Casablanca Man: The Cinema of Michael Curtiz

Michael Curtiz (1888-1962) was one of the most important and prolific directors in the history of cinema, yet he has never been granted the recognition he deserves.The Casablanca Manis the first full length work on Curtiz, surveying his unequalled mastery over diverse genres: biography, comedy, horror, melodrama, musical, swashbuckler, and western. The book also examines Curtiz' relationship with the Hollywood studio moguls, based on documentary evidence culled from archive research at Warner Brothers, rather than the hearsay which has caused his underrating. The access to production and financial details of the Warner Brothers films from 1926 to 1953 makes Robertson's work unique, most of the material never having been available to the general public. The Casablanca Mansurveys Curtiz' unequalled mastery over a variety of genres which included biography, comedy, horror, melodrama, musicals, swashbucklers and westerns, and looks at his relationship with the Hollywoodstudio moguls on the basis of unprecedented archive research at Warner Brothers. Concentrating on Curtiz' best-known films -Casablanca,Angels With Dirty Faces,Mildred PearceandCaptain Bloodamong them - Robertson explores Curtiz' practical creative struggles and his friendships and rivalries with other film celebrities including Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and James Cagney, and his discovery of future stars.