Fred Zinnemann's Birthday
On April 29, 1907, in the city of Rzeszow, which at that time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Poland, a son, Alfred, was born into the Jewish family of the doctor Oscar Zinnemann and his wife Anna. Alfred's childhood dream was to become a violinist. But, as he later recalled, he realized in time his complete lack of musical talent, and therefore, after graduating from school, he entered the University of Vienna, where he studied law. Alfred Zinnemann did not become a lawyer either, but he never regretted the time spent on studying legal sciences, because, as he himself said, they taught him the way of thinking necessary for a director and gave him knowledge that was useful for filming some films, in particular, "The Nun's Story" and "A Man for All Seasons".
While being a student, Alfred Zinnemann "fell in love" with cinema and in 1927 persuaded his parents to let him go to Paris and pay for his studies at the College of Photography and Cinematography. After a year of study at this Technical School with the qualification of a cinematographer, 20-year-old Alfred Zinnemann began to participate in the filming of films at a number of film studios in Berlin. The difficult economic situation in Germany in the late 20s of the XX century severely limited the opportunities for self-realization of young filmmakers. Many of them moved to more prosperous America. So Zinnemann convinced his parents that in order to continue his career in his chosen profession, he needed to leave for the USA. In October 1929 he arrived in New York. Alfred's parents, who remained in Europe, after the Nazis came to power in Germany and Austria, were burned in the fire of the Holocaust.
For several years, Fred Zinnemann gained cinematic experience in Hollywood film studios, performing auxiliary functions, including: assistant cameraman, assistant director, actor in crowd scenes, etc. In 1936, he had a lucky chance in the form of an offer from the Mexican film company Azteca Films to act as a "partner" of the aspiring Mexican director Emilio Gomez Muriel in creating a film based on the script of the famous American writer of Portuguese origin, John Dos Passos. The film "Redes" received good reviews in the American press, in particular, in The New York Times. The name of Fred Zinnemann became famous in US film circles, and 1936 became the year of the beginning of his creative biography as a director of full-length feature films. True, for several years Zinnemann shot only documentaries and short films. Finally, in 1942, he was able to independently shoot two full-length feature films at once: "Kid Glove Killer" and "Eyes in the Night."
Between 1936 and 1982, when Fred Zinnemann made his last film (he died in 1997), he made 21 full-length feature films on his own and co-directed three films. 3 pictures made by Fred Zinnemann entered the Golden Thousand. For this reason, Fred Zinnemann is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand. Fred Zinnemann's filmmaking activity has been marked by 38 film awards, including such prestigious ones as 2 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, the BAFTA British Academy Film Award, the Danish Bodil Award, the Golden Seashell Award of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Pasinetti Award of the Venice International Film Festival.
Today, in commemoration of the birthday of the great film director, I want to remind the fans of his work the frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.
