Monday, February 2, 2015

Frank Lloyd, 1886-1960

Today marks the birth anniversary of director Frank Lloyd. Lloyd started his career as an actor in the early 1910s, making a bunch of shorts over a couple of years. But he quickly moved into directing and made something like 70 shorts in the 1910s, and a further 30 movies in the 1920s; I'm not certain how many of the 1920s movies are features, although certainly by 1924 he made The Sea Wolf, based on a novel by Rafael Sabbatini, who also gave us Captain Blood, The Black Swan, and Scaramouche.

Lloyd is probably best remembered for his 1930s work, though. He won an Academy Award for directing Cavalcade, and would be nominated again two years later for Mutiny on the Bounty. There's a story involving the Cavalcade win. Will Rogers was hosting the Academy Awards that year, and when it came time to announce the winner for Best Director, Rogers didn't name the movie, only ending his speech with "Come and get it, Frank!" The only thing was, Frank Capra had been nominated for Lady For a Day, so there was the sorry spectacle of two directors coming up to the podium to receive their award, only for Capra to have to be told he didn't win. Poor Capra, although he'd probably be considered to have the last laugh since he would go on to win three Oscars and have a longer list of beloved movies.

Oh, and how could I forget Frank Lloyd's direction of Berkeley Square or The Howards of Virginia?

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