George Cukor: The American Film Director - Essay Example

Lecturer: George Cukor: The American Film Director George Cukor is an American born on 7th July 1899 in New York. He began acting as a youth in local productions and even performed a recital alongside David Selznick who later became his mentor. He went to DeWitt Clinton High School where he would cut classes to attend matinees at Hippodrome. He studied in the City College, in New York, and later in 1918, was recruited into student Army Training Corps. After completing his duty in the Army, Cukor started working in the theatre.

His role as a director began when he formed his own company. In 1920, Cukor was a stage manager for Knickerbocker players. After this, he formed his own company with John Zwicki and Walter Folmer (TCM Archive). He did several productions as a director in his company before going to work for Broadway. He worked here for five years alternating between his company during the summers, and Broadway during the winters. In 1927, he joined the Empire Theater in New York. In 1928, Cukor went to Hollywood and was given a contract with Paramount pictures as an apprentice.

He then became a screen test director and a dialogue coach in some films. The director did several jobs during his career. He became a co-director in 1930, in the film ‘Grumpy’, he directed ‘Tarnished Lady’ in 1931, in 1932, ‘One Hour with You’, ‘Dinner at Eight’ (1933), ‘Rockabye’ (1932), ‘Sylvia Scarlett’ (1935), ‘Little Women’ (1933), and several other films. His second period of his career was in MGM after moving from RKO. It is when working here that he produced “The Women”, which was one of the greatest hits in 1939.

This was followed by a number of fine films from Cukor. George Cukor served in the Army as a training films producer for the military personnel in 1942. He was honorably discharged in 1944 and went back to work for MGM (TCM Archive). He had a third success act in the late 1940s and early 1950s due to his collaboration with writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. With these writers, Cukor produced the most radiant Hollywood comedies. Some of these are ‘Pat and Mike’ (1952), ‘Adam's Rib’ in 1949 and ‘Born Yesterday’ (1950).

He produced more films in the next two decades among them ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘Justine’ (1969), ‘Travels with My Aunt’ in 1972, and ‘The Blue Bird’ (1976) (TCM Archive). George Cukor was a respected Hollywood director during the Golden age. He made so many collaborations with women earning him the description of a “women’s director”. He made collaborations with: Joan Crawford in 1939 in the film ‘The Women’, Judy Holliday in the film ‘Born Yesterday’ in 1950. Also, he made collaborations with Katherine Hepburn on a number of films, one of them being ‘The Philadelphia Story’ in 1940, Ingrid Bergman in the film ‘Gaslight’, Audrey Hepburn in the film ‘My Fair Lady’, and Judy Garland ‘A Star is Born’ (TCM Archive).

George Cukor developed his unique style, which was described as melodramatic, after leaving Paramount to join his friend Selznick David at RKO. His work is said to have been focused heavily on female actresses, and this is evident in his RKO’s first production ‘What Price Hollywood?’ His interest was in stories about identity, truth and self-deception. Cukor directed several dramas and comedies and these were delivered with challenging detail in regard to story, performance and production.

In these films, Cukor explored tensions between sex, class and society. He also explored effects of money and power on business and romantic relationships such as in the film ‘Dinner at Eight’ (1933). In his film of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ aired in 193 and ‘David Copperfield’, he showed the essence of class conflict. In his five decade career, Cukor showed his conscientious attention to every detail in his films. His focus on editing, pace, scripting, design and casting made him produce flawless visual work (TCM Archive).

He worked in all genres including musicals, but his true focus was in the complex entanglement of relationships between lovers and friends found in interpersonal, political and social conflicts. This made his work be among the finest. He won several awards such as; honorary doctorate, University of Southern California, 1968, Oscar for Best Director for ‘My Fair Lady’ in 1964, and honorary doctorate Loyola University. Also, he won Directors Guild of America Award, for ‘My Fair Lady’ in 1964, Chicago, 1976, Directors Guild of America, 1981, D.W. Griffith Award, Emmy Awards for ‘Love Among the Ruins’ hosted by ABC in 1975, and Golden Lion, Venice Festival, 1982 (TCM Archive).

Irrespective of his success stories, he had failures in some areas. Some of his biggest failures are ‘Sylvia Scarlett’, (1936), and the recurrence of ‘A Star is Born’ (1952). He also got fired as a director of in 19039 while working on ‘Gone with the Wind’. He also failed in ‘A Star is Born’ to symbolize the end of his quality, consistent and top producer, failed in ‘Something's Got to Give’ in 1962. George Cukor died on 24th January 1983 from a heart attack (TCM Archive).

Works Cited TCM Archive. “George Cukor: Biography”. TCM Archive Materials. Retrieved on 13th November 2012 from: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/41936|58446/George-Cukor/