Jules Dassin

Today is the 1-year anniversary of the death of film director Jules Dassin. The only one of his movies I have ever seen is Never on Sunday, which I saw on late-night tv when I was a teenager. I keep meaning to see Rafifi, but it never makes it to the top of my list of DVDs to buy.

FilmReference.com says,

while he has made some very impressive films, his career as a whole is lacking in artistic cohesion.
...
The villain in his career is the blacklist, which tragically clipped his wings just as he was starting to fly.

Films de France has an overview.

There is a 1972 interview with him on youtube. He talks about working with Joan Crawford and Conrad Veidt and what it was like to be a director in Hollywood when he first started out. He also touches on McCarthyism and the blacklist. The entire interview is not included in the videos. They are in French with English subtitles. part 1:


part 2:


My blog posts on his films:
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Canterville Ghost
The Naked City