Bernard Vorhaus; Director Fell Victim to Blacklisting

Bernard Vorhaus, whose Hollywood career as a prolific B-movie director was cut short by anti-Communist blacklisting in the 1950s, but whose quickie British films of the 1930s have recently achieved a renewed following, has died. He was believed to be 95.

Vorhaus, who directed some of the earliest films featuring Ida Lupino and John Mills, died Nov. 23 in London, where he had lived since 1951.

The director, who made about 30 films between 1932 and 1952, was a mentor to Academy Award-winning director David Lean, who according to one historian called Vorhaus his “greatest influence.”

Born in New York City, the son of a lawyer, Vorhaus graduated from Harvard University talking about writing the great American novel. But intrigued by his sister Amy’s work on film scenarios for silent pictures, he decided motion pictures would be his medium of expression.

He took a train west and quickly landed a job as a scenario writer at Columbia Studios. He also worked at MGM and Paramount.

Then, in 1930, Vorhaus went to England for an opportune vacation--shortly after the British Parliament passed the Cinematograph Film Act, which limited the importing of foreign films to spur local movie production.

He stayed seven years. In England, Vorhaus got into directing, beginning with “Money for Speed” in 1933, which he also wrote. That film featured Lupino in her first leading role. Another film with his stamp of unexpected sophistication and inspiration on low-budget fare was “The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine.”

Although Vorhaus’ British films attracted scant attention for years, they have recently become popular at retrospectives at the Edinburgh Film Festival, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque and the UCLA Film Archives’ Festival of Preservation.

Returning to Hollywood in the late 1930s, Vorhaus became a producer and director at Republic Studios, making mostly B pictures. During World War II, he directed war films for the military.

He directed John Wayne in “Three Faces West” in 1940 and “Lady From Louisiana” in 1941. Among others were “King of the Newsboys,” “Tenth Avenue Kid,” “The Spiritualist” and “Bury Me Dead.”

Known for a documentary style with short scenes, clipped dialogue and action that moves steadily toward a conclusion, Vorhaus provided a training ground for emerging talents greater than his own. Among them were Lean, whom he employed as an editor, writer Ring Lardner Jr. and cinematographer John Alton.

But Vorhaus’ movie-making career virtually ended in 1951 when directors Edward Dmytryk and Frank W. Tuttle appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and fingered Vorhaus as a Communist, testifying that he associated with alleged Communist sympathizers. Vorhaus had joined anti-Nazi leagues, was virulently anti-Fascist and helped organize a boycott against a visit to Hollywood by German director Leni Riefenstahl.

At the time of the HUAC hearing, Vorhaus was working in Italy on his final film, “Fanciulle di lusso (Luxury Girls),” which was released in 1953. He never testified personally before the committee.

Vorhaus settled permanently in England, and operated a firm converting houses to offices and shops.