Frank Borzage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Frank Borzage (April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), Bad Girl (1931), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Man's Castle (1933), History Is Made at Night (1937), The Mortal Storm (1940) and Moonrise (1948). In 1912 Borzage found employment as an actor in Hollywood; he continued to work as an actor until 1917. His directorial debut came in 1915 with the film The Pitch o' Chance. He was a successful director throughout the 1920s, but reached his peak in the late silent and early sound era. Absorbing visual influences from the German director F.W. Murnau, who was also resident at Fox at this time, Borzage developed his own style of lushly visual romanticism in a hugely successful series of films starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, including 7th Heaven (1927), for which he won the first Academy Award for Best Director, Street Angel (1928) and Lucky Star (1929). He won a second Oscar for 1931's Bad Girl. He directed 14 films between 1917 and 1919 alone. His greatest success in the silent era was with Humoresque, a box office winner starring Vera Gordon. Borzage's trademark was intense identification with the feelings of young lovers in the face of adversity, with love in his films triumphing over such trials as World War I (7th Heaven and A Farewell to Arms), disability (Lucky Star), the Depression (Man's Castle), a thinly disguised version of the Titanic disaster in History Is Made at Night, and the rise of Nazism, a theme which Borzage had virtually to himself among Hollywood filmmakers from Little Man, What Now? (1933) to Three Comrades (1938) and The Mortal Storm (1940). His work took a spiritual turn in such films as Green Light (1937), Strange Cargo (1940) and The Big Fisherman (1959). Of his later work only the film noir Moonrise (1948) has enjoyed much critical acclaim. After 1948, Borzage's output was sporadic. In 1955 and 1957, he was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film. Frank Borzage died of cancer in 1962, aged 68.
105 directing credits · 67 acting credits
Directing · 105
A Farewell to Arms
1932
The Mortal Storm
1940
Moonrise
1948
History Is Made at Night
1937
Desire
1936
Stage Door Canteen
1943
Flight Command
1940
7th Heaven
1927
Strange Cargo
1940
Magnificent Doll
1946
Mannequin
1938
Liliom
1930
Young America
1932
The Spanish Main
1945
Stranded
1935
China Doll
1958
The Shining Hour
1938
Secrets
1933
Man's Castle
1933
The Big Fisherman
1959
Shipmates Forever
1935
Lucky Star
1929
Flirtation Walk
1934
That's My Man
1947
Doctors' Wives
1931
Little Man, What Now?
1934
Secrets
1924
Living on Velvet
1935
Street Angel
1928
Smilin' Through
1941
Hearts Divided
1936
Three Comrades
1938
The Circle
1925
Big City
1937
Song o' My Heart
1930
His Butler's Sister
1943
Disputed Passage
1939
Seven Sweethearts
1942
Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
1921
The Duke of Chimney Butte
1921
Till We Meet Again
1944
The Lady
1925
Green Light
1937
The Vanishing Virginian
1942
Bad Girl
1931
Toton
1919
The Valley of Silent Men
1922
They Had to See Paris
1929
Back Pay
1922
I've Always Loved You
1946
Whom the Gods Would Destroy
1919
Wages for Wives
1925
The Day I Met Caruso
1956
The River
1929
Lazybones
1925
Life's Harmony
1916
Flying Colors
1917
The Pilgrim
1916
The Dixie Merchant
1926
Children of Dust
1923
Humoresque
1920
No Greater Glory
1934
The Ghost Flower
1918
Marriage License?
1926
Until They Get Me
1917
The Age of Desire
1923
After Tomorrow
1932
Land O' Lizards
1916
The Atom
1918
The Good Provider
1922
Unlucky Luke
1916
The Pride of Palomar
1922
Young as You Feel
1931
Prudence on Broadway
1919
Day is Done
1955
The Nth Commandment
1923
The First Year
1926
Billy Jim
1922
Society for Sale
1918
Immediate Lee
1916
The Shoes That Danced
1918
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
1925
That Gal of Burke's
1916
A Flickering Light
1916
Two Bits
1916
The Silken Spider
1916
The Pitch o' Chance
1915
Jack
1916
The Courtin' of Calliope Clew
1916
The Gun Woman
1918
Innocent's Progress
1918
The Curse of Iku
1918
Who Is to Blame?
1918
Early to Wed
1926
The Pride and the Man
—
The Quicksands of Deceit
1916
The Demon of Fear
1916
Matchin' Jim
1916
A Ticket for Thaddeus
1956
The Forgotten Prayer
1916
Nugget Jim's Pardner
1916
Nell Dale's Men Folks
1916
The Code of Honor
1916
An Honest Man
1918
Dollars of Dross
—
Acting · 67
The Oscars
1953
This Is Your Life
1952
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
1916
Hollywood Preview
1955
Jeanne Eagels
1957
The Typhoon
1914
Murnau, Borzage and Fox
2008
Fear Not
1917
Samson
1914
Granddad
1913
The Pilgrim
1916
Retribution
1913
In the Land of the Otter
1915
The Wheel of Life
1914
Land O' Lizards
1916
The Drummer of the 8th
1913
A Mormon Maid
1917
The Atom
1918
Unlucky Luke
1916
A Cracksman Santa Claus
1913
A Flash in the Dark
1914
In the Switch Tower
1915
Wee Lady Betty
1917
Immediate Lee
1916
Knight of the Trail
1915
The Mill by the Zuyder Zee
1915
The Cup of Life
1915
The Gratitude of Wanda
1913
A School for Husbands
1917
That Gal of Burke's
1916
A Flickering Light
1916
Loaded Dice
1913
The Days of '49
1913
Love's Western Flight
1914
The Clean-Up
1915
Two Bits
1916
The Hammer
1915
The Pitch o' Chance
1915
A Crook's Sweetheart
1914
The Desperado
1914
In the Sage Brush Country
1914
The Wrath of the Gods
1914
The Secret of Lost River
1915
Jack
1916
In the Toils
1913
When Lee Surrenders
1912
The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine
1913
On Secret Service
1912
A Hopi Legend
1913
The Courtin' of Calliope Clew
1916
Silent Heroes
1913
Realization
1916
The Tavern Keeper's Son
1915
Parson Larkin's Wife
1914
The Curse of Iku
1918
The Cactus Blossom
1915
The Demon of Fear
1916
Matchin' Jim
1916
The Forgotten Prayer
1916
The Panther
1914
The Crimson Stain
1913
Nugget Jim's Pardner
1916
Nell Dale's Men Folks
1916
The Girl Who Might Have Been
1915
The Code of Honor
1916
Molly of the Mountains
1915
Aloha Oe
1915