Max Ophüls

May 6, 1902 – March 26, 1957

Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany

Maximillian Oppenheimer (6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957) — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German film director who worked in Germany (1931–33), France (1933–40), the United States (1947–50), and France again (1950–57). He is best known for his smooth camera movements and complex tracking shots. Many of his films are narrated from the point of view of the female protagonist. In addition to the American romantic melodrama Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), the French productions La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir (1952), The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) and Lola Montès (1955) are among his best-known works. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States.