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{{Short description|American film director & screenwriter (1885–1981)}}
{{Infobox actor
{{Use American English|date=June 2021}}
| name = Allan Dwan
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
| image = AllanDwan.jpg
{{Infobox person
| caption = Dwan during his earlier years in silent film
| birthname = Joseph Aloysius Dwan
| name = Allan Dwan
| image = Allan Dwan - Sep 1920 EH.jpg
| birthdate = {{birthdate|1885|4|3}}
| alt =
| birthplace = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada]]
| caption = Dwan in 1920
| deathdate = {{dda|1981|12|28|1885|4|3}}
| birth_name = Joseph Aloysius Dwan
| deathplace = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], United States
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|4|3}}
| spouse = [[Pauline Bush (actress)|Pauline Bush]] (1915–1921) <br> [[Marie Shelton]] (1922–1954)
| birth_place = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| yearsactive = [[1911 in film|1911]] - [[1961 in film|1961]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|12|28|1885|4|3}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], United States
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Pauline Bush (actress)|Pauline Bush]]|1915|1919|end=divorce}}<br/>{{marriage|Marie Shelton|1927|1949|end=divorce}}
| occupation = Film director<br />Film producer<br />Screenwriter
| years_active = 1911–1961; 1980
}}
}}
'''Allan Dwan''' (born '''Joseph Aloysius Dwan'''; April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.

'''Allan Dwan''' (April 3, 1885 &ndash; December 28, 1981) was a pioneering [[Canada|Canadian]]-born American [[film|motion picture]] [[film director|director]], producer and screenwriter.


==Early life==
==Early life==
Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada, Dwan was the younger son of commercial traveler of woolen clothing Joseph Michael Dwan (1857–1917) and his wife Mary Jane Dwan (née Hunt). The family moved to the United States when he was seven years old on December 4, 1892, by ferry from Windsor to Detroit, according to his [[naturalization]] petition of August 1939. His elder brother, Leo Garnet Dwan (1883–1964), became a physician.
Born '''Joseph Aloysius Dwan''' in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada]], his family moved to the United States when he was 11 years old. At the University of Notre Dame, he trained as an engineer and began working for a lighting company in [[Chicago]]. However, he had a strong interest in the fledgling motion picture industry and when [[Essanay Studios]] offered him the opportunity to become a scriptwriter, he took the job. At that time, some of the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] movie makers began to spend winters in [[California]] where the climate allowed them to continue productions requiring warm weather. Soon, a number of movie companies worked there year-round and, in 1911, Dwan began working part time in [[Hollywood, California|Hollywood]]. While still in [[New York]], in 1917 he was the founding president of the East Coast chapter of the [[Motion Picture Directors Association]].

Allan Dwan studied engineering at the [[University of Notre Dame]] and then worked for a lighting company in Chicago. He had a strong interest in the fledgling motion picture industry, and when [[Essanay Studios]] offered him the opportunity to become a scriptwriter, he took the job.<ref name="Kevin Brownlow 1968">{{cite book|author=Brownlow, Kevin|author-link=Kevin Brownlow|title=The Parade's Gone By...|publisher=[[Ballantine Books|Ballantine Books, Inc.]]|location=New York|year=1969|page=111}}</ref> At that time, some of the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] movie makers began to spend winters in California where the climate allowed them to continue productions requiring warm weather. Soon, a number of movie companies worked there year-round, and in 1911, Dwan began working part-time in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]. While still in New York, in 1917 he was the founding president of the East Coast chapter of the [[Motion Picture Directors Association]].<ref name="frankenstein">{{cite news|last=Fournier|first=Pierre|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/5706057/the-first-frankenstein-of-the-movies|title=The first Frankenstein of the movies|work=[[io9]]|date=December 4, 2010|access-date=April 28, 2016}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
Dwan started his directing career by accident in 1911, when he was sent by his employers to California, in order to locate a company that had vanished. Dwan managed to track the company down, and learned that they were waiting for a film director (who was an alcoholic) to return from a binge and allow them to resume their work. Dwan wired back to his employers in Chicago, informing them of the situation, and suggested that they disband the company. They wired back, instructing Dwan to direct the stalled film. When Dwan informed the company of the situation, and that their jobs were on the line, they responded: "You're the best damn director we ever saw".<ref name="HollywoodDoc">{{cite episode |title=The Man with the Megaphone |series=[[Hollywood (1980 TV series)|Hollywood]] |date=March 11, 1980 |number=10}}</ref>
After making a series of westerns and comedies, Dwan directed fellow Canadian [[Mary Pickford]] in several very successful movies as well as her husband, [[Douglas Fairbanks]], notably in the acclaimed 1922 ''[[Robin Hood (1922 film)|Robin Hood]]''.


Dwan operated [[Flying A Studios]] in [[La Mesa, California]], from August 1911 to July 1912.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/6833|title=La mesa to honor its tinseltown roots aug. 12–13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lamesa.patch.com/articles/100-simple-melodramas-were-made-in-la-mesa-100-years-ago|title=Proto-Hollywood: 100 Melodramas Were Made In La Mesa 100 Years Ago|date=August 10, 2011}}</ref> Flying A was one of the first motion pictures studios in California history. On August 12, 2011, a plaque was unveiled on the Wolff building at Third Avenue and La Mesa Boulevard commemorating Dwan and the [[Flying A Studios]] origins in [[La Mesa, California]].
Following the introduction of the [[sound film|talkies]], in 1937 he directed child-star [[Shirley Temple]] in ''[[Heidi]]'' and ''[[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938 film)|Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm]]'' the following year.


After making a series of westerns and comedies, Dwan directed fellow Canadian-American [[Mary Pickford]] in several very successful movies as well as her husband, [[Douglas Fairbanks]], notably in the acclaimed 1922 ''[[Robin Hood (1922 film)|Robin Hood]]''. Around that time, he also directed [[Carole Lombard]] in [[A Perfect Crime (film)|''A Perfect Crime'']], her film debut. Dwan directed [[Gloria Swanson]] in eight feature films, and one short film made in the short-lived sound-on-film process [[Phonofilm]]. This short, also featuring [[Thomas Meighan]] and [[Henri de la Falaise]], was produced as a joke, for the April 26, 1925 "Lambs' Gambol" for [[The Lambs]], with the film showing Swanson crashing the all-male club.
Over his long and successful career spanning over 50 years, he directed over 400 motion pictures, many of them highly acclaimed, such as the 1949 box office smash, ''[[Sands of Iwo Jima]]''. He directed his last movie in 1961.


Following the introduction of the [[sound film|talkies]], Dwan directed child-star [[Shirley Temple]] in ''[[Heidi (1937 film)|Heidi]]'' (1937) and ''[[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938 film)|Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm]]'' (1938).
He died in Los Angeles at the age of ninety-six, and is interred in the [[San Fernando Mission Cemetery]], [[Mission Hills, California|Mission Hills]], [[California]].


Dwan helped launch the career of two other successful Hollywood directors, [[Victor Fleming]], who went on to direct ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' and ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone With the Wind]]'', and [[Marshall Neilan]], who became an actor, director, writer and producer. Over a long career spanning almost 50 years, Dwan directed 125 motion pictures, some of which were highly acclaimed, such as the 1949 box office hit, ''[[Sands of Iwo Jima]]''. He directed his last movie in 1961.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_DIRECTOR&ID=11207&AN_ID=&searchedFor=Allan_Dwan_|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|title=Allan Dwan, Filmography|access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref>
Allan Dwan has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 6263 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.


Being one of the last surviving pioneers of the cinema, he was interviewed at length for the 1980 documentary series ''[[Hollywood (British TV series)|Hollywood]]''.<ref name="HollywoodDoc"/>
==Selected films==

As a director:
He died in Los Angeles at the age of 96, and is interred in the [[San Fernando Mission Cemetery]], [[Mission Hills, Los Angeles|Mission Hills, California]].
*''[[The Gold Lust]]'' (1911)

Dwan has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 6263 [[Hollywood Boulevard]].

Daniel Eagan of ''[[Film Journal International]]'' described Dwan as one of the early pioneers of cinema, stating that his style "is so basic as to seem invisible, but he treats his characters with uncommon sympathy and compassion."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Eagan|first1=Daniel|title=MoMA's Republic Pictures series offers B-movie rediscoveries and restorations|url=http://www.filmjournal.com/momas-republic-pictures-series-offers-b-movie-rediscoveries-and-restorations|website=[[Film Journal International]]|publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media|Prometheus Global Media, LLC]]|access-date=February 1, 2018|date=January 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131223908/http://www.filmjournal.com/momas-republic-pictures-series-offers-b-movie-rediscoveries-and-restorations|archive-date=January 31, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Partial filmography as director==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
*''[[The Restless Spirit]]'' (1913)
*''[[The Restless Spirit]]'' (1913)
*''[[Back to Life (1913 film)|Back to Life]]'' (1913)
*''[[Back to Life (1913 film)|Back to Life]]'' (1913)
Line 36: Line 49:
*''[[The Lie (1914 film)|The Lie]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Lie (1914 film)|The Lie]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Honor of the Mounted]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Honor of the Mounted]]'' (1914)
*''[[Remember Mary Magdelen]]'' (1914)
* ''[[The Unwelcome Mrs. Hatch]]'' (1914)
*''[[Remember Mary Magdalen]]'' (1914)
*''[[Discord and Harmony]]'' (1914)
*''[[Discord and Harmony]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Embezzler]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Embezzler (1914 film)|The Embezzler]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Lamb, the Woman, the Wolf]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Lamb, the Woman, the Wolf]]'' (1914)
*''[[The End of the Feud]]'' (1914)
*''[[The End of the Feud]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Test (1914 film)|The Test]]'' (1914) (*writer)
*''[[The Tragedy of Whispering Creek]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Tragedy of Whispering Creek]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Unlawful Trade]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Unlawful Trade]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Forbidden Room]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Forbidden Room (1914 film)|The Forbidden Room]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Hopes of Blind Alley]]'' (1914)
*''[[The Hopes of Blind Alley]]'' (1914)
*''[[Richelieu (film)|Richelieu]]'' (1914)
*''[[Richelieu (1914 film)|Richelieu]]'' (1914)
*''Wildflower'' (1914)
* ''[[Wildflower (1914 film)|Wildflower]]'' (1914)
*''[[A Small Town Girl]]'' (1915)
*''[[A Small Town Girl]]'' (1915)
*''[[David Harum]]'' (1915)
*''[[David Harum (1915 film)|David Harum]]'' (1915)
*''[[Manhattan Madness]]'' (1916)
*''[[A Girl of Yesterday]]'' (1915)
*''[[The Pretty Sister of Jose (1915 film)|The Pretty Sister of Jose]]'' (1915)
*''[[Fairbanks Fine Arts]]'' (1916)
* ''[[Jordan Is a Hard Road]]'' (1915)
*''[[Fairbanks Fragments]]'' (1916–1918) also screenwriter
*''[[Accusing Evidence]]'' (1916)
*''[[The Habit of Happiness]]'' (1916)
*''[[The Good Bad Man]]'' (1916)
*''[[An Innocent Magdalene]]'' (1916)
*''[[An Innocent Magdalene]]'' (1916)
*''[[The Half-Breed (1916 film)|The Half-Breed]]'' (1916)
*''[[Manhattan Madness (1916 film)|Manhattan Madness]]'' (1916)
*''[[Accusing Evidence]]'' (1916)
*''[[Panthea (1917 film)|Panthea]]'' (1917)
*''[[A Modern Musketeer]]'' (1917)
*''[[Bound in Morocco]]'' (1918)
*''[[Headin' South]]'' (1918)
*''[[Headin' South]]'' (1918)
*''[[Mr. Fix-It (1918 film)|Mr. Fix-It]]'' (1918)
*''[[He Comes Up Smiling]]'' (1918)
*''[[Cheating Cheaters (1919 film)|Cheating Cheaters]]'' (1919)
*''[[The Dark Star (1919 film)|The Dark Star]]'' (1919)
*''[[Getting Mary Married]]'' (1919)
*''[[Soldiers of Fortune (1919 film)|Soldiers of Fortune]]'' (1919)
*''[[In The Heart of a Fool]]'' (1920) also producer
*''[[The Forbidden Thing]]'' (1920) also producer
*''[[A Splendid Hazard (1920)|A Splendid Hazard]]'' (1920)
*''[[A Perfect Crime (film)|A Perfect Crime]]'' (1921)
* ''[[The Sin of Martha Queed]]'' (1921)
* ''[[A Broken Doll]]'' (1921)
*''[[Robin Hood (1922 film)|Robin Hood]]'' (1922)
*''[[Robin Hood (1922 film)|Robin Hood]]'' (1922)
*''[[Zaza (1923 film)|Zaza]]'' (1923)
*''[[Big Brother (1923 film)|Big Brother]]'' (1923)
*''[[Manhandled (1924 film)|Manhandled]]'' (1924)
*''[[Argentine Love]]'' (1924)
*''[[The Coast of Folly]]'' (1925)
*''[[Night Life of New York]]'' (1925)
*''[[Stage Struck (1925 film)|Stage Struck]]'' (1925)
*''[[Padlocked]]'' (1926)
*''[[Sea Horses (film)|Sea Horses]]'' (1926)
*''[[Summer Bachelors]]'' (1926)
*''[[Tin Gods]]'' (1926)
*''[[French Dressing (1927 film)|French Dressing]]'' (1927)
*''[[The Joy Girl]]'' (1927)
*''[[East Side, West Side (1927 film)|East Side, West Side]]'' (1927)
*''[[The Big Noise (1928 film)|The Big Noise]]'' (1928)
*''[[Frozen Justice]]'' (1929)
*''[[The Iron Mask]]'' (1929)
*''[[The Iron Mask]]'' (1929)
*''[[Tide of Empire]]'' (1929)
*''[[Tide of Empire]]'' (1929)
*''[[The Far Call]]'' (1929)
*''[[What a Widow!]]'' (1930)
*''[[Man to Man (1930 film)|Man to Man]]'' (1930)
*''[[Wicked (1931 film)|Wicked]]'' (1931)
*''[[While Paris Sleeps (1932 film)|While Paris Sleeps]]'' (1932)
*''[[Counsel's Opinion]]'' (1933)
*''[[Black Sheep (1935 film)|Black Sheep]]'' (1935)
*''[[Navy Wife (1935 film)|Navy Wife]]'' (1935)
*''[[High Tension (1936 film)|High Tension]]'' (1936)
*''[[15 Maiden Lane]]'' (1936)
*''[[One Mile from Heaven]]'' (1937)
*''[[Heidi (1937 film)|Heidi]]'' (1937)
*''[[Heidi (1937 film)|Heidi]]'' (1937)
*''[[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm]]'' (1938)
*''[[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938 film)|Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm]]'' (1938)
*''[[The Three Musketeers (film)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (1939)
*''[[Suez (film)|Suez]]'' (1938)
*''The Gorilla'' (1939)
* ''[[Josette (1938 film)|Josette]]'' (1938)
*''[[Young People (film)|Young People]]'' (1940)
*''[[The Three Musketeers (1939 film)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (1939)
*''[[The Gorilla (1939 film)|The Gorilla]]'' (1939)
*''[[Frontier Marshal (1939 film)|Frontier Marshal]]'' (1939)
*''[[Sailor's Lady]]'' (1940)
*''[[Young People (1940 film)|Young People]]'' (1940)
*''[[Trail of the Vigilantes]]'' (1940)
*''[[Look Who's Laughing]]'' (1941) also producer
*''[[Look Who's Laughing]]'' (1941) also producer
*''[[Friendly Enemies]]'' (1942)
*''[[Rise and Shine (film)|Rise and Shine]]'' (1941)
*''[[Friendly Enemies (1942 film)|Friendly Enemies]]'' (1942)
*''Around the World'' (1943) also producer
*''[[Around the World (1943 film)|Around the World]]'' (1943) also producer
*''[[Up in Mabel's Room]]'' (1944)
*''[[Abroad With Two Yanks]]'' (1944)
*''[[Up in Mabel's Room (1944 film)|Up in Mabel's Room]]'' (1944)
*''[[Getting Gertie's Garter]]'' (1945) also screenwriter
*''[[Abroad with Two Yanks]]'' (1944)
*''[[Getting Gertie's Garter (1945 film)|Getting Gertie's Garter]]'' (1945) also screenwriter
*''[[Brewster's Millions (1945 film)|Brewster's Millions]]'' (1945)
*''[[Brewster's Millions (1945 film)|Brewster's Millions]]'' (1945)
*''Driftwood'' (1947)
*''[[Rendezvous with Annie]]'' (1946)
*''Calendar Girl'' (1947)
*''[[Driftwood (1947 film)|Driftwood]]'' (1947)
*''[[Calendar Girl (1947 film)|Calendar Girl]]'' (1947)
*''[[Northwest Outpost]]'' (1947) also associate producer
*''[[Northwest Outpost]]'' (1947) also associate producer
*''[[The Inside Story (film)|The Inside Story]]'' (1948)
*''[[Angel in Exile]]'' (1948) (with [[Philip Ford (film director)|Philip Ford]])
*''[[Sands of Iwo Jima]]'' (1949)
*''[[Sands of Iwo Jima]]'' (1949)
*''[[I Dream of Jeanie]]'' (1952)
*''[[Surrender (1950 film)|Surrender]]'' (1950)
*''[[Belle Le Grand]]'' (1951)
*''[[Wild Blue Yonder (film)|Wild Blue Yonder]]'' (1951)
*''[[I Dream of Jeanie (film)|I Dream of Jeanie]]'' (1952)
*''[[Montana Belle]]'' (1952)
*''[[Montana Belle]]'' (1952)
*''[[Woman They Almost Lynched]]'' (1953)
* ''[[Sweethearts on Parade (1953 film)|Sweethearts on Parade]]'' (1953)
*''[[Silver Lode (1954 film)|Silver Lode]]'' (1954)
*''[[Silver Lode (1954 film)|Silver Lode]]'' (1954)
*''[[Passion (1954 film)|Passion]]'' (1954)
*''[[Passion (1954 film)|Passion]]'' (1954)
Line 82: Line 157:
*''[[Pearl of the South Pacific]]'' (1955)
*''[[Pearl of the South Pacific]]'' (1955)
*''[[Escape to Burma]]'' (1955)
*''[[Escape to Burma]]'' (1955)
*''[[Slightly Scarlet]]'' (1956)
*''[[Slightly Scarlet (1956 film)|Slightly Scarlet]]'' (1956)
*''[[Hold Back the Night (film)|Hold Back the Night]]'' (1956)
*''[[The Restless Breed]]'' (1957)
*''[[The Restless Breed]]'' (1957)
*''[[The River's Edge]]'' (1957)
*''[[The River's Edge]]'' (1957)
*''[[Enchanted Island (film)|Enchanted Island]]'' (1958)
*''[[Enchanted Island (film)|Enchanted Island]]'' (1958)
*''[[Most Dangerous Man Alive]]'' (1961)
{{div col end}}


See also: [[Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood]]
==See also==
*[[Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood]]

==References==
{{reflist}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*[[Kevin Brownlow|Brownlow, Kevin]], ''The Parade's Gone By...'' (1968) {{ISBN|0520030680}} {{ISBN|978-0520030688}}
* Foster, Charles, ''Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood'' (2000) ISBN 1-55002-348-9
*[[Peter Bogdanovich|Bogdanovich, Peter]], ''Allan Dwan: The Last Pioneer'' (1971) {{ISBN|0289701228}} {{ISBN|978-0289701225}}
*[[Charles Foster (writer)|Foster, Charles]], ''Stardust and Shadows: Canadians in Early Hollywood'' (2000) {{ISBN|1-55002-348-9}}
*Lombardi, Frederic, ''Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios'' (2013)
Print {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3485-5}} E-book {{ISBN|978-0-7864-9040-0}}


==External links==
==External links==
*{{imdb name|id=0245385|name= Allan Dwan}}
{{Commons category|Allan Dwan}}
*{{IMDb name|0245385|Allan Dwan}}
*[http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/2643/allan-dwan Allan Dwan profile], virtual-history.com; accessed June 16, 2014

{{Allan Dwan}}

{{Authority control}}


<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Dwan, Allan
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Dwan, Joseph Aloysius
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=[[Film director]], [[film producer]], [[screenwriter]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= April 3, 1885
|PLACE OF BIRTH= Toronto, Ontario, Canada
|DATE OF DEATH= December 28, 1981
|PLACE OF DEATH= Los Angeles, California, United States
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwan, Allan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwan, Allan}}
[[Category:American film directors]]
[[Category:American film producers]]
[[Category:American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Western (genre) film directors]]
[[Category:Canadian Americans]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:Canadian immigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Writers from Ontario]]
[[Category:People from Toronto]]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]

[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[de:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:Film directors from Los Angeles]]
[[es:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:Film producers from Los Angeles]]
[[fr:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[it:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:Burials at San Fernando Mission Cemetery]]
[[nl:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States]]
[[ja:アラン・ドワン]]
[[Category:Film directors from Toronto]]
[[pt:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:Western (genre) film directors]]
[[fi:Allan Dwan]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Toronto]]
[[Category:People from La Mesa, California]]
[[Category:Writers from San Diego]]

Latest revision as of 09:49, 14 November 2024

Allan Dwan
Dwan in 1920
Born
Joseph Aloysius Dwan

(1885-04-03)April 3, 1885
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedDecember 28, 1981(1981-12-28) (aged 96)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation(s)Film director
Film producer
Screenwriter
Years active1911–1961; 1980
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1915; div. 1919)​

Marie Shelton
​
​
(m. 1927; div. 1949)​

Allan Dwan (born Joseph Aloysius Dwan; April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.

Early life

[edit]

Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dwan was the younger son of commercial traveler of woolen clothing Joseph Michael Dwan (1857–1917) and his wife Mary Jane Dwan (née Hunt). The family moved to the United States when he was seven years old on December 4, 1892, by ferry from Windsor to Detroit, according to his naturalization petition of August 1939. His elder brother, Leo Garnet Dwan (1883–1964), became a physician.

Allan Dwan studied engineering at the University of Notre Dame and then worked for a lighting company in Chicago. He had a strong interest in the fledgling motion picture industry, and when Essanay Studios offered him the opportunity to become a scriptwriter, he took the job.[1] At that time, some of the East Coast movie makers began to spend winters in California where the climate allowed them to continue productions requiring warm weather. Soon, a number of movie companies worked there year-round, and in 1911, Dwan began working part-time in Hollywood. While still in New York, in 1917 he was the founding president of the East Coast chapter of the Motion Picture Directors Association.[2]

Career

[edit]

Dwan started his directing career by accident in 1911, when he was sent by his employers to California, in order to locate a company that had vanished. Dwan managed to track the company down, and learned that they were waiting for a film director (who was an alcoholic) to return from a binge and allow them to resume their work. Dwan wired back to his employers in Chicago, informing them of the situation, and suggested that they disband the company. They wired back, instructing Dwan to direct the stalled film. When Dwan informed the company of the situation, and that their jobs were on the line, they responded: "You're the best damn director we ever saw".[3]

Dwan operated Flying A Studios in La Mesa, California, from August 1911 to July 1912.[4][5] Flying A was one of the first motion pictures studios in California history. On August 12, 2011, a plaque was unveiled on the Wolff building at Third Avenue and La Mesa Boulevard commemorating Dwan and the Flying A Studios origins in La Mesa, California.

After making a series of westerns and comedies, Dwan directed fellow Canadian-American Mary Pickford in several very successful movies as well as her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, notably in the acclaimed 1922 Robin Hood. Around that time, he also directed Carole Lombard in A Perfect Crime, her film debut. Dwan directed Gloria Swanson in eight feature films, and one short film made in the short-lived sound-on-film process Phonofilm. This short, also featuring Thomas Meighan and Henri de la Falaise, was produced as a joke, for the April 26, 1925 "Lambs' Gambol" for The Lambs, with the film showing Swanson crashing the all-male club.

Following the introduction of the talkies, Dwan directed child-star Shirley Temple in Heidi (1937) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938).

Dwan helped launch the career of two other successful Hollywood directors, Victor Fleming, who went on to direct The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, and Marshall Neilan, who became an actor, director, writer and producer. Over a long career spanning almost 50 years, Dwan directed 125 motion pictures, some of which were highly acclaimed, such as the 1949 box office hit, Sands of Iwo Jima. He directed his last movie in 1961.[6]

Being one of the last surviving pioneers of the cinema, he was interviewed at length for the 1980 documentary series Hollywood.[3]

He died in Los Angeles at the age of 96, and is interred in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California.

Dwan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Boulevard.

Daniel Eagan of Film Journal International described Dwan as one of the early pioneers of cinema, stating that his style "is so basic as to seem invisible, but he treats his characters with uncommon sympathy and compassion."[7]

Partial filmography as director

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Brownlow, Kevin (1969). The Parade's Gone By... New York: Ballantine Books, Inc. p. 111.
  2. ^ Fournier, Pierre (December 4, 2010). "The first Frankenstein of the movies". io9. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "The Man with the Megaphone". Hollywood. Episode 10. March 11, 1980.
  4. ^ "La mesa to honor its tinseltown roots aug. 12–13".
  5. ^ "Proto-Hollywood: 100 Melodramas Were Made In La Mesa 100 Years Ago". August 10, 2011.
  6. ^ "Allan Dwan, Filmography". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  7. ^ Eagan, Daniel (January 31, 2018). "MoMA's Republic Pictures series offers B-movie rediscoveries and restorations". Film Journal International. Prometheus Global Media, LLC. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

Further reading

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Print ISBN 978-0-7864-3485-5 E-book ISBN 978-0-7864-9040-0

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