
Kurt Neumann (5 April 1908, Nuremberg, Germany - 21 August 1958, Los Angeles) was a german Hollywood film director who specialized in science fiction movies in his later career. Neumann came to the US in the early talkie era, hired to direct German language versions of Hollywood films. Once he mastered English and established himself as technically proficient in filmmaking, Neumann directed such low-budget programmers as The Big Cage (1932), Secret of the Blue Room (1933) with Paul Lukas and Gloria Stuart, Hold 'Em Navy (1936), It Happened in New Orleans (1936) with child star Bobby Breen, Wide Open Faces (1937) with Joe E. Brown, and Ellery Queen: Master Detective (1939). Neumann was signed by producer Hal Roach in 1941 to direct a series of "streamliners", 45-minute features designed to fill out short double bills. Among these 4-reel comedies were About Face (1942), Brooklyn Orchid (1942), Taxi, Mister? (1943) and Yanks Ahoy (1943). In 1945, he joined the company of producer Sol Lesser, who engaged Neumann as coproducer and principal director of the Tarzan series produced by Lesser 1945-1954. The Tarzan films were produced for RKO and starred Johnny Weissmuller and later Gordon Scott. Neumann became known as a specialist in science fiction movies due to his producing and directing such productions as Rocketship X-M (1950) and The Fly (1958). Neumann directed other sci-fi and horror films such as Kronos (1957) and She-Devil (1957), and directed non-scifi films such as The Ring (1952) an independent feature co-starring Rita Moreno, Carnival Story (1954), Mohawk (1956), and The Deerslayer (1957) Contrary to some published reports, Neumann did not die as a result of suicide, but, rather, from natural causes in Los Angeles on 21 August 1958, shortly after a preview screening of The Fly but before the official premiere. Thus, Neumann never knew what a boxoffice hit The Fly was. He was entombed at Utter McKinley Cemetery in Los Angeles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kurt Neumann (director), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Wide Open Faces

House of Mystery

Rainbow on the River

The Fly

Espionage

Bad Boy

Cattle Drive

Tarzan and the Amazons

Bad Men of Tombstone

Yanks Ahoy

Alias Mary Dow

King for a Night

Brooklyn Orchid

About Face

Fall In

The Big Cage

Fast Companions

Reunion in Reno

The Deerslayer

Machete

Tarzan and the Huntress

Island of Lost Men

Tarzan and the Leopard Woman

Kronos

Watusi

Ellery Queen, Master Detective

Secret of the Blue Room

The McGuerins from Brooklyn

Make a Wish

She Devil

Son of Ali Baba

The Kid from Texas

Mohawk

The Dude Goes West

Touchdown, Army

Drei vom Varieté

Ambush

All Women Have Secrets

Tarzan and the She-Devil

Rocketship X-M

The Ring

Counterplot

Carnival Story

Wake Up and Dream

Unmarried

Mannequins für Rio

Taxi, Mister

A Night at Earl Carroll's

Let's Sing Again

Hold 'Em Navy

The Unknown Guest

Trapped

Sealed Lips

The Red Shadow

Hiawatha

Rummelplatz der Liebe

The Affair of Susan

My Pal, the King

Stern von Rio

The Desperados Are in Town

Regina Amstetten

Let's Talk It Over

Half a Sinner