Frank Borzage
Known for: Directing
Born: April 23, 1894
Died: June 19, 1962
Place of birth: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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.
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Filmography
154 movies · 3 TV shows, newest first
7.0
Murnau, Borzage and Fox
2008
3.3
Journey Beneath the Desert
1961
5.1
The Big Fisherman
1959
6.9
China Doll
1958
6.2
Jeanne Eagels
1957
NR
The Day I Met Caruso
1956
NR
A Ticket for Thaddeus
19567.0
Hollywood Preview
1955
7.0
The Oscars
1953
6.5
This Is Your Life
1952
6.3
Moonrise
1948
6.7
That's My Man
1947
6.1
Magnificent Doll
1946
6.5
I've Always Loved You
1946
6.4
The Spanish Main
1945
7.0
Till We Meet Again
1944
7.2
His Butler's Sister
1943
6.3
Stage Door Canteen
1943
6.3
Seven Sweethearts
1942
7.3
The Vanishing Virginian
1942
6.3
Smilin' Through
1941
5.3
Billy the Kid
1941
5.9
Flight Command
1940
7.3
The Mortal Storm
1940
7.0
Strange Cargo
1940
5.8
I Take This Woman
1940
7.0
Disputed Passage
1939
6.7
The Shining Hour
1938
7.3
Three Comrades
1938
6.0
Mannequin
1938
7.7
Big City
1937
6.7
History Is Made at Night
1937
6.7
Green Light
1937
5.5
Hearts Divided
1936
7.0
Desire
1936
6.6
Shipmates Forever
1935
6.0
Stranded
1935
5.9
Living on Velvet
1935
5.8
Flirtation Walk
1934
6.3
Little Man, What Now?
1934
6.6
No Greater Glory
1934
6.8
Man's Castle
1933
5.2
Secrets
1933
6.1
A Farewell to Arms
1932
5.5
Young America
1932
6.2
After Tomorrow
1932
6.0
Bad Girl
1931
9.0
Young as You Feel
1931
6.0
Doctors' Wives
1931
6.8
Liliom
1930
4.8
Song o' My Heart
1930
7.1
The River
1929
6.4
They Had to See Paris
1929
7.6
Lucky Star
1929
7.1
Street Angel
1928
7.3
7th Heaven
1927
10.0
Marriage License?
1926
10.0
Early to Wed
1926
7.0
The Dixie Merchant
1926
8.0
The First Year
1926
7.0
Wages for Wives
1925
6.8
Lazybones
1925
5.4
The Circle
1925
5.4
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
1925
5.8
The Lady
1925
6.0
Secrets
1924
10.0
The Age of Desire
1923
9.0
Children of Dust
1923
5.8
The Nth Commandment
1923
7.0
The Pride of Palomar
1922
6.3
The Valley of Silent Men
1922
10.0
The Good Provider
1922
8.0
Billy Jim
1922
6.9
Back Pay
1922
8.0
Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
1921
7.0
The Duke of Chimney Butte
1921
5.8
Humoresque
1920
10.0
Prudence on Broadway
1919
9.0
Whom the Gods Would Destroy
1919
8.0
Toton
1919
NR
The Atom
1918
NR
The Ghost Flower
1918NR
Who Is to Blame?
1918NR
An Honest Man
1918
NR
Society for Sale
1918NR
Innocent's Progress
1918
NR
The Shoes That Danced
1918
NR
The Curse of Iku
1918
NR
The Gun Woman
1918
4.8
Until They Get Me
1917
NR
Fear Not
1917
NR
Flying Colors
1917
NR
Wee Lady Betty
1917
5.0
A Mormon Maid
1917
NR
A School for Husbands
1917
NR
Immediate Lee
1916
NR
Land O' Lizards
1916NR
Matchin' Jim
1916
7.1
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
1916NR
The Forgotten Prayer
1916NR
Nell Dale's Men Folks
1916NR
Enchantment
1916
NR
The Courtin' of Calliope Clew
1916NR
That Gal of Burke's
1916
4.5
Nugget Jim's Pardner
19169.0
The Quicksands of Deceit
1916
NR
The Demon of Fear
1916
5.2
The Pilgrim
19169.0
Jack
191610.0
Unlucky Luke
19169.0
Realization
1916
7.0
A Flickering Light
1916
10.0
Two Bits
1916NR
The Code of Honor
1916
NR
The Silken Spider
1916
NR
Life's Harmony
19168.0
The Cactus Blossom
1915
4.5
The Pitch o' Chance
191510.0
The Clean-Up
1915
NR
Aloha Oe
1915
4.8
Knight of the Trail
191510.0
The Hammer
1915NR
The Secret of Lost River
19157.0
The Tavern Keeper's Son
1915NR
The Cup of Life
1915NR
Molly of the Mountains
1915
10.0
In the Switch Tower
1915
NR
The Mill by the Zuyder Zee
1915
10.0
The Girl Who Might Have Been
1915
7.0
In the Land of the Otter
1915NR
The Panther
191410.0
A Crook's Sweetheart
19147.0
The Desperado
1914
NR
The Typhoon
1914NR
Parson Larkin's Wife
1914
6.2
The Wrath of the Gods
1914NR
Love's Western Flight
1914
10.0
Samson
1914NR
A Flash in the Dark
1914NR
The Wheel of Life
1914
NR
In the Sage Brush Country
1914NR
A Hopi Legend
1913NR
A Cracksman Santa Claus
1913NR
Retribution
1913NR
The Days of '49
19139.0
Loaded Dice
1913
5.0
Silent Heroes
191310.0
In the Toils
1913NR
The Gratitude of Wanda
1913NR
The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine
1913
5.5
Granddad
19137.0
The Crimson Stain
1913
5.8
The Drummer of the 8th
191310.0
When Lee Surrenders
1912
7.0
On Secret Service
1912NR
The Pride and the Man
—NR
Dollars of Dross
—