Bernard Vorhaus
Bernard Vorhaus was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Kraków, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Early in his career, he worked as a screenwriter, and co-produced the film The Singing City. He was blacklisted in Hollywood for his communist sympathies, and returned to England, where he resumed his career. Known, alongside Michael Powell, for his quota quickies, Vorhaus also worked in Europe.
Career
Vorhaus was the son of a lawyer and studied at Harvard University. He was influenced by his sister Amy in her work on film scenarios for silent pictures to become involved with filmmaking. He directed a total of 32 movies and reportedly was an influence to future film director David Lean, some of whose work as a film editor early in his career was on Vorhaus pictures.He worked steadily as a screenwriter in Hollywood while in his twenties for such studios as Columbia Pictures and Fox Studios but wanted to direct movies. He eventually decided to move to England and began directing quota quickies, such as The Last Journey.
After attaining success in England, Vorhaus moved back to the U.S. and began working at Republic Pictures, directing B-movies. He also worked in the US Army Air Force with their motion picture unit during World War II. He was blacklisted in 1951, as a consequence of the hearings conducted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Vorhaus had already moved to Europe at that time and directed a few minor films while there. He finally returned to England and retired from the film business. Unlike contemporaries Joseph Losey and Cy Endfield, who were also on the blacklist, he founded a company Domar Industries, a business specializing in house renovations. When Lean mentioned him as an early influence in 1985, it led to a selection of Vorhaus films to be restored by the National Film and Television Archive to go along with retrospectives.