Monta Bell


Louis Monta Bell was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Biography

Monta Bell was born in Washington, D.C. He enrolled in District of Columbia Public Schools graduating from Eastern High School.He first appeared in theatrical venues with Washington D.C. stock companies and then took up journalism and publishing in New York. While in New York, filmmaker Charlie Chaplin enlisted the 32-year-old Bell to ghost-write his 1922 memoir My Trip Abroad. Bell, along a number of other apprentices including Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast and Mal St. Clair, became film editors and assistant directors. Here Bell was “exposed to Chaplin’s meticulous style of comedy construction and a complete immersion in all aspects of filmmaking.”
In 1924, Paramount manager Walter Wanger engaged a number of “promising young men without significant directing experience”, among them Bell, to direct pictures at their Astoria Studios, Queens, New York. One of Bell’s early achievements as director is The King on Main Street. Bell developed into a major cinematic stylist, directing sophisticated film essays on “contemporary sexual mores.” Bell is notable for directing the 1926 Torrent, Greta Garbo's first American film.
In 1928, with the advent of sound films, Bell was transferred Paramount Pictures’ east coast operations, serving as head of production at the Astoria Studios. There Bell directed a number of high comedies and low melodramas and later moved to producing films,
Like his mentor Charles Chaplin, Bell championed the superiority of silent cinema as an art form and a method of conveying a story.
Bell was married for six years to actress Betty Lawford, cousin of actor Peter Lawford. Monta directed 20 films from 1924 to 1945. In addition, he produced 20 films and wrote 9 screenplays.
He died on February 4, 1958, at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital, one day before his 67th birthday. He is interred in Section 8 Garden of Legends in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.

Filmography

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducer
1924Broadway After Dark
1924The Snob
1925Lady of the Night
1925Pretty Ladies
1925The King on Main Street
1925Lights of Old Broadway
1926Torrent
1926The Boy Friend
1926Upstage
1927After Midnight
1927Man, Woman and Sin
1929The Letter
1929Gentlemen of the Press
1929Applause
1929The Bellamy Trial
1929The Battle of Paris
1930Behind the Make-Up
1930Young Man of Manhattan
1930The Big Pond
1930Laughter
1930East Is West
1932Downstairs
1933The Worst Woman in Paris?
1934Men in White
1934Student Tour
1941West Point of the Air
1941Aloma of the South Seas
1941Birth of the Blues
1945China's Little Devils

Uncredited actor
  • The Adventurer - Man
  • The Pilgrim - Policeman