Robert Siodmak was a German film director who made a number of films in America and Europe. His films were known for their German-French-American synthesis also known as film noir. He had a talent for adapting himself to the film industries of three different countries at the same time and he was bracketed with Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock. It was said that his American films were more Germanic than his German ones. He was totally a cosmopolitan man, directing films in America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Though he made his debut in films in Germany he had to flee from the country before the premier of his movie ‘Burning Secret’ to avoid being arrested by the Gestapo because the Nazi boss of propaganda Joseph Goebbels thought it contained ‘sick sultriness and airless muddle-headedness’. He first fled to Paris just like all other German film-makers earlier and then made his way to America. He was initially signed up for a two year contract with ‘Paramount Pictures’ and then for a seven-year contract with ‘Universal’.
