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Norman Z. McLeod is a Director, Scriptwriter and Assistant Director American born on 20 september 1898 at Michigan (USA)

Norman Z. McLeod

Norman Z. McLeod
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Nationality USA
Birth 20 september 1898 at Michigan (USA)
Death 27 january 1964 (at 65 years) at Hollywood (USA)

Norman Zenos McLeod (September 20, 1898 – January 27, 1964) was an American film director, cartoonist and writer.

McLeod made several successful and influential movies such as Taking A Chance (1928), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Alice in Wonderland (1933), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Other memorable films directed by McLeod includes It's a Gift (1934) with W. C. Fields, and the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and The Paleface starring Bob Hope (1948).

His nickname, as recorded on a publicity still on the set of Monkey Business, was "Macko.

Biography

McLeod a commencé sa carrière comme animateur, et se forme au sein de la Christie Film Company. Après la guerre, il est l'assistant de William Wellman pour le film Les Ailes. Sa première réalisation est Taking a Chance. Il produit ses meilleurs films avec la Paramount dans les années 1930.

Best films

The Paleface (1948)
(Director)
Wings (1927)
(Assistant Director)
Skippy (1931)
(Writer)
Lady Be Good (1941)
(Director)

Usually with

Bess Flowers
Bess Flowers
(11 films)
Syd Saylor
Syd Saylor
(8 films)
Edith Head
Edith Head
(8 films)
Hans Dreier
Hans Dreier
(8 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Norman Z. McLeod (49 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Alias Jesse James, 1h32
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Action, Western
Themes Films about families, Jesse James, Gangster films
Actors Bob Hope, Rhonda Fleming, Will Wright, Wendell Corey, Jim Davis, Mary Young
Rating63% 3.19573.19573.19573.19573.1957
Milford Farnsworth (Hope) is a bumbling insurance agent who unknowingly sells a life insurance policy to the outlaw Jesse James (Wendell Corey). Farnsworth is sent out West to protect the insurance company's investment by "protecting" James.
Public Pigeon No. 1, 1h19
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Red Skelton, Janet Blair, Vivian Blaine, Jay C. Flippen, Allyn Joslyn, Howard McNear
Rating63% 3.176863.176863.176863.176863.17686
Rusty Morgan is irresponsible, but girlfriend Edith Enders trusts him. They put their money in a joint bank account.
Casanova's Big Night, 1h26
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical theatre, Adventure, Musical
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films
Actors Bob Hope, Joan Fontaine, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr., Raymond Burr
Rating66% 3.3431153.3431153.3431153.3431153.343115
Pippo, a tailor, impersonates Casanova to woo the girls, particularly the widow Bruni. Casanova has left town, pursued by creditors who persuade Pippo to impersonate Casanova at the behest of a Genoan family that will pay "Casanova" to test the fidelity of the son's betrothed.
Never Wave at a WAC, 1h27
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Adventure, Romance
Themes Military humor in film
Actors Rosalind Russell, Paul Douglas, Marie Wilson, William Ching, Leif Erickson, Arleen Whelan
Rating58% 2.945882.945882.945882.945882.94588
A divorced socialite and daughter (Russell) of a United States senator (Douglas) asks her father to get her an officer's commission in the Women's Army Corps, so that she can be near her officer boyfriend.
My Favorite Spy, 1h33
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Comedy thriller, Action, Spy
Themes Films set in Africa, Spy films
Actors Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, Francis L. Sullivan, Arnold Moss, John Archer, Luis van Rooten
Rating64% 3.245233.245233.245233.245233.24523
A comedian poses as an international spy to recover mysterious microfilm.
Let's Dance, 1h47
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Musical films
Actors Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire, Roland Young, Ruth Warrick, Shepperd Strudwick, Lucile Watson
Rating60% 3.0492453.0492453.0492453.0492453.049245
A war widow returns to work with her former dancing partner, but her upper class mother-in-law is aghast that her grandson is being exposed to show business and takes legal steps to gain custody.
Sorrowful Jones, 1h28
Directed by Sidney Lanfield, Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about animals, Sports films, Films about horses, Horse sports in film
Actors Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest, Bruce Cabot, Thomas Gomez, Houseley Stevenson
Rating68% 3.441333.441333.441333.441333.44133
Sorrowful Jones is a New York bookie who keeps his operation hidden behind a trap door in a Broadway barber shop. He suffers from a financial setback when a horse named Dreamy Joe, owned by gangster Big Steve Holloway, unexpectedly wins a race. Jones has to pay all the many customers betting on the horse to win, which empties his pockets completely.
Isn't It Romantic?, 1h27
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Veronica Lake, Billy De Wolfe, Mona Freeman, Richard Webb, Mary Hatcher, Pearl Bailey
Rating48% 2.4308752.4308752.4308752.4308752.430875
Major Euclid Cameron (Roland Culver), an officer of the Southern Army during the Civil War, writes his memoirs about the hardships of battle right after the war. It is set in Indiana, at the time of Reconstruction, and the Major's finances are not in order. Cameron's daughters, Candy (Veronica Lake), Susie (Mona Freeman) and Rose (Mary Hatcher), urge him to get a job so they can pay the family's debts. The strongheaded Major refuses, taking pride in the fact that no Cameron has ever had a decent job. He talks himself out of a job offer from a banker in town, Clarissa Thayer (Kathryn Givney), a single woman who has always found him attractive.
The Paleface, 1h31
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod, Alvin Ganzer
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Action, Western
Actors Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Robert Armstrong, Iris Adrian, Bobby Watson, Charles Trowbridge
Rating65% 3.295973.295973.295973.295973.29597
Peter "Painless" Potter (Bob Hope) is a dentist of doubtful competence. Out west, after the partner of Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is killed while trying to discover who's been illegally selling guns to Indians, the cowardly Painless ends up married to Jane, who needs to keep her true identity a secret.
Road to Rio, 1h40
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod, Oscar Rudolph
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Action, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about films, Films about music and musicians, Transport films, Musical films, Road movies, Buddy films
Actors Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Faylen, Frank Puglia
Rating68% 3.447073.447073.447073.447073.44707
Scat Sweeney and Hot Lips Barton, two out-of-work musicians, travel the United States trying to find work and stay away from girls. After running from state to state, each time running because of a girl, they try their luck in Louisiana.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 1h50
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Themes Musical films
Actors Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter, Dorothy Christy, Thurston Hall
Rating68% 3.448083.448083.448083.448083.44808
Walter Mitty (Kaye) is an "inconsequential guy from Perth Amboy, New Jersey", henpecked and harassed by everyone in his life including his bossy mother, his overbearing, idea-stealing boss Bruce Pierce, his childishly dimwitted fiancée Gertrude Griswold, and Gertrude's obnoxious would-be suitor Tubby Wadsworth and loud-mouthed mother, Mrs. Griswold.
The Kid from Brooklyn, 1h53
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Musical theatre, Musical
Themes Sports films, Martial arts films, Boxing films, Le boxe anglaise
Actors Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, Eve Arden, Virginia Mayo, Lionel Stander
Rating64% 3.246863.246863.246863.246863.24686
Well-meaning and mild-mannered milkman Burleigh Sullivan (Kaye) meets Polly Pringle (Mayo), a beautiful, but out-of-work, singer, whilst on his rounds early in the morning. He tries to get her a job at the club where his sister Susie (Vera-Ellen) is performing, but gets the sack for his trouble. Whilst meeting Susie after the show, he sees her being molested by drunken boxer 'Speed' McFarlane and his bodyguard 'Spider'. In the fracas, Speed is knocked out and his manager, Gabby Sloan, is furious.
The Canterville Ghost, 1h35
Directed by Jules Dassin, Norman Z. McLeod
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Fantastic, Comedy, Fantasy
Themes Ghost films, Political films
Actors Charles Laughton, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien, William Gargan, Reginald Owen, Una O'Connor
Rating68% 3.4464653.4464653.4464653.4464653.446465
In the seventeenth century, Sir Simon de Canterville (Charles Laughton) is forced by the Code of Chivalry to engage in a duel on behalf of his brother, but flees to the family castle when his opponent is substituted for by a giant (played by an uncredited Tor Johnson). His proud father, Lord Canterville (Reginald Owen), refuses to acknowledge that his son has disgraced the family name, even when shown in front of witnesses where Simon is cowering. The father has the only entrance to his son's hiding place bricked over as proof that Simon is not there, ignoring Simon's pleas for mercy. Lord Canterville then curses his doomed cowardly son to find no rest until "a kinsman shall perform an act of bravery" in his name.
Swing Shift Maisie, 1h27
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod
Genres Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Transport films, Aviation films, Political films
Actors Ann Sothern, James Craig, Jean Rogers, Connie Gilchrist, John Qualen, Kay Medford
Rating61% 3.098343.098343.098343.098343.09834
Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) loses her job as an assistant in Horatio Curley's dog act as a result of a minor quarrel with test pilot "Breezy" McLaughlin (James Craig). Breezy gets Curley a job at the airplane company where he works and offers to use his influence on Maisie's behalf too. However, she insists she can get a job there on her own merits. She lands on the swing shift at the aircraft manufacturing factory. Breezy does, however, get her a room at Maw Lustvogel's (Connie Gilchrist) boarding house. Despite her initial dislike for him, Maisie starts falling in love.