SIODMAK, Curt or Kurt

(1902-)

   German writer/film-director based in Hollywood who began to publish adult stories in Germany as early as 1919, and whose first English-language publication was "The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika" (1926AMZ), a tale almost certainly translated from an earlier German version. CS entered the film industry in 1929 as a screen-writer; his credits include F.P.1 ANTWORTET NICHT (1932; vt F.P.1 DOESN'T ANSWER; based on his own novel F.P.1 Antwortet Nicht [1932; trans H.W. Farrel as F.P.1 Does not Reply 1933 US; vt F.P.1 Fails to Reply 1933 UK]). He emigrated to the USAin 1937; his US screenplays (some co-authorships) include The Ape (1940), The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), InvisibleAgent (1942), The Wolf Man (1942), Son of Dracula (1943), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), The LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944; based on his novel Donovan's Brain [1943], subsequently filmed again as DONOVAN'S BRAIN [1953] and VENGEANCE [1963]), The Beast with Five Fingers (1946), Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), RIDERS TO THE STARS (1953) and Creature with the Atom Brain (1955). He also wrote the story for EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956; vt Invasion of the Flying Saucers). Later in his career he also directed films, rather badly, including Bride of the Gorilla (1951), The MAGNETIC MONSTER (1953) and Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956).Although often involved with sf-oriented subjects, he never displayed much understanding for the genre: like other German film-makers of his generation, he was more at home with the GOTHIC (the supernatural, the macabre and the grotesque) than with science, and such science as he introduced tended to be for picturesque atmosphere. Donovan's Brain was parodied in The MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983).CS has 35 movie credits in the USA and 18 in Europe. Before emigrating he had 18 novels published inGermany, F.P.1 Does Not Reply being the only one translated into English. His novels in English, aside from Donovan's Brain - his most interesting - are its belated sequel Hauser's Memory (1968), filmed as HAUSER'S MEMORY (1970); Skyport (1959), The Third Ear (1971) and City in the Sky (1974),the last dealing with rebellion in a prison satellite. Riders to the Stars * (1953) was published as by CS and Robert Smith (1920-), but CS's onlyconnection with it was the original screenplay. Hauser's Memory and The Third Ear both feature spy-thriller plots and absurd experiments carriedout by biochemists; Gabriel's Body (1992) is an sf medical thriller.

   JB/PN

   See also: CYBORGS; PSYCHOLOGY; TRANSPORTATION.