Malcolm St. Clair (filmmaker)
Malcolm St. Clair | |
|---|---|
St. Clair, circa 1940, 20th Century Fox | |
| Born | May 17, 1897 Los Angeles, California |
| Died | June 1, 1952 (aged 55) Pasadena, California |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, writer, producer, and actor |
| Notable work | Yankee Doodle in Berlin A Woman of the World |
Malcolm St. Clair (May 17, 1897 – June 1, 1952) was a Hollywood film director, writer, producer and actor.
St. Clair's film career spanned the silent and sound era during the Hollywood Golden Age. His work is characterized by a “dynamic visual style” evident in all the genres he treated.
The zenith of St. Clair's filmmaking occurred during the silent film era, demonstrating his flexibility in wielding the medium as a director of comedies. His films included slapstick for Sennett, outrageous gag routines with Keaton and sophisticated comic-romances for Paramount.
His performance as a director declined with the advent of sound, suffering from the increased censorship, and his difficulty adapting to a less mobile camera and studio editing of his work. His later films were often limited to B movie “family” comedies, such as the Jones Family series, Lum and Abner and the later Laurel and Hardy features.
Most of St. Clair's silent films are lost or have limited access in archives.