5 reasons to see films in the Richard Fleischer retrospective at EIFF 2013

2013 Edinburgh International Film Festival screens film by undervalued American director

Soylent Green

1: Not considered an auteur, like, say, Alfred Hitchcock, this great American director has been undervalued by critics and film historians. Like Robert Wise and John Huston, Fleischer was a versatile craftsman who was able to turn his eye to many kinds of films. As a result, he enjoyed a long career spanning six decades during which he consistently combined action and spectacle with storytelling complexity, and mainstream appeal with controversial subject matter: The Narrow Margin, Che!, Soylent Green and The Jazz Singer.

2: Fleischer directed Disney’s best-ever live action film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (the Jules Verne fantasy starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason), after which he became known for making what would become known as blockbusters, among them The Vikings, Fantastic Voyage and Tora! Tora! Tora!

3: In between making these big budget historical epics, science fiction adventures and panoramic war movies, Fleischer completed a trilogy of serial killer thrillers now widely considered to be classics of the genre: Compulsion starring Orson Welles, The Boston Strangler with Tony Curtis and 10 Rillington Place featuring Richard Attenborough.

4: While the now better-known Hollywood mavericks (Scorsese, Friedkin etc) were busy establishing their reputations, Fleischer made what has been described as the only ever Hollywood studio-funded exploitation film, Mandingo. This ultra-violent southern states-set slavery drama heavily inspired Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

5: Having cut his teeth directing cartoons produced by his father Max Fleischer (Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman), Fleischer Jnr moved into live action films. Five years later he won an Academy Award for producing the 1947 documentary Design for Death, a look at Japan’s imperial expansion during World War II that was co-written by Theodor Geisel (later known as Dr Seuss). 1947 was the year EIFF was launched as a documentary film festival: kismet!

Fantastic Voyages: The Films of Richard Fleischer is part of Edinburgh International Film Festival, various venues, Sat 22–Sun 30 Jun. The retrospective then continues at Filmhouse, Edinburgh, until Sun 7 Jul.