Fred Button (1899-1983)
Birthplace:
Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany
Born:
April 13, 1899
Died:
June 28, 1983
Fred Button (Friedrich Kranfenstein Knopf) was the great unsung hero of Hollywood cinema who started making films in Germany until he flew to Hollywood in the mid 30s were he worked uncredited in many popular films such as You only live once and Ninotchka until he made his first break. He directed many films some of which never got distribution because of their experimental and forward-thinking nature. Button most likely directed the first ever film noir "Night" (one year before Huston's The Maltese Falcon) which unfortunately didn't got distribution until 1946 making Huston considered the patriarch of film noir. It is said that Button was planning to make the ultimate film that would make cinema reach its artistic peak "The preposterous masterpiece". The screenplay was ready but the film never started shooting (it is also said that Button burned the screenplay before his death at 1983. He worked with many popular actors and was friends with many filmmakers such as Lang, Ray and Bunuel but unfortunately not much is left from his work and most of his films are considered lost. Button worked during the silent era in Germany for the UFA, even if his films were not getting fair distribution, and after that he experimented with many genres during the classic Hollywood era but he was marginalised and haunted from McCarthy's prohibitions. He died in 1983 at the age of 84.