death_place death_date birth_place birth_date yearsactive imdb_id article_title name occupation
west berlin , west germany 16 may 1958 vienna , austro-hungarian empire 18 december 1893 1926 - 1958 0594177 leo mittler
 leo mittler playwright , screenwriter , film director
leo mittler

leo mittler -lrb- 1893 -- 1958 -rrb- was an austrian playwright , screenwriter and film director .
mittler was born in vienna , then the capital of the austro-hungarian empire , to a jewish family .
he attended the university of music and performing arts and worked as a playwright and director in the german theatre .
mittler then switched to work in the booming german film industry during the silent era .
mittler 's best known film as director was `` beyond the street '' -lrb- 1929 -rrb- , a `` street film '' influenced by soviet cinema .
as well as his work in the german industry , mittler also spent time at the american company paramount 's french language-subsidiary based at the joinville studios in paris .
following the nazi rise to power in 1933 , mittler spent many years in exile in several countries including britain and france before settling in the united states during the second world war .
mittler 's career as a director had all but ended in the mid-1930s , after making the stanley lupino musical comedy `` cheer up '' -lrb- 1936 -rrb- , but he worked occasionally as a screenwriter .
mittler wrote the original story of the mgm pro-soviet film `` song of russia '' -lrb- 1944 -rrb- which was later investigated by huac for its alleged communist sympathies .
mittler returned to germany post-war , and died there in 1958 .
before his death , he worked for german theatre and television .
