Jean Negulesco, the First Real Master of CinemaScope

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As soon as I found out about the man who directed the first-ever CinemaScope film in the world: Marilyn Monroe's "How to Marry a Millionaire", I wanted to know more about this almost unknown director.

One of the legends and builders

of Classic Hollywood was Jean Negulesco (born Ioan Negulescu,1900 -1993), a Romanian-American film director and screenwriter.

He directed one of Marylin Monroes' biggest successes and introduced Sophia Loren to the American audience. He was the first director to use the CinemaScope technique.

He first gained notice for his film noirs and later made notable films as Johnny Belinda (1948), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Titanic (1953), Papa Gambalunga, Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), and many others.

He was called "the first real master of CinemaScope" (source: Wikipedia)

CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter.

Its creation in 1953 by Spyros P. Skouras, the president of 20th Century Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format.

Although the technology behind the CinemaScope lens system was made obsolete by later developments, primarily advanced by Panavision, CinemaScope's anamorphic format has continued to this day. (source for the information presented: Wikipedia)

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Jean Negulesco made his reputation as a director of both polished, popular entertainments as well as critically acclaimed dramatic pictures in the 1940s and 1950s. (imdb.com)

Born in Craiova, Romania, he left home at age 12, ending up in Paris, to fulfill his dream of becoming a painter.

World War I intervened, and he found himself in the French army working in a field hospital on the Western Front.

Returning to Paris unscathed, he embarked on a more serious study of the arts, learning to paint under the guidance of his émigré compatriot Constantin Brancusi, considered to be the father of modern sculpture, and subsequently returned to Romania.

Proving himself an adept pupil, Negulesco sold 150 of his paintings at his very first exhibition. Back in Paris by the early 1920s, he discovered another outlet for his creativity by working as a stage decorator. (imdb.com)

In 1927, he visited New York City for an exhibition of his paintings and settled there.

He then moved to California, where at first he worked as a painter, then started to be interested in the movies industry, and got a job at Paramount.

In 1940, he started working at Warner Bros.

His work consisted of directing short subjects, particularly a series of band shorts featuring unusual camera angles and dramatic use of shadows and silhouettes.

Negulesco's first feature film as director was Singapore Woman (1941).

In 1948, Jean Negulesco was even nominated for an Academy Award for Directing for Johnny Belinda.

This was the story of a deaf-mute who goes through some taught events in life. Negulesco tackled what was at the time a taboo subject in films (considered box-office poison).

He explored taboo fields at the time, doing innovation and artistic work in both the techniques he was using and the plots of his movies.

In 1948 Negulesco went to work for 20th Century Fox.

He was the first director ever to make two films in CinemaScope - How to Marry a Millionaire and Three Coins in the Fountain; the former receiving a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Best Film.

Jean Negulesco will be remembered in cinema's history for directing the legendary film "How To Marry a Millionaire".

Made by 20th Century Fox, How to Marry a Millionaire was the studio's first film to be shot in the new CinemaScope wide-screen sound process, although it was the second CinemaScope film released by Fox after the biblical epic film The Robe (also 1953).

Being one of classic Hollywood's builders, and most prominent personalities, Jean Negulesco has a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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