Biography
Another graduate of the Hollywood property-man ranks, Stuart Heisler was firmly established as a top film editor by the early 1930s. He was given his first chance to direct on the second unit of
John Ford's
The Hurricane (1937). Heisler's first solo directorial effort would remain his finest film:
The Biscuit Eater (1940), an unpretentious Paramount "B"-pic that ended up as the "sleeper" of the season. After a brace of atmospheric horror films,
The Monster and the Girl (1941) and
Among the Living (1941), Heisler was promoted to "A" projects along the lines of 1942's
The Glass Key. Heisler's output thereafter became unpredictably uneven. On the plus side, he was seen in the anti-KKK drama
Storm Warning (1950), the gaudy
Bette Davis vehicle
The Star (1952), and the worthwhile Technicolor
High Sierra remake
I Died a Thousand Times (1955). On the minus side, audiences were subjected to the likes of
Tokyo Joe (1949),
Island of Desire (1953), and
Hitler (1962). He enjoyed a better batting average with his many half-hour TV films of the 1950s and 1960s. In toto, the career of Stuart Heisler bears out film critic
Andrew Sarris' overview: "...he has moments of insight and charm scattered like loose beads on a sawdust-covered floor." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide