Henry Levin

University of Pennsylvania alumnus Henry Levin did a little bit of everything during his years on Broadway: actor, director, stage manager, dialogue coach. In was in the latter capacity that Levin was brought to Hollywood in 1943. He made his film directorial bow with Columbia's Cry of the Werewolf (1944), an inexpensive but atmospheric lycanthropy meller. Columbia kept Levin busy in virtually every genre, from swashbuckler (The Bandit of Sherwood Forest) to screwball comedy (The Mating of Millie) to musical (Jolson Sings Again) to psychological drama (The Guilt of Janet Ames). Levin moved to 20th Century-Fox in 1952, where he occasionally produced as well as directed. His most pleasant memory of his Fox years was his association with waspish comic actor Clifton Webb, whom Levin directed in Mister Scoutmaster (1953), The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959) and Holiday for Lovers (1959). Shortly after completing work on the definitive "spring break" picture Where the Boys Are (1960), Levin journeyed to Italy to helm the oddball Arabian nights comedy The Wonders of Alladin (1961) -- starring, of all people, Donald O'Connor. Many of Henry Levin's final projects were tongue-in-cheek espionage escapades along the lines of Murderer's Row (1966) and Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1967).

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide