Samuel Hoffenstein

Writing

Samuel Hoffenstein

Born — Died

1890-10-09 — 1947-10-06

Place of birth

Kera, Russia

Known for

Writing

Credits

30 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Samuel "Sam" Hoffenstein (October 8, 1890 - October 6, 1947) was a screenwriter and a musical composer. Born in Russia, he emigrated to the United States and began a career in New York City as a newspaper writer and in the entertainment business. In 1931 he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived for the rest of his life and where he wrote the scripts for over thirty movies. These movies included Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Miracle Man (1932), Phantom of the Opera (1943), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Tales of Manhattan (1942), Flesh and Fantasy (1943), Laura (1944), and Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown (1946). In addition, Hoffenstein, along with Cole Por…

Known for

Behind the camera

Phantom of the Opera poster
6.2

Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin transformed into a masked phantom who schemes to make beautiful young soprano Christine Dubois the star of the opera and wreak revenge on those who stole his music.

Phantom of the Opera

1943

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde poster
6.5

Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone and creates a potion that allows his evil side, Mr. Hyde, to come to the fore. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run amok.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1941

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde poster
7.2

Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men: one that is good and one that is evil. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1931

Cluny Brown poster
7.2

Amateur plumber Cluny Brown gets sent off by her uncle to work as a servant at an English country estate.

Cluny Brown

1946

Laura poster
7.6

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

Laura

1944

Love Me Tonight poster
6.6

A Parisian tailor goes to a château to collect a bill, only to fall for an aloof young princess living there.

Love Me Tonight

1932

Conquest poster
6.6

A Polish countess is dispatched by her country to become Napoleon Bonaparte's mistress at the urging of Polish leaders, who feel she might influence him to support Polish independence.

Conquest

1937

Flesh and Fantasy poster
7.1

Anthology film of three tales of the supernatural. The first story is set at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The second involves a psychic who predicts murder. The third is about a man who literally meets the girl of his dreams.

Flesh and Fantasy

1943

The Song of Songs poster
6.1

After her father dies, Lily moves to the city to live with her strict aunt. During the day Lily works in her aunt's bookstore, and at night she sneaks across the street to model for Richard, a sculptor with whom she falls in love. A patron of Richard's, Baron von Merzbach, develops an interest in Lily that may not be with the best of intentions.

The Song of Songs

1933

Love Before Breakfast poster
6.1

Scott is a very rich businessman who hangs out with a snooty, silly Countess, but has the hots for Kay who is already engaged to Bill. Scott pursues Kay like crazy, going so far as to buy Bill's oil company so that he can banish him to Japan, leaving Kay unmoored.

Love Before Breakfast

1936

Desire poster
7.0

Madeleine steals a string of pearls in Paris and uses American engineer Tom, who is driving on his vacation to Spain, to get the pearls out of France. But getting the pearls back from him proves to be difficult without falling in love.

Desire

1936

Tales of Manhattan poster
6.5

Ten screenwriters collaborated on this series of tales concerning the effect a tailcoat cursed by its tailor has on those who wear it. The video release features a W.C. Fields segment not included in the original theatrical release.

Tales of Manhattan

1942

Sinners in the Sun poster
5.0

A New York fashion model finds herself being pursued by a poor but honest garage mechanic and a rich philanderer.

Sinners in the Sun

1932

The Great Waltz poster
5.9

Composer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.

The Great Waltz

1938

Sentimental Journey poster
6.4

An actress becomes taken with Hitty, a young orphan prone to dreaming. Julie soon finds out that she is ill and has only a short time to live. She decides to adopt the child so that her husband Bill will not be alone when she dies. Unfortunately, Bill is not charmed by Hitty.

Sentimental Journey

1946

White Woman poster
5.8

A nightclub singer marries the rich owner of a rubber plantation. When she returns with him to his estate in Malaysia, she finds out that he is cruel, vicious and insanely jealous. She and the plantation's overseer develop a mutual attraction, but are terrified at what will happen if her husband finds out.

White Woman

1933

Lydia poster
6.5

Lydia MacMillan, a wealthy woman who has never married, invites several men her own age to her home to reminisce about the times when they were young and courted her. In memory, each romance seemed splendid and destined for happiness, but in each case, Lydia realizes, the truth was less romantic, and ill-starred.

Lydia

1941

An American Tragedy poster
6.3

A social climber charms a debutante, seduces a factory worker and commits murder.

An American Tragedy

1931

Bridal Suite poster
5.4

A carefree playboy with an aversion to marriage falls for a lass he meets in the French Alps.

Bridal Suite

1939

His Butler's Sister poster
7.2

Aspiring singer Ann Carter visits her stepbrother in New York, hoping to make it on Broadway.

His Butler's Sister

1943

Two for Tonight poster
7.7

A songwriter has to come up with a full-length theatrical piece within a few days.

Two for Tonight

1935

Give My Regards to Broadway poster
7.5

A family vaudeville act is threatened when the eldest son is offered a contract to play baseball. Musical.

Give My Regards to Broadway

1948

Carnival in Costa Rica poster
7.0

Two pairs of lovers try to thwart an arranged marriage at Costa Rican fiesta time.

Carnival in Costa Rica

1947

Enchanted April poster
4.9

Mrs. Lotty Wilkins is an unhappily wife whom's life husband and romance have departed. In order to possibly salvage some of the missing elements in her life she rents an old Italian mansion and sharing it with three women. Here the four women plan to spend the month of April away from the cares of home, husbands and the everyday monotony.

Enchanted April

1935

The Voice of Bugle Ann poster
5.5

A Missouri farmer's (Lionel Barrymore) son (Eric Linden) loves the daughter (Maureen O'Sullivan) of a neighbor who has killed the farmer's foxhound.

The Voice of Bugle Ann

1936

Paris in Spring poster
7.0

Afraid of marriage, Simone (Mary Ellis) breaks off her long term engagement with her fiancé Paul de Lille (Tullio Carminati). Paul heads to the top of The Eiffel Tower with thoughts of suicide. In another part of Paris and also afraid of marriage, Mignon (Ida Lupino) breaks it off from her young lover (James Blakely). Despairing, Mignon also climbs to the top of the The Eiffel Tower intending to leap to her death. There she meets Paul and the two compare stories. After discussion, Paul dissuades her from leaping and the two conspire to make their respective partners jealous by pretending to have an affair with each other.

Paris in Spring

1935

The Fountain poster
8.9

Set during the first World War in neutral, but pro-German, Holland, Lewis Allison, an interned British officer, is paroled to the castle of Baron Von Leyden and finds living there, but now married to German officer Rupert Von Narwitz, his childhood sweetheart Julie. Long discussions between Julie and Allison, centering on family conflicts that kept them apart, take place before the severely wounded Von Narwitz returns to the castle and more long discussions ensue.

The Fountain

1934

Once a Lady poster
4.6

A young Russian woman marries a wealthy Englishman, and has a daughter with him. After she has an affair with one of his friends, she is forced to leave Britain and moves to Paris. Many years later, her daughter approaches her, needing her help.

Once a Lady

1931

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe poster
6.1

Biography of Edgar Allan Poe and the women in his life.

The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe

1942

Wharf Angel poster
4.2

On the wharfs of San Francisco, saloon girl Toy, also known as Mary, lives over Mother Bright's bar. When Como Murphy, a fugitive from the law, hides in her room, she falls in love with him. He explains that after he spoke out about the rights of man to a crowd, a riot ensued, during which a policeman was killed. Como took the gun from the killer, but is thought to be guilty of the crime himself. Como, who reciprocates Mary's love, spends the night with her, but leaves to keep her out of danger. He joins the crew of a ship sailing to China after he is befriended by Turk, a big lumbering sailor who is also in love with Mary. Each man is unaware that they love the same woman.

Wharf Angel

1934