Peter Viertel

Writing

Peter Viertel

Born 1920-11-16 · Dresden, Germany

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Old Man and the Sea poster
6.5

Santiago is an aging, down-on-his-luck, Cuban fisherman who, after catching nothing for nearly 3 months, hooks a huge Marlin and struggles to land it far out in the Gulf Stream.

The Old Man and the Sea

1958

Saboteur poster
6.9

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.

Saboteur

1942

White Hunter, Black Heart poster
6.4

Renowned filmmaker John Wilson travels to Africa to direct a new movie, but constantly leaves to hunt elephants and other game, to the dismay of his cast and crew. He eventually becomes obsessed with hunting down and killing one specific elephant.

White Hunter, Black Heart

1990

Decision Before Dawn poster
6.8

WWII is entering its last phase: Germany is in ruins, but does not yield. The US army lacks crucial knowledge about the German units operating on the opposite side of the Rhine, and decides to send two German prisoners to gather information. The scheme is risky: the Gestapo retains a terribly efficient network to identify and capture spies and deserters. Moreover, it is not clear that "Tiger", who does not mind any dirty work as long as the price is right, and war-weary "Happy", who might be easily betrayed by his feelings, are dependable agents. After Tiger and another American agent are successfully infiltrated, Happy is parachuted in Bavaria. His duty: find out the whereabouts of a powerful German armored unit moving towards the western front.

Decision Before Dawn

1951

The Sun Also Rises poster
5.8

A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920's France and Spain.

The Sun Also Rises

1957

We Were Strangers poster
6.3

China Valdes joins the Cuban underground after her brother is killed by the chief of the secret police, Ariete. She meets and falls in love with American expatriate Tony Fenner. Tony develops a plan to tunnel under the city's cemetery to a plot owned by a high official, assassinate him, and blow up the whole Cuban hierarchy at the ensuing state funeral. Together with a band of dedicated revolutionaries, they begin digging.

We Were Strangers

1949

Five Miles to Midnight poster
6.0

American ex-Air Force man and current businessman Bob Macklin is married to the impoverished Italian-born Lisa. Bob’s jealousy and immaturity irks Lisa, who tells him she’s planning to file for a divorce before his plane departs on a business trip for Casablanca.

Five Miles to Midnight

1962

The Hard Way poster
6.5

Helen Chernen pushes her younger sister Katherine into show business in order to escape their small town poverty.

The Hard Way

1943