Ben Hecht

Writing

Ben Hecht

Born 1894-02-28 · New York City, New York, USA

Ben Hecht (February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A successful journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and plays in America. He received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ben Hecht, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Notorious poster
7.7

In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.

Notorious

1946

Ulysses poster
6.5

A retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, focusing on Ulysses's ten-year journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, where he faces various mythical challenges while his wife Penelope fends off suitors.

Ulysses

1954

The Prisoner of Zenda poster
7.5

A kingdom's ascending heir, marked for assassination, switches identities with a lookalike, who takes his place at the coronation. When the real king is kidnapped, his followers try to find him, while the stand-in falls in love with the king's intended bride, the beautiful Princess Flavia.

The Prisoner of Zenda

1937

His Girl Friday poster
7.4

Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.

His Girl Friday

1940

Spellbound poster
7.4

When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.

Spellbound

1945

Scarface poster
7.4

In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

Scarface

1932

The Black Swan poster
6.5

When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Caribbean of buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.

The Black Swan

1942

Wuthering Heights poster
7.2

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

1939

Whirlpool poster
6.4

The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.

Whirlpool

1950

Duel in the Sun poster
6.4

Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.

Duel in the Sun

1946

Rasputin and the Empress poster
5.5

The story of corrupt, power-hungry, manipulative Grigori Rasputin's influence on members of the Russian Imperial family and others, and what resulted.

Rasputin and the Empress

1932

Lifeboat poster
7.4

During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

Lifeboat

1944

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
7.5

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

Angels with Dirty Faces

1938

The Thing from Another World poster
6.7

Scientists and US Air Force officials fend off a blood-thirsty alien organism while investigating at a remote arctic outpost.

The Thing from Another World

1951

Riptide poster
6.7

Mary is an impetuous romantic who marries British aristocrat Lord Philip Rexford on a whim. Their marriage is successful, though, and they grow closer over the years. Then, a trip to the Italian Riviera unexpectedly reunites Mary with her former beau, Tommie. After some vicious gossip makes Rexford distrust her, he begins work on a divorce. Mary must now choose between the man she has married and the man she once loved.

Riptide

1934

China Girl poster
5.4

Two-fisted newsreel photographer Johnny Williams is stationed in Burma and China in the early stage of WW II. Captured by the Japanese, he escapes from a concentration camp with the aid of beautiful, enigmatic 'China Girl' Miss Young. The two arduously make their way back to friendly lines so that Johnny can deliver the vital military information he's managed to glean from his captors.

China Girl

1942

China Girl poster
5.4

Two-fisted newsreel photographer Johnny Williams is stationed in Burma and China in the early stage of WW II. Captured by the Japanese, he escapes from a concentration camp with the aid of beautiful, enigmatic 'China Girl' Miss Young. The two arduously make their way back to friendly lines so that Johnny can deliver the vital military information he's managed to glean from his captors.

China Girl

1942

Where the Sidewalk Ends poster
7.2

A police detective's violent nature keeps him from being a good cop.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

1950

Monkey Business poster
6.7

Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler. When trying one of his own samples, washed down with water from the cooler, Fulton begins to act just like a twenty-year-old and believes his potion is working. Soon his wife and boss are also behaving like children.

Monkey Business

1952

North to Alaska poster
6.5

After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.

North to Alaska

1960

A Star Is Born poster
7.2

Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.

A Star Is Born

1937

Kiss of Death poster
7.1

An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.

Kiss of Death

1947

It's a Wonderful World poster
6.5

Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.

It's a Wonderful World

1939

Queen Christina poster
6.9

Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.

Queen Christina

1934