From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Joseph H Lewis April 6 1907August 30 2000 was an American Bmovie film director Although he worked with both Béla Lugosi The Invisible Ghost and Lionel Atwill in early 1940s horror he is best known for his work in film noir from the late 40s and the 1950s His most acclaimed feature Gun Crazy 1949 is a dark romance about gunobsession and notable for its use of location photography At the dawn of his career 19371940 when Lewis was directing inexpensive westerns he earned the derogatory nickname WagonWheel Joe from the studio editors because of his tendency to use wagonwheels for constructing interesting visual compositions within the frame Lewiss offbeat and eyecatching compositions added style and value to inexpensive productions His 1944 musical Minstrel Man starring singer Benny Fields is quite possibly the finest film ever made by lowbudget PRC Pictures Industry insiders noticed prompting Columbia Pictures to hire Lewis to film the musical sequences for its blockbuster musical The Jolson Story Toward the end of Lewiss career he worked in television directing mostly westerns The Rifleman Bonanza The Big Valley Gunsmoke and the pilot for Branded Description above from the Wikipedia article Joseph H Lewis licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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