Leo Mittler

Leo Mittler 18 December 1893 16 May 1958 was an Austrian playwright screenwriter and film director Mittler was born in Vienna to a Jewish family Following the Nazi rise to power in 1933 Mittler spent many years in exile in several countries including Britain and France before settling in the United States during the Second World War Mittlers career as a director had all but ended in the mid1930s after making the Stanley Lupino musical comedy Cheer Up 1936 but he worked occasionally as a screenwriter Mittler wrote the original story of the MGM proSoviet film Song of Russia 1944 which was later investigated by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee for its alleged communist sympathies Mittler returned to Germany postwar dying there in 1958 Before his death he worked in German theatre and television