The 300 Spartans

Rudolph Maté (1898-1964) became an assistant cameraman for Alexander Korda in Hungarian films of the late teens. In the mid ‘20s he lensed some of Carl Dreyer’s Mika’l, and became cinematographer for Dreyer’s classics La Passion De Jeanne D’Arc and Vampyr. After working in France on Fritz Lang’s Liliom and Rene Clair’s Le Dernier Milliardaire, Mate came to Hollywood in 1935. Here he shot such notable films as Our Relations with Laurel and Hardy, William Wyler’s Dodsworth, Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent, Korda’s That Hamilton Woman, and Lubitsch’s To Be Or Not to Be. Mate began directing in 1947 with the comedy It Had to Be You, which he co-directed with Don Hartman. As a director Mate is most fondly remembered for his early films, the noirs The Dark Past and D.O.A., and producer George Pal’s apocalyptic science-fictioner When Worlds Collide. —allmovie guide