Amid HHL’s busy slate, production turmoil flared on The Devil’s Disciple (1959). The film — which ultimately lost money — is notable in the production record for a dramatic behind-the-scenes rupture: Burt Lancaster, one of the company’s leading forces, dismissed director Alexander Mackendrick during shooting. Mackendrick had recently directed Lancaster to critical acclaim in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), so the on-set breakup was striking and pointed to deeper creative and managerial frictions inside HHL by the end of the decade. The firing of a director in mid-production was the sort of scandal that made trade-paper headlines and fed industry gossip about the limits of star-producer authority; it also signaled how the company’s internal tensions were beginning to sabotage its projects and reputations.
Preparing the daily feature…
AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1950s
Burt Lancaster Fires Alexander Mackendrick Mid-Shoot on The Devil’s Disciple (1959)
Burt Lancaster / The Devil's Disciple / 1950s
Amid HHL’s busy slate, production turmoil flared on The Devil’s Disciple (1959). The film — which ultimately lost money — is notable in the production record for a dramatic behind-the-scenes rupture: Burt Lancaster, one of the company’s leading forces, dismissed director Alexander Mackendrick during shooting. Mackendrick had recently directed Lancaster to critical acclaim in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), so the on-set breakup was striking and pointed to deeper creative and managerial frictions inside HHL by the end of the decade. The firing of a director in mid-production was the sort of scandal that made trade-paper headlines and fed industry gossip about the limits of star-producer authority; it also signaled how the company’s internal tensions were beginning to sabotage its projects and reputations.
The daily feature is taking an intermission. There’s still an entire archive to explore.