Joe May

Directing

Joe May

Born November 7, 1880 · Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]

Died April 29, 1954 · aged 73

Joe May, born Julius Otto Mandl, was a film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the pioneers of German cinema. In 1902 he married the actress Mia May, born Hermine Pfleger, and adapted her stage name as his. The same year their daughter Eva (1902-24) was born. In 1933 the family emigrated to USA.

Known For

The Invisible Man ReturnsThe Invisible Man Returns · 1940
The Invisible Man Returns
★ 6.31940
MovieHorrorScience Fiction
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
Buccaneer's GirlBuccaneer's Girl · 1950
Buccaneer's Girl
★ 5.81950
MovieAdventureComedy
A New Orleans performer loves a pirate who robs only from the shipowner who ruined his father.
AsphaltAsphalt · 1929
Asphalt
★ 7.31929
MovieDrama
Starring Betty Amann in her most famous leading role, Joe May's Asphalt is a luxuriously produced German Expressionist classic where tragic liaisons and fatal encounters are shaped alongside the constant roar of Berlin traffic.
The Invisible WomanThe Invisible Woman · 1940
The Invisible Woman
★ 5.71940
MovieComedyHorror
Kitty Carroll, an attractive store model, volunteers to become a test subject for a machine that will make her invisible so that she can use her invisibility to exact revenge on her ex-boss.
Uncertain GloryUncertain Glory · 1944
Uncertain Glory
★ 6.71944
MovieWarDrama
In occupied France, a convicted thief and murderer escapes the guillotine when a bombing raid strikes the prison, but is quickly re-captured by the inspector of the Surete responsible for his original arrest. Fearing the guillotine more than his actual death, the convict inveigles the inspector to help him with a plan to rescue 100 Frenchmen taken by the Gestapo following an act of sabotage: he will confess to being the saboteur and allow himself to be executed by firing squad, the Gestapo's method of execution, thus freeing the 100 men.
The House of the Seven GablesThe House of the Seven Gables · 1940
The House of the Seven Gables
★ 7.01940
MovieThrillerDrama
In 1828, the bankrupt Pyncheon family fight over Seven Gables, the ancestral mansion. To obtain the house, Jaffrey Pyncheon obtains his brother Clifford's false conviction for murder. Hepzibah, Clifford's sweet fiancée, patiently waits twenty years for his release, whereupon Clifford and his former cellmate, abolitionist Matthew, have a certain scheme in mind.
Mother HummingbirdMother Hummingbird · 1929
Mother Hummingbird
★ 4.71929
MovieDramaRomance
A neglected Baroness falls in love with her oldest son's military officer friend, their adulterous romance leading the two to flee to Algeria.
Music in the AirMusic in the Air · 1934
Music in the Air
★ 5.61934
MovieComedyRomance
A songwriter's young daughter (June Lang) begins to dream of stardom when she's offered the lead role in a new operetta.

Filmography

Sort
You're Not So ToughYou're Not So Tough · 1940
You're Not So Tough
★ 5.01940
MovieCrimeDrama
The Dead End Kids are out of the slums of New York's East Side and running around the sunny valleys of California looking for a way to make a quick buck. The idea of working never enters their minds until Halop is egged on by Grey to show his capabilities. Before long, he and Hall are working on the ranch of Galli, an elderly Italian woman who treats her workers like human beings instead of animals. Galli's son disappeared as an infant, and Halop tries to convince her that he is that long lost son, thus possibly sharing in her wealth. Galli is such a good person that Halop is soon motivated by respect instead of greed, so he devises a plan to help her when truckers and a labor organization band together to keep her crops from making it to market.

Director