One of the most prolific directors in the history of the cinema, Hungarian-born Michael Curtiz has often received short shrift from proponents of the auteur theory for his willing participation in the studio system as the top helmsman at Warner Bros. in the 1930s and 40s. He tirelessly hammered out four or five films a year for the studio through the 30s, as ready to take on low-budget programmers as more prestigious assignments, and was amazingly adept at creating lavish results on minimal budgets in a wide variety of genres. He also earned a reputation as one of the most hated directors in