Herbert I. Leeds(1900-1954)

Herbert I. Leeds was a journeyman film editor before turning director in 1937. Many of his films were made for 20th Century-Fox, and his training as an editor was evident in the efficiency and tight pacing of his films. Although he started out making westerns, he soon turned to mysteries and adventures. His war film, Manila Calling (1942) was not the flag-waving, jingoistic propaganda piece typical of that era; while an action film, it eschewed phony heroics (until the last reel, anyway) in its story of a group of American soldiers and civilians trapped on Luzon by the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. He also directed two enjoyable entries in the underrated Lloyd Nolan "Michael Shayne" private detective series. Unlike many B directors, Leeds' final films kept up to the same quality as his early ones, and his next-to-last picture, Bunco Squad (1950) is, despite its potboiler title, a solid, well-crafted and well-acted little thriller.