The Times-Picayune (16/Sep/1994) - Film pioneer leaves legacy

Details

• article: Film pioneer leaves legacy
• author(s): Henry Sheehan
• newspaper: The Times-Picayune (16/Sep/1994)
• keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Jamaica Inn (1939), Joan Harrison, Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), The 39 Steps (1935), Universal Studios

Article

Film pioneer leaves legacy

A film pioneer, unknown to most of the public but highly regarded in Hollywood during her prime, died last month.

At a time when women were systematically excluded from top moviemaking jobs, Joan Harrison was a successful producer of quality films from the late '30s onward.

Her career started in 1935, when she answered a London newspaper ad for a secretary placed by Alfred Hitchcock. The filmmaker, at work on "The 39 Steps," soon recognized her extraordinary abilities, and Harrison began contributing to script development and then co-writing screenplays (including "Jamaica Inn," "Rebecca" and "Suspicion").

In the mid-'40s, Harrison left Hitchcock's employ to work as a producer at Universal, where she supervised films remarkable for their intelligence and style. Starting with an early example of film noir, "Phantom Lady" (1944), she collaborated again with that film's director, Robert Siodmak on "Uncle Harry" (1945), a melodrama/murder yarn.

It would be hard to overestimate this achievement. Universal was getting by on Abbott and Costello pictures at the time. Add the period's atmosphere of sexism and you get an idea of what Harrison was up against.

She continued producing television shows in England but faded from public view after the '60s. But she has left us a legacy of first-rate filmmaking and a wonderful example to women in filmmaking.