Lewis was New York representative of
Fox Film Corporation from 1922 to 1929. By the late 1920s, vaudeville was dying, and the Lewis & Gordon partnership was dissolved. Lewis moved to Hollywood to work for
William Fox, who had once partnered with Max's brother Cliff Gordon in vaudeville acts. From 1930 to 1931, he was head of the story department at the Fox studio. In September 1932, he joined the production staff of Paramount in Hollywood. He was made an associate producer. He produced
Torch Singer in 1933.] In 1934 Lewis produced
Ready for Love (1934) for
Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by
Marion Gering and starred
Richard Arlen,
Ida Lupino,
Marjorie Rambeau and
Trent Durkin. He produced
Come on Marines the same year, directed by
Henry Hathaway, also starring Arlen and Lupino. In 1937 Lewis produced
Fight for Your Lady for RKO. The comedy was directed by
Ben Stoloff, and starred
John Boles,
Jack Oakie, and
Ida Lupino. Frank Nugent of
The New York Times called the film "a fumbling, unoriginal and infantile farce [which] comes unpleasantly close to being the composite year's worst picture. In 1942 Lewis and
George Balanchine co-produced and co-directed
Cabin in the Sky, a Broadway musical with an all-black cast. Lewis was an associate producer of the film version directed by
Vincente Minnelli that was released in 1943. He was assigned to give Minnelli technical advice since this was the first film he was directing. Lewis also helped with casting for the film, which was seen as a prestigious opportunity for black actors. ==Later career==