Assistant director Newman first established his reputation in the industry as an assistant director at
MGM. He worked on
Clear All Wires! (1933),
Gabriel Over the White House (1933),
The Nuisance (1933),
Another Language (1933),
Dinner at Eight (1933),
Stage Mother (1933),
Going Hollywood (1933),
Riptide (1934), and
The Merry Widow (1934), working with
Ernst Lubitsch. He was nominated for an Oscar for
David Copperfield (1935), and worked on
China Seas (1935), and
I Live My Life (1935),
Rose-Marie (1936).
San Francisco (1936) earned him another Oscar nomination. He worked as assistant director on
Lady of the Tropics (1937),
Maytime (1937),
The Firefly (1937), and
Too Hot to Handle (1938).
Director of shorts Newman began directing short films starting with ''Man's Greatest Friend
(1938). He followed it with The Story of Alfred Nobel
(1938), Money to Loan
(1939), The Story That Couldn't Be Printed
(1939) (the story of John Zenger), Maintain the Right
(1940), Know Your Money
(1940) (part of the Crime Does Not Pay series), Women in Hiding
(1940), Cat College
(1940), Buyer Beware
(1940), Respect the Law
(1941), Coffins on Wheels
(1941), Triumph Without Drums
(1941), Don't Talk (1942), and Vendetta'' (1942). Newman returned to assistant directing with ''
Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) and The Bugle Sounds'' (1942).
Feature director Newman made his debut as a director of feature films with
Northwest Rangers (1941), a
B-movie about the
Canadian Mounties starring
James Craig. Newman served as a
major with the
U.S. Army Signal Corps during
World War II. While there, he directed the short film
Diary of a Sergeant (1945) starring
Harold Russell which led to Russell's appearance in
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). After the war, Newman returned to directing shorts at MGM:
The Luckiest Guy in the World (1947) and
The Amazing Mr. Nordill (1947). He went back to features with the low budget
Jungle Patrol (1948) at Fox. He went on to direct
The Great Dan Patch (1949), the
film noir crime dramas
Abandoned (1949), with
Gale Storm, and
711 Ocean Drive, which starred
Edmond O'Brien. Newman directed
George Raft in
Lucky Nick Cain (1951) aka ''I'll Get You For This'' in England, distributed by Fox.
20th Century Fox Newman went to Fox where he directed
The Guy Who Came Back (1951);
Love Nest (1952), featuring an early supporting role for
Marilyn Monroe. The studio were impressed and assigned him to larger budgeted films:
Red Skies of Montana (1952) with
Richard Widmark; and
The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952). Fox picked up his option and he directed
Pony Soldier (1952) with
Tyrone Power; and
Dangerous Crossing (1953) with Michael Rennie. In 1952 it was announced he would form Joe Newman Productions to make
Island in the Sky but the film ended up being made by others. In 1953 Newman set up his own production company, Sabre Productions. Their first productions were to be
This Island Earth and
Tehran. Newman directed
The Human Jungle (1954) for Allied Artists.
Sabre Productions Newman made
This Island Earth for Universal. It starred
Rex Reason as a scientist and jet pilot who is transported to another world by beings from a dying civilization who secretly intend to invade and take over his home planet. The film attracted a cult following that increased decades later when the television comedy series
Mystery Science Theater 3000 spoofed it in 1996 in its first feature-film venture. Also at Universal he directed
Kiss of Fire (1955). He did
Flight to Hong Kong (1956) for Sabre, then
Death in Small Doses (1957). Two of actor
Joel McCrea's final westerns followed for the director,
Fort Massacre (1958) and
The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959). Newman directed
The Big Circus (1959) for
Irwin Allen at Allied Artists then went to MGM to do
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959).
Television Newman went into television directing "Meeting at Appalachia" for
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and "The High Cost of Fame" for
Dan Raven, "The Lady and the Lawyer" for
The Asphalt Jungle. Newman did some films for Allied Artists,
The Big Bankroll (1961), and
The George Raft Story (1962). In between he made
It Started in Tokyo (1961),
The Lawbreakers (1961) and
A Thunder of Drums (1961). His final years as a director were for TV, doing episodes of
The Great Adventure,
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and
The Big Valley. He did several
Twilight Zone episodes including "
In Praise of Pip", "
The Last Night of a Jockey", "
Black Leather Jackets", and "
The Bewitchin' Pool". ==Partial filmography==