Nosseck was born in
Nakel, then in
Prussia, but now in
Poland. Nosseck established himself as a director in the
German Film Industry, but due to his
Jewish background he was forced to emigrate following the
Nazi takeover in 1933. He directed films in
France,
Spain, the
Netherlands, and
United States. In 1934 Max Nosseck directed
Buster Keaton, then struggling with alcoholism and a messy divorce, in the French feature
Le Roi des Champs-Élysées. Nosseck's American films typed him as a director of sensationalist subjects, usually juvenile-vagrancy melodramas. His most famous "exploitation" film is
Dillinger (1945), a gangster picture chronicling the rise and fall of
John Dillinger. The film starred
Lawrence Tierney, with whom Nosseck reunited for two crime thrillers in later years. In a surprising turnabout, Nosseck directed two wholesome animal adventures in 1946 and 1947. He was an interesting character (only 5'3" and a lisp) with a quick temper. Legend in Hollywood is that he refused to be controlled by one of the heads of a major studio who was about to give him his own film to direct and was forced to return to Europe. He attended many European film festivals After his American assignments, he returned to work in the German and Austrian film industries. Nosseck married three times: to Austrian actress
Olly Gebauer, to German actress
Ilse Steppat, and to the writer and aviator Genevieve Haugen. He died in
Bad Wiessee. ==Selected filmography==