Early life Born as
Robert Gustave Fuchs in Paris, he grew up near the studio of
Georges Méliès. In 1920, he worked at first as an assistant and extra in featurettes from
Louis Feuillade.
Hollywood (1921) Florey went to Hollywood in 1921 as a journalist for Cinemagazine. He worked as foreign publicity director for Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford and was European advance manager for
Rudolph Valentino. He was an assistant director on
Parisian Nights (1925). He went to
MGM where he was an assistant on
The Masked Bride (1925),
Exquisite Sinner (1926),
Bardelys the Magnificent (1926),
La Bohème (1926) and
The Magic Flame (1927). He also shot newsreel footage in New York.
Early films Florey's first film as director was
One Hour of Love (1927) for Tiffany Productions. He did
The Romantic Age (1927) for Columbia and
Face Value (1927) for Stirling Pictures. He was assistant on
The Woman Disputed (1928). He directed and co-wrote the 27-minute experimental film
Johann the Coffinmaker in 1927, said to have been made for $200 in his spare time, shooting at night while working on other films in the daytime. The avant-garde film was made on only three sets, and involved a lot of trick photographic effects.
Shorts In the late 1920s he produced two experimental short films:
The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra (1928) co-directed with
Slavko Vorkapić, and
Skyscraper Symphony the following year. He also directed
The Love of Zero (1928),
Hello New York! (1928) with
Maurice Chevalier, and
Pusher-in-the-Face (1929) from a script and story by
F. Scott Fitzgerald published for the first time on the magazine ''
Woman's Home Companion''.
Paramount As a director, Florey's reputation is balanced between his avant-garde expressionist style, most evident in his early career, and his work as a fast, reliable studio-system director called on to finish troubled projects, such as 1939's
Hotel Imperial. At
Paramount, he made
The Hole in the Wall (1929), starring
Claudette Colbert and
Edward G. Robinson, and
The Cocoanuts (1929), the first film of the
Marx Brothers. He directed the short
Night Club (1929) with
Fanny Brice and made
The Battle of Paris (1929) with
Gertrude Lawrence. Florey went to England to direct the French musical
The Road Is Fine (1930), and to Germany for ''
My Wife's Teacher (1930), a Spanish-language version of the film Rendezvous
. While in Germany, he directed Love Songs (1930). He did Black and White'' (1931) with
Raimu, co-directing with
Marc Allegret.
Murders in the Rue Morgue Florey made a significant but uncredited contribution to the script of the 1931 version of
Frankenstein. Florey was to be given the job of directing
Frankenstein, and he filmed a screen test with
Bela Lugosi playing the monster, but
Universal Pictures gave the job to
James Whale, who cast
Boris Karloff. Instead, Universal assigned Florey and Lugosi to
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932). Florey, with the help of cinematographer
Karl Freund and elaborate sets representing 19th century Paris, made
Murders into an American version of German
expressionist films such as
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Florey directed
The Man Called Back (1932) with
Conrad Nagel for Tiffany Pictures, and
Those We Love (1932) with
Mary Astor. He wrote the script for a version of
A Study in Scarlet (1933).
Warner Bros. Florey went to
Warner Brothers, where he directed a number of "B" movies:
Girl Missing (1933) with
Glenda Farrell and
Ben Lyon,
Ex-Lady (1933) with
Bette Davis,
The House on 56th Street (1933) with
Kay Francis,
Bedside (1934) with
Warren William,
Registered Nurse (1934) with
Bebe Daniels,
Smarty (1934) with
Joan Blondell and William,
I Sell Anything (1934) with
Pat O'Brien,
I Am a Thief (1934) with Astor,
The Woman in Red (1935) with
Barbara Stanwyck, and
The Florentine Dagger (1935) with
Donald Woods. He did some uncredited work on
Go into Your Dance (1935) with
Al Jolson and
Ruby Keeler, and he was the assistant director on ''
I've Got Your Number (1934). He also did some location filming in China for Oil for the Lamps of China (1935). He directed Going Highbrow (1935) with Guy Kibbee, Don't Bet on Blondes (1935) with William (and a young Errol Flynn), and The Payoff'' (1935) with
James Dunn.
Paramount Florey returned to Paramount where he directed
Ship Cafe (1935) with
Carl Brisson,
The Preview Murder Mystery (1936) with
Reginald Denny,
Till We Meet Again (1936) with
Herbert Marshall,
Hollywood Boulevard (1936) with
John Halliday and a young
Robert Cummings,
Outcast (1937) with William,
King of Gamblers (1937) with
Claire Trevor and
Lloyd Nolan,
Mountain Music (1937) with
Bob Burns and
Martha Raye,
This Way Please (1937) with
Charles "Buddy" Rogers and
Betty Grable,
Daughter of Shanghai (1937) with
Anna May Wong,
Dangerous to Know (1938) with Wong, and
King of Alcatraz (1938) with
Gail Patrick and Nolan. He did some uncredited work on
Rose of the Rancho (1936). His films were marked by fast pace, cynical tone,
Dutch angles, and dramatic lighting. Florey directed
Hotel Imperial (1939) with
Isa Miranda and
Ray Milland,
The Magnificent Fraud (1939) with
Akim Tamiroff and Nolan,
Death of a Champion (1939) with
Lynne Overman,
Parole Fixer (1940) from a book by
J. Edgar Hoover, and
Women Without Names (1940) with
Ellen Drew.
Columbia Florey went to Columbia for
The Face Behind the Mask (1941) with
Peter Lorre,
Meet Boston Blackie (1941) with
Chester Morris, and
Two in a Taxi (1941) with
Anita Louise.
Warner Bros. Florey went to Warner Bros. for
Dangerously They Live (1941) with John Garfield,
Lady Gangster (1942) with
Faye Emerson and the big budget musical
The Desert Song (1943) with Dennis Morgan. At
20th Century Fox he did some assisting on ''
Bomber's Moon (1943) and directed Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) with Preston Foster. He went to Republic for Man from Frisco'' (1944). In April 1944, he was burned when his car was on fire. Back at Warners Florey directed
God Is My Co-Pilot (1945) with Morgan, and
Danger Signal (1945) with Emerson and
Zachary Scott. He did some uncredited work on
San Antonio (1945) with
Errol Flynn and returned to the horror genre with
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946). He was also associate director to
Charlie Chaplin on Chaplin's film
Monsieur Verdoux (1947).
Freelance director Florey directed
Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948) with
Johnny Weissmuller for
Sol Lesser in Mexico, and two
French Foreign Legion films: ''
Rogues' Regiment (1948) with Dick Powell and Outpost in Morocco'' (1949) with
George Raft. He did
The Crooked Way (1949) with John Payne,
The Vicious Years (1950),
Johnny One-Eye (1950) with Pat O'Brien, and ''Charlie's Haunt'' (1950) with
Edgar Bergen then did some uncredited work on Flynn's
The Adventure of Captain Fabian (1951). ==Television==