Ely Landau
Encyclopedia
Ely Abraham Landau was an American producer and production executive best remembered for films of plays in the American Film Theatre
series.
Landau started working in television as a director and producer for a number of companies in the late 1940s following WWII military service. Landau won a Peabody Award for Play of the Week
a series of stage plays mounted for television from 1959 to 1961 by WNTA-TV in New York. The station was then owned by National Telefilm Associates
, a New York-based television distribution company which he organized in 1953; he subsequently became the president and chairman of the board for the company. National Telefilm, which won praise for being innovative, distributed the series, for which Mr. Landau was primarily responsible. In a 1959 interview, he said: "With this I'm bucking the trend. But I don't think any independent station is going to succeed if it just does the Westerns and crime and situation comedy shows that we find everywhere else."
In the 1960s, he turned to feature-film production. Landau was the producer of the 1962 film Long Day's Journey into Night
, with Katharine Hepburn
, a screen rendering of the play by Eugene O'Neill
.
Always interested in adapting theatrical productions to film, he founded the American Film Theatre in 1972 to make movies of distinguished (mainly American and British) plays.
In 1972, he compiled and produced the 185-minute television documentary King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, an account of the public career of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The documentary was praised as achieving a density and shapeliness that would be rare in any movie, let alone a documentary committed to the sequence of actual events.
Other producing credits include:
The Pawnbroker
-1965, The Chosen
- 1981, The Man in the Glass Booth
- 1975, Hopscotch
- 1980, The Greek Tycoon
-1978, Three Sisters - 1966, The Holcroft Covenant
- 1985, Beatlemania, The Movie - 1981, In Celebration
- 1975, Galileo
- 1975, Luther
- 1974, Rhinoceros
- 1974, Lost in the Stars
- 1974, Butley
- 1974, The Iceman Cometh
- 1974, The Maids
- 1975, The Homecoming
- 1973, A Delicate Balance
- 1973, The Madwoman of Chaillot
- 1969.
American Film Theatre
The American Film Theatre was a limited run series of film adaptations of stage plays, produced by Ely Landau. Two seasons were produced from 1973 to 1975...
series.
Landau started working in television as a director and producer for a number of companies in the late 1940s following WWII military service. Landau won a Peabody Award for Play of the Week
Play of the Week
Play of the Week is an American anthology series of televised stage plays which aired in NTA Film Network syndication from October 12, 1959 to May 1, 1961...
a series of stage plays mounted for television from 1959 to 1961 by WNTA-TV in New York. The station was then owned by National Telefilm Associates
National Telefilm Associates
National Telefilm Associates was an independent distribution company that handled reissues of American film libraries, including much of Paramount Pictures' animated and short-subjects library.-History:...
, a New York-based television distribution company which he organized in 1953; he subsequently became the president and chairman of the board for the company. National Telefilm, which won praise for being innovative, distributed the series, for which Mr. Landau was primarily responsible. In a 1959 interview, he said: "With this I'm bucking the trend. But I don't think any independent station is going to succeed if it just does the Westerns and crime and situation comedy shows that we find everywhere else."
In the 1960s, he turned to feature-film production. Landau was the producer of the 1962 film Long Day's Journey into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
, with Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, a screen rendering of the play by Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
.
Always interested in adapting theatrical productions to film, he founded the American Film Theatre in 1972 to make movies of distinguished (mainly American and British) plays.
In 1972, he compiled and produced the 185-minute television documentary King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, an account of the public career of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
The documentary was praised as achieving a density and shapeliness that would be rare in any movie, let alone a documentary committed to the sequence of actual events.
Other producing credits include:
The Pawnbroker
The Pawnbroker (film)
The Pawnbroker is a 1964 drama film, starring Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters and Jaime Sánchez and directed by Sidney Lumet. It was adapted by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin from the novel of the same name by Edward Lewis Wallant....
-1965, The Chosen
The Chosen (film)
The Chosen is a 1981 drama film directed by Jeremy Kagan, based on the bestselling book of the same name by Chaim Potok published in 1967. It stars Maximilian Schell and Rod Steiger. It won three awards at the 1981 Montréal World Film Festival.-Plot:...
- 1981, The Man in the Glass Booth
The Man in the Glass Booth
The Man in the Glass Booth is a 1975 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay was adapted from Robert Shaw's 1967 novel and 1968 stage play, both of the same name. The plot was inspired by images of the trial of Adolf Eichmann....
- 1975, Hopscotch
Hopscotch (film)
Hopscotch is a 1980 American film directed by Ronald Neame and produced by Otto Plaschkes. It was written by Bryan Forbes and Brian Garfield, based on his novel of the same name....
- 1980, The Greek Tycoon
The Greek Tycoon
The Greek Tycoon is a 1978 American drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay by Morton S. Fine is based on a story by Fine, Nico Mastorakis, and Win Wells loosely based on Aristotle Onassis and his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy.-Plot:...
-1978, Three Sisters - 1966, The Holcroft Covenant
The Holcroft Covenant (film)
The Holcroft Covenant is a 1985 film based on the Robert Ludlum novel The Holcroft Covenant. The film starred Michael Caine and was directed by John Frankenheimer...
- 1985, Beatlemania, The Movie - 1981, In Celebration
In Celebration
In Celebration is a 1975 film directed by Lindsay Anderson. It is based in the 1969 stage production of the same name by David Storey which was also directed by Anderson. The movie was meant to be shown theatrically with tickets sold in advance....
- 1975, Galileo
Galileo (film)
Galileo is a 1975 film version of the Bertolt Brecht play The Life of Galileo. The film was produced and released as part of the American Film Theatre, which adapted theatrical works for a subscription-driven cinema series.-Plot:...
- 1975, Luther
Luther (play)
Luther is a 1961 play by John Osborne that explored the forces that were involved in the life of Martin Luther, one of the instigators of the Protestant Reformation. Osborne was influenced by Erik Erikson's book, Young Man Luther, which had been published three years prior in 1958. In the play,...
- 1974, Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros (play)
Rhinoceros is a play by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. The play belongs to the school of drama known as the Theatre of the Absurd...
- 1974, Lost in the Stars
Lost in the Stars
Lost in the Stars is a musical with book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and music by Kurt Weill, based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton...
- 1974, Butley
Butley (film)
Butley is a 1973 film directed by Harold Pinter, an adaptation from Simon Gray's 1971 play of same name. The film starred Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Richard O'Callaghan, Susan Engel, and Michael Byrne....
- 1974, The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
- 1974, The Maids
The Maids
The Maids is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed...
- 1975, The Homecoming
The Homecoming (film)
The Homecoming is a 1973 film directed by Peter Hall based on the play of the same name by Harold Pinter. The film was screened at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.-Plot:...
- 1973, A Delicate Balance
A Delicate Balance (film)
A Delicate Balance is a 1973 drama film directed by Tony Richardson. The screenplay by Edward Albee is based on his 1966 Pultizer Prize-winning play of the same name.The film was the second in a series produced by Ely A...
- 1973, The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Madwoman of Chaillot is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play has two acts and follows the convention of the classical unities...
- 1969.