Irving Lerner

Irving Lerner (7 March 1909, New York City - 25 December 1976, Los Angeles) Lerner was cinematographer, director, or assistant director on documentary films such as One Third of a Nation (1939), Valley Town (1940), The Land (1942) directed by Robert Flaherty, and Suicide Attack (1950). Lerner was also producer of the OWI documentary Hymn of the Nations (1944), directed by Alexander Hammid, and featuring Arturo Toscanini, and co-director with Joseph Strick of the short documentary Muscle Beach (1948).

Irving Lerner was also an important director and film editor with directing credits such as Studs Lonigan (1960) and editing credits such as Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) and Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977). Lerner died during the cutting of New York, New York, and the film was dedicated to him.

The "Blacklist": Irving Lerner was an American citizen and an employee of the United States Office of War Information during World War II who worked in the Motion Picture Division. Lerner was allegedly involved in espionage on behalf of Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU); Arthur Adams was Lerner's key contact.^{[citation needed]}

In the winter of 1944, a counterintelligence officer caught Lerner attempting to photograph the cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley Radiation Laboratory, which was part of the Manhattan Project. The cyclotron had been used in the creation of plutonium and Lerner was acting without authorization. Lerner resigned and went to work for Keynote Recordings, owned by Eric Bernay, another Soviet intelligence contact. Arthur Adams also worked at Keynote.

Filmography

As Director

• A Town Called Hell (1971) (uncredited)
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)
• Ben Casey (TV series, 13 episodes, 1961-1965)
• Seaway (1965) (TV series, unknown episodes)
• Mr. Novak (TV series, 1 episode, 1963)
• Cry of Battle (1963)
• Target: The Corruptors (1 episode, 1961)
• King of Diamonds (1 episode, 1961)
• Studs Lonigan (1960)
• City of Fear (1959)
• Murder by Contract (1958)
• Edge of Fury (1958)
• Man Crazy (1953)
• Suicide Attack (1951)
• Muscle Beach (1948)
• To Hear Your Banjo Play (1947)
• Swedes in America (1943) with Ingrid Bergman

As Producer

• Hay que matar a B. (1975) (co-producer)
• The Darwin Adventure (1972) (co-producer)
• Bad Man's River (1971) (executive producer)
• Captain Apache (1971) (associate producer)
• Custer of the West (1967) (executive producer)
• The Wild Party (1956) (supervising producer)
• C-Man (1949) (producer)
• To Hear Your Banjo Play (1947) (co-producer)
• Hymn of the Nations (1944) (producer) (uncredited)

As Editor

• Mustang: The House That Joe Built (1978)
• The River Niger (1976)
• Steppenwolf (1974)
• Spartacus (1960) (uncredited)
• The Marines Come Thru (1938)
• China Strikes Back (1937) (unconfirmed)

As Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

• A Town Called Hell (1971) (second unit director)
• Custer of the West (1967) (second unit director: Civil War sequense)
• Spartacus (1960) (second unit director) (uncredited)
• Valley Town (1940) (second unit director)
• One Third of a Nation (1939) (second unit director) (uncredited)

As Actor

• Hay que matar a B. (1975)
• On Camera (1 episode, 1955)
• Pie in the Sky (1935)

As Miscellaneous Crew

• The Savage Eye (1960) (technical advisor)
• God's Little Acre (1958) (associate to director)
• Robot Monster (1953) (production associate)

Editing Department

• New York, New York (1977) (supervising editor)
• Executive Action (1973) (associate editor)

Production Manager

• Men in War (1957) (production supervisor)

As Cinematographer

• The Land (1942)

Dedicatee

• New York, New York (1977) (our gratitude and respect to)

References

• FBI memo, “Soviet Activities in the United States,” 25 July 1946, Papers of Clark Clifford, Harry S. Truman Library
• John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press, 1999), pg. 325

External links

• Suicide Attack - documentary review
• Irving Lerner at IMDB