Maxwell Shane Biography

A law student at the University of Southern California, Maxwell Shane let slip his legal aspirations by becoming a journalist. He began his Hollywood career as a publicist, then graduated to screenwriter in 1937. Many of his scripts were forgettable time-fillers, with such scattered exceptions as that heartfelt exercise in Americana, Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952). A director from 1947, Maxwell Shane was attracted to such noir-ish projects as Fear in the Night (1947), City Across the River (1949) (adapted by Shane from Irving Shulman's The Amboy Dukes), and The Naked Street (1955). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi