Hanns Eisler

Highest Rated: 100% Nuit et brouillard (1955)

Lowest Rated: 71% A Scandal in Paris (1946)

Birthday: Jul 6, 1898

Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany

Former student of Arnold Schoenberg and collaborator with Bertolt Brecht who left Germany in 1933 and worked with European filmmakers including Joris Ivens and Jacques Feyder before moving to the US in 1936. A Marxist and a modernist, Eisler worked with several noted directors including Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir before being deported in 1948 during the anti-Communist witch hunt. Settling in East Germany, he wrote the new state's national anthem, composed music for several films (including an outstanding score for Alain Resnais' "Night and Fog," 1955) and co-authored a scathing book on movie music, "Composing for the Films" (1947), with philosopher Theodor W. Adorno.