Lewis Allen is a director to seek out for suspense and convincing actors, though his feature films are uneven. His television credits include two series we warmly recommend, without claiming their achievements were his alone.
Fi1m perspective
David Janssen's tired hero gives The Fugitive (1963) a reason to keep following him through its crime, action and melodrama. We felt for him because his weariness makes the danger believable, even when the predicament begins to repeat. Allen was one of the programme's directors, and it is a substantial credit, though we should not attribute the whole series to him. We recommend it with patience for the repetition and the sometimes over-insistent narration.
Allen's first feature, The Uninvited (1944), established his reputation with an atmospheric ghost story. Ray Milland appeared in it and made four films with him altogether, including the period melodrama So Evil My Love (1948), filmed in Britain. Suddenly (1954), with Frank Sinatra as an assassin, offered the confined, high-stakes situation Allen could handle well. These are useful starting points for a director whose strengths lie in suspense and working with leading actors. The films after The Uninvited were uneven; there is no reason to recommend them indiscriminately.
After directing 18 features between 1944 and 1959, Allen worked primarily in television. Bruce Geller's Mission: Impossible (1966) is another of his directing credits, and another series we rate highly, with a specific reservation. Its disguises and carefully arranged deception are absorbing because the teamwork is convincing and the cast remain composed. We enjoy watching people carry out a difficult plan without making a fuss about it. Repeated viewing exposes the formula, however, and that composure cannot keep every familiar device from becoming noticeable.
The two programmes reward different appetites: Janssen gives us someone to care about, while Geller's series offers the pleasure of a team getting a complicated job done. Neither recommendation means that Allen was responsible for every quality we admire. We value his suspense and his work with actors, without pretending that the uneven features form an unbroken run of successes. Start with The Uninvited, then try the television an episode at a time.
Biography
Lewis Allen (25 December 1905 – 3 May 2000) was a British film and television director. Born in Oakengates, Shropshire, he began his career as an actor and stage director in England before moving to the United States, where he worked on Broadway productions and as an assistant director at Paramount Pictures.
Allen directed 18 feature films between 1944 and 1959, including The Uninvited (1944), Suddenly (1954) and Another Time, Another Place (1958). From the mid-1950s he worked increasingly in television, directing episodes of series such as Perry Mason, Bonanza (42 episodes), The Rifleman, The Big Valley, The Fugitive and Mission: Impossible.
