Sam Newfield, who directed Frank Buck in Tiger Fangs, was
born Samuel Neufeld in New York City. He was the brother of Sigmund Neufeld, who
later became the chief of production for the poverty row studio Producers Releasing Corporation. Sam
Newfield entered the movie business in 1919, and began directing comedy shorts
in 1926 with Jane's Engagement Party and Jane's Predicament. He
moved into full-length features in 1933 with Reform Girl and Important
Witness, and was quickly snapped up by the burgeoning B-movie production
houses of the era, most notably Tower, Ambassador, and PRC. The latter, under
the aegis of his brother Sigmund, provided Newfield with so much work that he
was forced to adopt two pseudonyms -- Sherman Scott and Peter Stewart -- in
order to make his output seem more reasonable. Newfield was a specialist in
fast, low-budget filmmaking; he relied heavily on stock footage shot well ahead
of time, which he reused shamelessly. He was a specialist in crime and action
films, but that didn't keep him from doing the occasional comedy (Skipalong
Rosenbloom -- a parody of Hopalong Cassidy starring ex-prize fighter
Maxie Rosenbloom), serious drama (I Accuse My Parents, cited by Wheeler
W. Dixon in The B-Directors as the antecedent to Rebel Without a Cause),
exploitation picture (Devil's Weed), horror or science-fiction vehicle (The
Monster Maker, Dead Men Walk, The Flying Serpent, The Lost
Continent). Although hardly noted for quality, Newfield's films were
effective within their budgets and shooting schedules (sometimes as little as
three days), and with the right cast -- such as veteran horror film heavy George
Zucco, a regular Newfield villain -- he could get good results. His movies were
popular program fillers, especially with baby boomers, who got to see them
either in the waning days of B-pictures or the early days of television, and his
science fiction and horror films of his are among the most familiar in the
B-movie category. At least two of Newfield's films were staples in the
programming of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the '90s.
Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
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Sam Newfield, the most prolific director in the
history of American sound film, poses with his colleagues at a Producers
Releasing Corporation dinner in the early 1940s. Left to right: Bert
Sternbach, production manager; Sam Newfield, director; Sigmund Neufeld,
producer; Jack Greenhalgh, cinematographer
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