Ben Hecht: Screenwriter

“The greatest American screenwriter”
– Pauline Kael,film critic

Click Poster to View Trailer

“Ben Hecht was the Hollywood screenwriter”

Richard Corliss, film critic

Films and Projects

“I’m a Hollywood writer, so I put on my sports jacket and take off my brain.”

– Ben Hecht

1926
The New Klondike (dir. Milestone) (uncredited)
1927
**Underworld (dir. von Sternberg) [ACADEMY AWARD WINNER, BEST ORIGINAL STORY]
1928
The Big Noise (dir. Dwan)
1929
The Great Gabbo (dir. Cruze)
Unholy Night (dir. L. Barrymore)
1930
Roadhouse Nights (dir. Henley)
Le Spectre vert (dir. Feyder)
1931
The Front Page (dir. S, Kaufman)
Quick Millions (dir. Brown) (uncredited)
Homicide Squad (dir. Cahn, Medford) (uncredited)
The Sin of Madelon Claudet (dir. Selwyn) (uncredited)
The Unholy Garden (dir. Fitzmaurice)
1932
The Beast of the City (dir. Babin) (uncredited)
Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (dir. Hawks)
Million Dollar Legs (dir. Cline) (uncredited)
Back Street (dir. Stahl) (uncredited)
Rasputin and the Empress (dir. Boleslawski) (uncredited)
1933
Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (dir. Milestone)
Topaze (dir. d’Abbadie d’Arrast)
Turn Back the Clock (dir. Selwyn)
Design for Living (dir. Lubitsch)
Queen Christina (dir. Mamoulian)
1934
Riptide (uncredited)
Viva Villa! (dir. Conway) [ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE, BEST ADAPTATION]
Upperworld (dir. Del Ruth)
Twentieth Century (dir. Hawks)
Crime without Passion (Hecht co-directed and co-produced)
The President Vanishes (dir. Wellman) (uncredited)
1935
The Florentine Dagger
The Scoundrel (co-directed and co-produced) [ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE, BEST ORIGINAL STORY]
Once in a Blue Moon (co-directed and co-produced)
Barbary Coast (dir. Hawks)
1936
Soak the Rich (co-directed and co-produced)
1937
A Star is Born (dir. Wellman) (uncredited writer)
King of Gamblers (dir. Florey) (uncredited)
The Prisoner of Zenda (dir. Cromwell) (uncredited)
The Hurricane (dir. Ford) (uncredited)
Nothing Sacred (dir. Wellman)
1938
Goldwyn Follies (dir. Marshall)
Angels with Dirty Faces (dir. Curtiz) (uncredited)
1939
Gunga Din (Stevens)
Stagecoach (dir. Ford) (uncredited)
Let Freedom Ring (Song of the West) (dir. Conway)
Wuthering Heights (dir. Wyler) [ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE, BEST SCREENPLAY]
It’s a Wonderful World (dir. Van Dyke)
Lady of the Tropics (dir. Conway)
Eternally Yours (dir. Garnett) (uncredited)
Gone with the Wind (dir. Fleming) (uncredited writer)
1940
The Shop Around the Corner (dir. Lubitsch) (uncredited)
I Take This Woman (dir. Van Dyke) (uncredited)
Foreign Correspondent (dir. Hitchcock) (uncredited)
Angels over Broadway (co-directed and produced) [ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE, BEST ORIG. SCREENPLAY]
Second Chorus (dir. Potter) (uncredited)
Comrade X (dir. K. Vidor)
1941
The Mad Doctor (dir. Whelan) (uncredited)
Lydia (dir. Duvivier)
1942
Roxie Hart (dir. Wellman) (uncredited)
Ten Gentlemen from West Point (dir. Hathaway) (uncredited)
Tales of Manhattan (dir. Duvivier)
The Black Swan (dir. H. King)
China Girl (dir. Hathaway)
1943
Journey Into Fear (dir. Foster) (uncredited)
The Outlaw (dir. Hughes) (uncredited)
1944
Lifeboat (dir. Hitchcock) (uncredited)

1945
Watchtower over Tomorrow (dir. Cromwell— doc short)
Spellbound (dir. Hitchcock)
The Front Page (dir. Sobol) (TV play)
Cornered (dir. Dmytryk) (uncredited)
1946
Gilda (dir. Vidor) (uncredited)
Specter of the Rose (co-directed and produced)
Notorious (dir. Hitchcock) [ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE, BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY]
Duel in the Sun (dir. Vidor) (uncredited)
1947
Dishonored Lady (dir. Stevenson) (uncredited)
Kiss of Death (dir. Hathaway)
Ride the Pink Horse (dir. Montgomery)
Her Husband’s Affairs (dir. Simon)
The Paradine Case (dir. Hitchcock) (uncredited writer)
1948
The Miracle of the Bells (dir. Pichel)
The Front Page (co-directed and produced) (TV movie)
Rope (dir. Hitchcock) (uncredited)
Cry of the City (dir. Siodmak) (uncredited)
Portraits of Jennie (dir. Dieterle) (uncredited)
1949
The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre- Miracle in the Rain (TV series) (dir. Daniels)
Big Jack (dir. Thorpe) (uncredited)
We Were Strangers (dir. Huston) (uncredited)
The Ford Theatre Hour- The Twentieth Century (TV series)
Roseanne McCoy (dir. Reis) (uncredited)
Love Happy (dir. Miller) (uncredited)
The Inspector General (dir. Koster) (uncredited)
1950
Whirlpool (dir. Preminger)
The Front Page (TV Series) (dir. Heller)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (dir. Preminger)
Edge of Doom (dir. Robson) (uncredited)
September Affair (dir. Dieterle) (uncredited)
The Billy Rose Show- The Murder Club (TV series) (dir. Petrie)
1951
The Thing from Another World (dir. Nyby) (uncredited)
Strangers on a Train (dir. Hitchcock) (uncredited)
The Secret of Convict Lake (dir. Gordon) (uncredited writer)
1952
Actors and Sin (co-directed and produced)
Monkey Business (dir. Hawks)
Hans Christian Andersen (dir. Vidor) (uncredited)
1953
Angel Face (uncredited)
Indiscretion of an American Wife (dir. De Sica) (uncredited)
Willys Theatre Presenting Ben Hecht’s Tales of the City (dir. Stevens) (TV series)
Broadway Television Theatre (TV series)
The Front Page
Twentieth Century
Ford Television Theatre- The World’s My Oyster (dir. Stephani) (TV series)
1954
Ulysses (dir. Camerini)
Light’s Diamond Jubilee (dir. K. Vidor, Wellman & Taurog)
1955
Guys and Dolls (dir. Mankiewicz) (uncredited)
The Man with the Golden Arm (dir. Preminger) (uncredited)
The Indian Fighter (dir. de Toth)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (dir. Preminger) (uncredited)
1956
Miracle in the Rain (dir. Maté)
Trapeze (dir. Reed) (uncredited)
The Iron Petticoat (dir. Thomas)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (dir. Delannoy) (uncredited)
1957
A Farewell to Arms (dir. C. Vidor)
Legend of the Lost (dir. Hathaway)
1958
Queen of Outer Space (dir. Bernds)
The Gun Runners (dir. Siegel) (uncredited)
1959
The Ten Commandments (TV movie)
John Paul Jones (dir. Farrow) (uncredited)
Goodyear Theatre- Hello, Charlie (dir. Lanfield) (TV series)
1961
Reporter (dir. Glück) (TV movie)
1964
Circus World (The Magnificent Showman) (dir. Hathaway)
1967
Casino Royale (dir. Huston) (uncredited)