Mark Sandrich Video | Clips from Films Directed and Interviews

Mark Sandrich (birth name: Mark Rex Goldstein) (October 26, 1900 – March 4, 1945) was a Jewish American film director, writer and producer. Sandrich was an engineering student at Columbia University when he began in the film business by accident. While visiting a friend on a film set, he saw that the director had a problem in setting up a shot; Sandrich offered his advice. It worked. He then entered into the movies in the prop department, and became a director specializing in several comedy shorts in 1927. He then made his first feature the next year, but returned to shorts after sound... MORE

Mark Sandrich (birth name: Mark Rex Goldstein) (October 26, 1900 – March 4, 1945) was a Jewish American film director, writer and producer. Sandrich was an engineering student at Columbia University when he began in the film business by accident. While visiting a friend on a film set, he saw that the director had a problem in setting up a shot; Sandrich offered his advice. It worked. He then entered into the movies in the prop department, and became a director specializing in several comedy shorts in 1927. He then made his first feature the next year, but returned to shorts after sound arrival. In 1933, he directed the Academy Award-winning short, So This Is Harris!. He later returned to feature films, most notably comedies, starring the team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey in Hips, Hips, Hooray!. In 1934, Sandrich soon gained his first directorial assignment with the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical The Gay Divorcee, which proved a success. The following year, he directed Top Hat, which is often thought the best of the Astaire/Rogers musicals. He continued working with the team on Follow the Fleet (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and Carefree (1938). In 1940, Sandrich left RKO LESS