Phil Rosen

Born in Russia, director Phil Rosen emigrated to the U.S. as a child. Entering movies as a cameraman, Rosen turned the crank on several of the Theda Bara vehicles of the teens. His silent film credits are fitfully impressive, including the Rudolph Valentino vehicle The Young Rajah (1921) and the independently produced biopic Abraham Lincoln (1925). Upon the arrival of talkies, Rosen settled without protest into the B-picture groove, helming such potboilers as Monogram's Beggars in Ermine (1934) and Republic's Two Wise Maids (1937). One's assessment of the artistic merits of the Phil Rosen film canon usually rests upon one's tolerance for the director's curious teaming of the East Side Kids and Bela Lugosi in 1941's Spook Run Wild. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide