Kurt Neumann (5 April 1908 – 21 August 1958) was a German-born film director who specialized in science fiction movies in his later career.
[1] Born in Nuremberg, he was the son of a manufacturer of tin stamps, and he studied music in several German cities, including Berlin.
Once he mastered English and established himself as technically proficient in filmmaking, Neumann directed movies such as The Big Cage (1932), Secret of the Blue Room (1933) with Paul Lukas and Gloria Stuart, Hold 'Em Navy (1936), It Happened in New Orleans (1936) with child star Bobby Breen, Wide Open Faces (1937) with Joe E. Brown, Island of Lost Men and Ellery Queen: Master Detective in 1939.
Neumann was signed by producer Hal Roach in 1941 to direct a series of "streamliners", 45-minute features designed to fill out short double bills.
Contrary to some published reports, Neumann did not die as a result of suicide, but rather from natural causes in Los Angeles on 21 August 1958, five weeks after filming of The Fly concluded.