Max Ophüls (1902-1957) was a German-American film director whose career began in Germany before he fled first to France and then Hollywood where he oscillated between melodramas and film noir, producing such classics as Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Caught (1949) and The Reckless Moment (1949) before he returned to Europe where he made a trilogy of masterpieces, La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir (1952) and Madame de… (1953). His last completed film was the experimental and controversial Lola Montes (1955).