Victor Trivas

Victor Trivas (July 9, 1896 – April 12, 1970) was a Russian-born screenwriter and film director known for his Academy Award-nominated original story for the 1946 film The Stranger and his early anti-war film Hell on Earth (1931), a pacifist drama that was confiscated and destroyed by the Nazi regime.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1896, Trivas initially worked as an artist and art director before moving to Berlin in the mid-1920s where he transitioned into screenwriting and directing. He co-wrote and directed Hell on Earth (also known as Niemandsland), which depicted soldiers from different nations trapped together in no man's land during World War I, but the film was banned and its original print destroyed by Nazi supporters after their rise to power. This forced Trivas to flee Germany for France and later to the United States in the late 1930s.

In Hollywood, Trivas wrote screenplays for several productions, including Song of Russia (1944) and The Stranger (1946), the latter earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story. He continued working intermittently in film, including directing the 1959 German horror film The Head, while also pursuing artwork and writing books such as the memoir The 32d Day (1964) about his imprisonment in Soviet Russia in 1920. Trivas died of a heart attack in New York City on April 12, 1970.