Abe Levitow (Director)

Reviews of movies from director Abe Levitow

Looking for reviews of films directed by Abe Levitow? Cinafilm has a total of 117 reviews across 2 movies directed by Abe Levitow.

Movies from this director have generally received positive reviews and hold an average rating of 78%.

Uncle Sam Magoo is Abe Levitow's highest rated movie, with a score of 87% based on 1 reviews.

The lowest rated film from Abe Levitow is The Phantom Tollbooth, with a score of 70% based on 116 reviews.

Director Biography

Abraham "Abe" Levitow (July 2, 1922 - May 8, 1975) was an American animator who worked at Warner Bros. Cartoons, UPA and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Levitow was born in Los Angeles, California. He began working as an in-betweener at Warner Brothers Studios in 1940. Levitow briefly left Warner Brothers when he was drafted during World War II, returning in 1945. He first received animation credit in 1953 while working under the direction of Chuck Jones. He worked steadily for Jones over the remainder of the 1950s, and directed several cartoons for release in 1959, including the Pepe Le Pew cartoon "Really Scent". While working under Jones, he made characters' joints more angular than most other animators. Those characters with fur (Wile E. Coyote, for example) looked especially shaggy in Levitow's scenes.

In 1961 he moved to UPA and directed a series of Dick Tracy cartoons. Then in 1962, he directed the first feature-length animated television special, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. 1962 also saw the release of his theatrical feature Gay Purr-ee, with the voices of Robert Goulet, Judy Garland, and others. By 1965, he was working with Jones at MGM as an animator and a director in the Tom and Jerry series. He co-directed the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth with Chuck Jones at MGM. He animated on the Chuck Jones-produced A Christmas Carol, directed by Richard Williams at Williams' London studio in 1971. His last completed project was B.C.: The First Thanksgiving in 1973. At the time of his death Levitow was in line to direct the animated feature film Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure. The project was taken over by Richard Williams when Levitow unexpectedly died during pre-production.

Abe Levitow has directed films starring Patti Gilbert, Mel Blanc, June Foray and Jim Backus.

Abe Levitow has collaborated with these film directors: Chuck Jones and Dave Monahan.