Sam Newfield

Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld, (December 6, 1899 - November 10, 1964), also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American B-movie director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with directing over 250 feature films in a career that began in the silent era and ended in 1958. In addition to his staggering feature output, he also directed one- and two-reel comedy shorts, training films, industrial films, TV episodes and pretty much anything anyone would pay him for. Because of this massive output—he would sometimes direct more than 20 films in a single year—he has been called the most prolific director of the sound era. Many of Newfield's films were made for PRC Pictures. This was a film production company headed by his brother Sigmund Neufeld. The films PRC produced were low-budget productions, the majority being westerns, with an occasional horror film or crime drama.

Newfield completed one year of high school, according to the 1940 US census. Brother Morris Neufeld was a stage actor, according to the 1930 US census.

Sam Newfield was credited as Sherman Scott and Peter Stewart on a number of films he made for PRC. He used these names in order to hide the fact that one person was responsible for so many of PRC's films.

A detailed filmography is available at The Films of Sam Newfield. Partial filmography is listed below for the different names used.

As Sam Newfield

• Undercover Men (1934)
• Bulldog Courage (1935)
• Racing Luck (1935)
• The Fighting Deputy (1937)
• The Gambling Terror (1937)
• Trail of Vengeance (1937)
• The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)
• Six-Gun Trail (1938)
• The Fighting Renegade (1939)
• Marked Men (1940)
• The Mad Monster (1942)
• Tiger Fangs (1943)
• I Accuse My Parents (1944)
• Swing Hostess (1944)
• The Monster Maker (1944)
• His Brother's Ghost (1945)
• Shadows of Death (1945)
• The Lady Confesses (1945)
• Rustlers' Hideout (1945)
• Apology for Murder (1945)
• White Pongo (1945)
• Gas House Kids (1946)
• Outlaws of the Plains (1946)
• Jungle Flight (1947)
• Money Madness (1948)
• Western Pacific Agent (1950)
• Skipalong Rosenbloom (1951)
• Lost Continent (1951)
• Lady in the Fog (aka Scotland Yard Inspector) (1952)
• The Gambler and the Lady (1952)
• Outlaw Women (1952)
• Thunder over Sangoland (1955)
• The Wild Dakotas (1956)
• The Three Outlaws (1956)
• Frontier Gambler (1956)
• Last of the Desperadoes (1956)
• Wolf Dog (1958)
• Flaming Frontier (1958)

As Sherman Scott

• Hitler, Beast of Berlin (1939)
• I Take This Oath (1940)
• Billy the Kid's Gun Justice (1940)
• Billy the Kid's Fighting Pals (1941)
• Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns (1942)
• The Flying Serpent (1946)
• Lady at Midnight (1948)
• The Strange Mrs. Crane (1948)
• The Wild Weed (1949)

As Peter Stewart

• Black Mountain Stage (1940)
• Adventure Island (1947)
• The Counterfeiters (1948)
• State Department: File 649 (1949)

Film statistics

Between 1923 and 1930 Newfield directed over 50 comedies. Feature films statistics per year, starting with 1933, are summarised in the following table.