Fejos then began filming the musical Captain of the Guard (AKA Marsellaise) in 1930, the year he became an American citizen. During the shooting of an ambitious sequence with over 300 extras that depicted the storming of the Bastille, Fejos fell from a high scaffolding and suffered a concussion. It took him six weeks in bed to recover and John S. Robertson finished the film, with Fejos receiving no screen credit. He then worked on King of Jazz, which was officially directed by John Murray Anderson. Fejos became angry with Universal that once again he did not receive screen credit for his contributions to the film. His frustration with Universal and Hollywood reached its peak when he was not hired to direct All Quiet on the Western Front and Fejos broke his contract with the studio. He signed a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer shortly afterwards, but only directed the German and French language versions of The Big House.
