Bob Wise ~ nice hack or prime auteur?

[dmolson]

On this board Robert Wise has often been cast as the neophyte cutter, someone who played a part in one of the biggest film rapes of all time. Scorned for helping to hack away pieces of OW's Magnificient Ambersons, Wise is rarely remembered as the editor on Citizen Kane. He honed his shears on such classics as 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'My Favourite Wife' and climbed the ladder quickly. His films, to me, were told in a simple, straight-forward manner that skillfully masks the art of filmmaking ~ I do not get the sense that someone is pulling any strings. It's a style that can often be powerful but not potent, beautiful but not art. That's not a knock, either. That he later went on to direct such noted films as 'The Set-Up', 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' and 'Sound of Music', to name just a few, demonstrates the degree he studied his craft. He was not of the Welles-Huston book, talented creators/writers who dominated their productions and scenes with a vitality that threatened the studio moguls. He began at the bottom to learn a craft, serving on 'The Gay Divorcee' as the sound effects editor.
Does his contributions to the film industry deserve weighing beside the likes of Welles and Huston? Certainly, he has guided a number of excellent pictures, perhaps through his steady helmsmanship rather than inspirational vision. Is his greatest contribution the role of clip-artist to what many believe is the greatest lost footage in film history?
I think a lot of his work is immensely underappreciated, like 'The Sand Pebbles' and 'Blood On the Moon'. He certainly doesn't look too good here for merely doing his job, or how he even in modern interviews defending the cutting of 'Ambersons', but I think he is worth some thought, if not discussion, as someone who may have learned something from OW, and while not transferred it in its immensity, applied it piecemeal to his own film portfolio.
I ran across this amazing true story from a screening of 'Born To Kill' in LA, where Wise may have received a minor cum-upance from Hollywood legend Lawrence Tierney. It's one of those tales where you wish you had been there...

http://www.noircity.com/typewriter-body.html

[Harvey Chartrand]

Robert Wise made several great films, and it's interesting to track the progress of his career with that of his onetime mentor Orson Welles.
In 1945, Wise directs his first classic: THE BODY SNATCHER, a morbid masterpiece featuring Oscar-calibre performances from Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Henry Daniell.
In 1945, Welles is mainly working in radio. No film credits for that year.
In 1949, Wise directs a superb film noir study of boxing and desperation – THE SET-UP.
In 1949, Welles knocks 'em dead as black market Prince of Darkness Harry Lime in THE THIRD MAN.
In 1951, Wise directs one of the all-time great sci-fi movies: THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (with a magnificent score by his KANE colleague Bernard Herrmann).
In 1951, Welles is in the wilds of North Africa shooting OTHELLO on a frayed shoestring.
In 1957, Wise directs UNTIL THEY SAIL with Paul Newman, a semi-forgotten war drama cum romance, but a hit in its day.
In 1957, Welles directs TOUCH OF EVIL, his last Hollywood studio production. Now acknowledged to be one of the greatest thrillers ever made, the film was not supported by Universal-International (to say the least) and flopped at the box office, prompting Welles to resume the life of a nomad in Europe.
In 1959, Wise directs the gripping crime drama ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW.
In 1959, Welles appears in the turkeys FERRY TO HONG KONG and DAVID AND GOLIATH.
In 1963, Wise directs the most frightening of haunted house movies – THE HAUNTING.
In 1963, Welles directs THE TRIAL, an intriguing but chilly film, which star Tony Perkins describes as "a bit of a mess."
In 1966, Wise directs the splendid war movie THE SAND PEBBLES.
In 1966, Welles plays the repulsive Cardinal Wolseley in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.
In 1968, Wise directs the lavish musical STAR!, which is now enjoying a positive critical reappraisal despite bad reviews when it was first released in the anti-establishment, counterculture zeitgeist of the late sixties.
In 1968, Welles directs a short film for French television – THE IMMORTAL STORY. He appears in forgettable pictures and on THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW to keep himself in the public eye.
In 1975, Wise directs one of the finest disaster films ever made – the criminally underrated THE HINDENBURG.
In 1975, Welles narrates BUGS BUNNY SUPERSTAR.
In 1979, Wise directs the eagerly awaited STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. Okay, it's no classic, but it cost a mint and it made a fortune.
In 1979, Welles has a cameo in THE MUPPET MOVIE.

Wise may have been a careerist, but it certainly paid off for him. He left behind a rich cinematic legacy.
Welles obviously suffered in comparison, but that is the price you pay when you're a maverick who walks to the beat of his own drum, when you're a small corner store in the era of Wal*Mart.

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Do we really hate Bob Wise on this board? Last time he was being castigated for the butchering of Ambersons, I opined he was the greatest editor of all time for his work on Kane. But he did have a hand (physically) in the destruction of Ambersons, so he'll have to wear that albatross always.

Concerning The Trial, see it the third time, Peter. It's an amazing film. A perfect film. If you can sublimate the nervous feelings of discomfort the film always gives one into hysterical giggling, then the film truly is hilarious.

Concering Star Trek, check out Wise's recent director's cut of the film. A profound, if subtle, change. I think of the film as a classic. History will judge it as such. Too bad Orson isn't still around. Maybe things like the Othello and Touch of Evil restorations could have been done by him.

[Cole]

While Robert "Just following orders" Wise was making such "classics", "masterpieces", and "superb" films as "The Body Snatcher", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and the "criminally" neglected "The Hindenburg," what was Welles doing? As everyone here knows he was squandering his talents on nothing more than future computer "screen savers," "magnificent catastrophes", "cures for insomnia", and sadly ended his career with a "disappointing finale." What a shame. But what's really odd is that when Sight and Sound magazine conducted a poll of critics and movie directors in 2002, Robert "Not" Wise managed only 2 votes for the sum total of his career (with one of those two votes going to his laughably bad "The Sound of Music"), while Welles got 33 votes for his films - not including Citizen Kane. How could that possibly have happened? The only thing I can think of is that Sight and Sound must have polled a really odd, select group of people, and neglected the money-paying Pomona types who love Robert Wise and Hollywood films, and who are bored to death with Orson Welles films.

[tony williams]

But does this say more about the people who really loved films and apppreciated Welles and say Wise as somebody bound to the industry? If we use the criteron of making money as the guide ot success then this will bury many people in addition to Welles.

Wise was a competent directoir whose qachievements should not be denied - even "The Sound of Mucus" as Chriistopher Plummer described it. But at the final analysis any problematic Welles film is worth more than the most successful box-office production of
a Wise who gave the audiences what they wanted ratherr than challenging them and paying the price.

[Harvey Chartrand]

I am heaping praise on Robert Wise. He didn't just generate films that were successful at the box office. He was (and is) a great film director. Perhaps not an "auteur" – but didn't Welles himself question the validity of the auteur theory?
A poignant note: In early 1979, I saw a trailer for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. Guess who provided the voiceover: Orson Welles. There he was, shilling for his former protégé. (I will certainly make a point of seeing the special edition DVD of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. The original version deserves high praise, but if Wise made further refinements, it's got to be one of the better sci-fi films of the last 30 years – and I'm not even a STAR TREK fan!)
Other excellent pictures Wise directed are EXECUTIVE SUITE, SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME, THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL (with an amazing performance by Richard Basehart), I WANT TO LIVE! (as noir as TOUCH OF EVIL) and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN.

[Glenn Anders]

I believe Robert Wise developed into a canny director like Welles good friend and collaborator, John Huston. Nothing to be ashamed of there. Both these men were able to craft careers of variety: a little art, a little genre, a couple of box office successes for every personal project. They knew when to bet the bank and when to fold 'em. Welles dearly wanted to do the same thing, from what I can glean, but he constitutionally could not do it. He was a purist of the best and worst kind. And we would not admire him now so much, if he had not shown both these qualities.

Glenn

[dmolson]

I think his work behind the camera, especially 40s to 60s, is very consistent, knocking some other more highly regarded directors like Otto Preminger and Vincente Minnelli, out of the water as far as bringing a steady, reliable product to the screen. He was a craftsman-style storyteller, nothing grandiose when pure, clear visuals could capture the scene. And as Harvey said, his Somebody Up There... is another great picture.
He's also consistent as to the version of the Magnificient Ambersons, at least from the point of view of the studio's side of things. Wise does not waver from that, and I think what bugs me a trifle is how he is quite matter-of-factly in the camp of 'Welles was his own worst enemy' group. Although I know that there is a lot of truth in that, I can't help believing that there is also a lot of convenient whitewash in there, too.
The person who could make Citizen Kane on his first go round likely deserved a little more leeway and elbow room to continue creating.