Robert Wise R.I.P.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Man, what a career. Some of the greatest films of all time.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/arts/15wise.html

September 15, 2005

Robert Wise, Film Director, Dies at 91

Robert Wise, a conscientious craftsman in many movie genres who twice received Academy Awards as best director, died yesterday at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 91.

His death was confirmed by Lawrence Mirisch, a family friend.

Mr. Wise enjoyed a long career in which he became a notable editor of such films as Orson Welles's "Citizen Kane," then made a successful transition from making B-movies at RKO Studios during Hollywood's golden era of the 1940's to making important films in the 1950's, 60's and 70's.

His career soared with "West Side Story," the 1961 filming of the landmark Broadway musical, for which he shared an Oscar as best director with the choreographer Jerome Robbins. He received a second Academy Award as producer when the film was voted best picture. He gained his third and fourth Oscars with "The Sound of Music," the lavish 1965 adaptation of the musical stage hit, in which he was again cited as best director and as producer of the best film.

In all, "West Side Story" received 10 Oscars and "Sound of Music" won 5. Mr. Wise also was honored at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1966 with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement as a producer.

Other films by Mr. Wise that continue to enjoy enthusiastic support include "The Body Snatcher," a 1945 horror film with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi; "The Set-Up," a gritty 1949 study of second- rate boxers; and the 1951 science-fiction cult favorite "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Mr. Wise counted among his own favorites "The Haunting," a cult favorite from 1963 with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom, and the 1958 drama about capital punishment, "I Want to Live!" Mr. Wise considered himself a director of content, not messages, and he was not afraid to experiment. In 1959 he filmed "Odds Against Tomorrow," an antiracist drama with Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan about a brutal bank robbery that he made without the customary fades (going to black) or dissolves (overlapping scenes) to denote the passage of time. Fades and dissolves, he remarked, tend to slow the tempo and break the mood.

Despite Mr. Wise's versatility, dedication and skill at drawing consistently superior performances from actors, reviewers tended to complain that he left no personal stamp on his films. Detractors dismissed him as a sentimental technician whose movies were increasingly slick, uninventive and occasionally foolish.

Robert Earl Wise was born on Sept. 10, 1914, in Winchester, Ind., the son of a meatpacker and his wife. The Depression force him to quit college in 1933, and he headed for Hollywood, where his older brother, Dave, was an accountant at RKO. His brother helped him get a job as a messenger in the studio's editing department. Soon he was learning sound effects and music editing, and working his way up to film editing.

His work attracted the attention of Welles, who hired him to edit "Citizen Kane."

Mr. Wise and Welles had a falling out, however, over the fate of Welles's "Magnificent Ambersons" in 1942. Many filmgoers today regard that film as a masterpiece, but audiences hated it when it had its preview in Pomona, Calif. World War II had begun and Americans wanted escapist fare, not a tale about death and dying and a spinster's sexual frustration. Welles was in Brazil and a panicky RKO ordered that the overbudget, behind-schedule movie be recut and reshaped by others, including Mr. Wise. He and his assistant, Mark Robson, who would also go on to become a director, began working round the clock to cut, replace and transpose scene after scene in a frantic effort to "keep the audiences in the theaters," as Mr. Wise put it.

Welles denounced the editing of "The Magnificent Ambersons," saying the film was mutilated, "cut by the studio gardener." Mr. Wise conceded that "as a work of art" the original Welles version was better, but he defended his editing as saving the film from a worse fate at the hands of the studio.

A particular admirer of Mr. Wise's editing was Martin Scorsese, the director who was instrumental in getting Mr. Wise the American Film Institute's life achievement award in 1998. "His films became increasingly fascinating to me because of the editing style, a very crisp, clear style of editing that kind of points the audience toward where to look in a scene," Mr. Scorsese said.

Shortly after his work on "The Magnificent Ambersons," Mr. Wise got a big break. Gunther von Fritsch fell behind schedule in directing "The Curse of the Cat People," a children's terror fantasy that starred Simone Simon. Mr. Wise, who was editing it, was assigned to take over direction and completed shooting in 10 days. The film was hailed as one of the best of the psychological thrillers produced by Val Lewton and became a cult classic, and Mr. Wise was promoted to director. He believed that actors had a special language of their own and, with typical diligence, enrolled in an acting class to learn how performers viewed moviemaking.

For the next three decades he emerged as one of the most prolific and peripatetic filmmakers in Hollywood with films including "Born to Kill" (1947), "Three Secrets" (1950), "The House on Telegraph Hill" (1951), "The Desert Rats" (1953), "Executive Suite" (1954), "Run Silent, Run Deep" (1958), "The Sand Pebbles" (1966) and "The Andromeda Strain" (1971).

He had some memorable box-office flops as well, among them "The Hindenburg" (1975) and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979).

He is survived by his current wife, Millicent, of Los Angeles; a son from an earlier marriage, Robert E. Wise of California; a stepdaughter, Pamela Rosenberg of New York; and a granddaughter. His wife Patricia Doyle died in 1975.

In 1988 he received the highest honor of the Directors Guild of America, its D. W. Griffith Award for career achievement. He was a former chairman of the guild and a president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who had the respect of many associates for striving to strike a balance between commerce and art, for professionalism and patience and for helping novice moviemakers.

When Mr. Wise was 83 he told The New York Times that "Citizen Kane" was not particularly difficult to edit, partly because of the masterly cinematography by Gregg Toland. From the outset, Mr. Wise said that he knew the film was singular. "You would see those extraordinary dailies every day, the marvelous photography and angles and great scenes with actors that were new to the screen, you'd see this and know it was quite special," Mr. Wise said. "And to think that Welles was 25, and it was his first film. Remarkable really." (The self-effacing Mr. Wise neglected to mention that he was less than a year older than Welles.)

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Mike

[medjuck]

For the last couple of decades he's been very active in the American Film Institute and did a lot of work advising younger filmmakers. My wife wrote a short film and had him as an advisor. A lovely gentleman and great filmmaker.

[Dave James]

If all he'd ever made was "The Day the Earth Stood Still", he'd still be pretty high on my list. One of my all-time favorites. The DVD release features a very lengthly interview with Mr. Wise that's worth the price of admission. He was a very interesting and talented gentleman.

Up over and out.

[ghost of miles]

As a Hoosier, he was much-admired here by movie buffs. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL remains one of my favorite sci-fi flicks of all-time. RIP Mr. Wise.

[ValerieB]

i'm so glad that aside from his vast amount of professional accomplishments, it is being written and acknowledged about what a sweet, kind, lovely gentleman he was.

[brownie]

One of Robert Wise's best film - and one of his most personal - was I Want To Live which starred Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham who was convicted of murder and died in the gas chamber.

The film had a superb score by Johnny Mandel. Gerry Mulligan led a combo in scenes from the film.

[GA Russell]

I too found I Want To Live to be surprisingly touching.

[BruceH]

Wow---91. He had a helluva run.

He reminded me almost of an American Carol Reed, another director who was more of a diligent craftsman rather than one who puts a big personal stamp on everything. (In the 60's Reed directed "Oliver!" while Wise did "The Sound of Music.") I am also one of the people for whom if Wise had just done "The Day the Earth Stood Still" he'd rank high in my personal pantheon. But there are quite a few other films worthy of note: "The Set Up," "I Want To Live," "The Haunting," "Odds Against Tomorrow"----even the admitedly overlong "Andromeda Strain" has its moments. Also seems he was one of the few directors from Hollywood's Golden Age that was a genuinely nice guy. RIP, Mr. Wise.

Edited September 15, 2005 by BruceH

[RDK]

Not much of a fan of West Side Story, but he made enough other great films to make up for that clinker.

Met him once years ago, and yes indeed he was a lovely gentleman. He will be missed.

R.I.P.

[catesta]

A true giant of the film industry.

R.I.P., Mr. Wise.

[AllenLowe]

did some great work, but should have been shot (or at least tortured) for what he did to the Magnificent Ambersons -

[Alexander]

He was a professional, in the very best sense of the word. But, like all professionals, he sometimes took on jobs that didn't show him off to his best advantage. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is often regarded as one of the worst of the series (although the costume and set design clearly anticipated "Star Trek: The Next Generation") and is an extremely dull film. Not Mr. Wise's fault, of course, if the script was lifeless, but I expected better from the man who made "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

[kinuta]

Among his many fine films one that I always liked was ' Somebody Up There Likes Me' with the young Paul Newman. The blueprint for all other rags to riches boxer makes good sagas including ,of course, ' Rocky'.

[Kalo]

Wow---91.  He had a helluva run. 

He reminded me almost of an American Carol Reed, another director who was more of a diligent craftsman rather than one who puts a big personal stamp on everything. (In the 60's Reed directed "Oliver!" while Wise did "The Sound of Music.")  I am also one of the people for whom if Wise had just done "" he'd rank high in my personal pantheon.  But there are quite a few other films worthy of note: "The Set Up," "I Want To Live," "The Haunting," ----even the admitedly overlong "Andromeda Strain" has its moments.  Also seems he was one of the few directors from Hollywood's Golden Age that was a genuinely nice guy.  RIP, Mr. Wise.

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Carol Reed, huh? I don't think Wise ever made anything quite on the level of The Third Man , as I'm sure you'll agree. But much of the success of that film owes to Graham Greene, Joseph Cotton, and Orson Welles, and that zither music. So your point is well taken insofar as Wise's best flicks were those with the best collaborators. So The Set Up, say, owes as much to Robert Ryan's embodiment of the noble palooka and the cinematography as to the direction. And Odds Against Tomorrow benefits from the same actor's strikingly different performance and John Lewis's score. And it mustn't be forgotten that The Day the Earth Stood Still was scored by the superlative Bernard Herrmann, who contributed immeasurably to every film he put his hand to.

Still, I'd compare him more to a professional like Sidney Lumet, who made some very good films as well as some stinkers like The Wiz.

It's nice that Wise was a nice guy in the land of supreme assholery, though.

Edited September 16, 2005 by Kalo

[Kalo]

He was a professional, in the very best sense of the word.  But, like all professionals, he sometimes took on jobs that didn't show him off to his best advantage.  "Star Trek:  The Motion Picture" is often regarded as one of the worst of the series (although the costume and set design clearly anticipated "Star Trek:  The Next Generation") and is an extremely dull film.  Not Mr. Wise's fault, of course, if the script was lifeless, but I expected better from the man who made "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

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I remember that at the time the joke was that it should have been called Star Trek: The Motionless Picture.

I almost fell asleep.

[Kalo]

did some great work, but should have been shot (or at least tortured) for what he did to the Magnificent Ambersons -

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Why don't we just say that his butchery of Ambersons cancels out his achievement on Kane.

From the original article posted by Mike: "A particular admirer of Mr. Wise's editing was Martin Scorsese, the director who was instrumental in getting Mr. Wise the American Film Institute's life achievement award in 1998. 'His films became increasingly fascinating to me because of the editing style, a very crisp, clear style of editing that kind of points the audience toward where to look in a scene,' Mr. Scorsese said."

Both impressive and interesting that Scorsese praised his films for editing rather than direction.

[Kalo]

I look forward to catching up with the films of his I haven't seen at the inevitable retrospective (we're blessed with repertory cinemas here in the Boston area). Perhaps I'll change my mind about Wise.

[RDK]

did some great work, but should have been shot (or at least tortured) for what he did to the Magnificent Ambersons -

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Despite popular belief, an editor isn't the only one responsible for the editing of a motion picture. I don't recall the specific circumstances of Ambersons - it's been years since I've seen it - but while Wise may have been the "editor" of record (one of three actually), he undoubtedly took his orders from either Welles or the studio. To blame Wise for what happened to Ambersons is simply wrong.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Plenty of info here:

http://www.ambersons.com/FAQs.htm

Mike

[BERIGAN]

Plenty of info here:

http://www.ambersons.com/FAQs.htm

Mike

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Thanks for posting the link Mike! I recall the RKO documentary from the 80's (Ed Asner narrates) talking about the film as well

The Body Snatcher, The Curse of the Cat People, Born to Kill, Blood on the Moon(a Noir Western)Run Silent, Run Deep, The Hindenburg(Ok, not the greatest film of all time, but I saw it as a kid in the theater, it made quite an impression on me, sue me! ) are all excellent films.

Never saw it, but he directed one last film for cable called A Storm in Summer. He was 85 at the time.

Edited September 16, 2005 by BERIGAN

[AllenLowe]

well, from what I've read, Wise's own quote seems to indicate he agreed something had to be done to the movie - so he does share responsibility -

[medjuck]

did some great work, but should have been shot (or at least tortured) for what he did to the Magnificent Ambersons -

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I once saw Bernard Hermann speak at the British Film Institute. Someone from the audience asked him how he could have gone along with the butchery of Ambersons. He replied

"We (he and Wells) thought it was just a movie. We thought we were going to make lots of them."

Given the later history of both Hermann and Welles it was one of the saddest statments I'd ever heard.

[Alexander]

did some great work, but should have been shot (or at least tortured) for what he did to the Magnificent Ambersons -

←

I once saw Bernard Hermann speak at the British Film Institute. Someone from the audience asked him how he could have gone along with the butchery of Ambersons. He replied

"We (he and Wells) thought it was just a movie. We thought we were going to make lots of them."

Given the later history of both Hermann and Welles it was one of the saddest statments I'd ever heard.

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I once saw a documentary on Welles in which he (in his later years) expressed regret that he had stayed in film after he made "Kane," and wished that he had returned to the theatre. It struck me as one of the saddest things I'd ever heard, given the immense talent Welles possessed, thrown away on a lifetime of hustling. Even his best films (post-Kane) fell short due to the fact that his money was always running out before he could finish. When I was in my early twenties, I liked to say that I empathised with Welles because I had a "sympathy for failure." Today, I just feel sorry for the poor guy. All that talent, all those brains, wasted...

[Nate Dorward]

Wasted? I dunno, despite the flaws, films like Touch of Evil & the butchered The Magnificent Ambersons are still major achievements.

[Kalo]

Wasted?  I dunno, despite the flaws, films like Touch of Evil & the butchered The Magnificent Ambersons are still major achievements.

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I agree about The Magnificent Ambersons still being a major achievement. Many, including the great film critic David Thomson, believe that it's better than Kane, even in butchered form. But I must say that Touch of Evil, despite some great sequences, strikes me as extremely over-rated. I blame it on Charlton Heston, whom Thomson described as "a rather Aryan Moses" in The Ten Commandments. He's even less believeable as a Mexican (or as a human for that matter). Though, to Heston's credit, he's the one who supposedly convinced the producer to hand the film over to Welles to direct.

And let's not even talk about the new "restored" version of Touch of Evil, an extremely speculative revision on a par with Hans Walter Gabler's "Corrected Text" of James Joyce's Ulysses.

Edited September 18, 2005 by Kalo