One of my principle interests/hobbies in life is the cinema. So expect movie news/discussion/reviews to appear here frequently. Like the following: Robert Wise is dead. Ho-hum. His name does not really standout in mainstream circles, but it is associated with some very famous films. The Sound of Music and West Side Story are his two most recognizable titles. Others (mainly Geeks) might not realize that he directed the first Star Trek film.
My opinion of Wise is less than favorable. He began as a film editor and should have stayed one. He was the editor on Citizen Kane. How much credit he should be given for Kane's breakthrough stylistic choices is debatable. Wise's later films demonstrate little of the genius found in Kane. Undoubtedly it was Welles' genius overflowing into the editing room on Kane.
I bear a grudge against Wise. It was on Welles' followup to Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, that the controversy lies. Wise was also the editor on Ambersons. Here is the short version: the movie had been completed, and Welles made the mistake of going to South America to work on a new project. Meanwhile, Ambersons was shown to a preview audience, who allegedly hated the movie. The studio panicked and demanded changes to be made. Welles sent instructions on editing changes, but this was not enough. Here is where Wise made a fateful choice. He tried to edit the movie in accordance with the studio's wishes, and the studio even had Wise film a new ending. Wise was a studio man, and pleasing the studio was his primary goal. The fact that Ambersons was butchered was immaterial. In fact, Wise was too much of a hack to even realize that his actions had not improved the movie. The deleted scenes, including the original ending, have never been found and were probably destroyed. We are left with a crippled, "what could have been" masterpiece. Wise is not 100% to blame for this, but he was a major contributor.
Shift forward in time. Wise parlays his "studio man" image into a directing career. The movies were often artistically mediocre but commercially successful. The best thing that could be said about Wise was that he was versatile, making films in many genres. It is just that none of these films were great. That includes the overrated The Haunting and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Wise will not be missed by me.
Nice eulogy, huh?
