William Wyler: The Life and Films of Hollywood’s Most Celebrated Director

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a reptilian fisherman (Walter Huston) comes between his mail-order bride (Helen Chandler) and his son (Kent Douglass), who wants to take her from him, in A House Divided (1931). John barrymore greets his “Yiddishe mama” (Clara Langsner) in Counsellor-at-Law (1933). The young members of a love triangle (Joel McCrea, Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins) gather around the patron who ruins them (alma Kruger) in These Three (1936). a similar triangular configuration in Wyler’s remake of The Children’s Hour (1961) features James Garner, audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, and Fay bainter (back to the camera). Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) and his wife, Fran (ruth Chatterton), are american innocents whose marriage breaks apart on a european vacation in Dodsworth (1936). a composition in depth evokes the creepy isolation of a victim (Samantha eggar) and her victimizer (Terence Stamp) in a cave-like room in The Collector (1965). a publicity shot of a young William Wyler. (Above) Wyler maximizes space with his use of depth-of-field shots on the set for Dead End (1937). (Below) a group shot from Dead End puts the characters on different planes, featuring “baby Face” Martin (Humphrey bogart) and the Dead end Kids. (Above) Julie Marsden (bette Davis), escorted by her fiancé, Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda), scandalizes southern society in her red dress in Jezebel (1938). (Below) Julie tries on a conventional white dress before rejecting it; Wyler traps her within the mirror’s frame. Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) and Cathy (Merle Oberon) enjoy freedom in their natural habitat in Wuthering Heights (1939). Judge roy bean (Walter brennan), the sole patron at Lillie Langtry’s concert, is surprised by his executioner and friend Cole Hardin (Gary Cooper) in a tightly framed “unwestern” space in The Westerner (1940). Horace Giddens (Herbert Marshall) thinks he has the upper hand in a confrontation with his wife, regina (bette Davis), in one of the many staircase scenes in The Little Foxes (1941). Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) ministers to an injured Nazi pilot (Helmut Dantine) in Mrs. Miniver (1942). (Above) The crew of the Memphis Belle, with their fighter plane in the background, were the subject of Wyler’s acclaimed 1944 documentary. (Below) Fred Derry (Dana andrews), a decorated fighter pilot, is dwarfed by all the junked planes he surveys in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift) courts Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland) at a dance in The Heiress (1949). in one of Wyler’s many elegant dinner scenes, Morris tries to convince Catherine’s father (ralph richardson) that he will make a “suitable son-in-law.” Fascistic police detective James McLeod (Kirk Douglas) confronts an armed criminal (Joseph Wiseman) in Wyler’s HUaC parable, Detective Story (1951). Carrie (Jennifer Jones) attempts to return money to Hurstwood (Laurence Olivier) in Carrie (1952). another Wyler staircase shot built on multiple planes of action: this one features Mary Murphy, Martha Scott, and Humphrey bogart in the foreground, with Fredric March at the top of the stairs, in The Desperate Hours (1955). Josh birdwell (anthony Perkins) decides to go against his Quaker principles and defy his mother (Dorothy McGuire) by fighting in the Civil War in Friendly Persuasion (1956). His father (Gary Cooper) is pushed to the side of the frame. Uncredited screenwriter Gore Vidal sought to inject a homoerotic element in the relationship between Messala (Stephen boyd) and Judah ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) in Ben-Hur. Wyler’s camera emphasizes the grandeur and scope of the chariot race scene from Ben-Hur (1959). a composition in depth evokes the creepy isolation of a victim (Samantha eggar) and her victimizer (Terence Stamp) in a cave-like room in The Collector (1965). (Above) a white southern policeman (anthony Zerbe) beats his african american mistress (Lola Falana) in Wyler’s uncompromising study of racism, The Liberation of L. B. Jones (1970). (Below) Wyler dines with leading lady bette Davis circa 1937, when they were romantically involved during the filming of Jezebel. a publicity shot of a young William Wyler. ...