Robert Wise

STANDING: Robert Mulligan, William Wyler, George Cukor ROBERT WISE, Jean-Claude Carriere, Serge Silberman, SEATED: Billy Wilder, George Stevens, Luis Bunuel, Alfred Hitchcock, Rouben Mamoulian. At a luncheon in honor of Luis Bunuel in 1972.

I love this picture. This is a gathering of cinema Gods. Sadly missing from this picture are John Ford, who had to leave this lunch early due to his poor health, Fritz Lang who wasn't available until the following day, and Jean Renoir, and I don't know why he wasn't here, but he should have been.

I have been thinking about this picture today because of the loss of one more of these great directors Robert Wise who passed away yesterday. Leaving Robert Mulligan and Luis Bunuel's writer Jean-Claude Carriere as the only survivors of this photo.

Wise would work his way up through the studio system, first uncredited, as a sound supervisor, then film editor, and finally feature film director.
Robert Wise was Orson Welles' editor on Citizen Kane(He was the last living crew member), and would later be in charge
of the legendary re-edit of Welles' Magnificent Ambersons. Wise began directing films for the legendary producer Val Lewton, who is best remembered for a string of brilliant low budget Horror films at RKO, including Jacques Tourneur masterpiece Cat People. It was actually The Curse of The Cat People that would mark Wise's directorial debut.
Over the next twenty years Wise would prove himself as a skilled director, at ease with virtually every conceivable genre. His films include, Born to Kill, The Set-Up,
The Day the Earth Stood Still (coincidentally I was preparing a post about this film when I read of his death),
I Want to Live!, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Odds Against Tomorrow, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Haunting. But he is most remembered for his brilliant direction of possibly the two greatest musicals of the 1960's
West Side Story, and The Sound of Music. He would win Best Director Oscars for each. After helming those super-productions, Wise would have more difficulty finding projects that suited him. He would continue to direct a wide range of films such as The Sand Pebbles, Star, The Andromeda Strain, Audrey Rose, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Robert Wise turned 91 last Saturday. The twilight of the film gods is now a little dimmer, with his passing.