Match Cut Director Consensus - William Wyler

[Ezee E]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/William_Wyler.jpg

Tied with Frank Capra for having the 2nd most Best Director wins, William Wyler gets his week.

[Weeping_Guitar]

The Good Fairy - 8
Dodsworth - 8
Wuthering Heights - 6
The Best Years of Our Lives -8.5
The Heiress -6.5
Roman Holiday - 6
How to Steal a Million - 8

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Heiress - 9.0
Roman Holiday - 9.0
The Desperate Hours - 7.5
Ben-Hur - 5.0

I'm going to try to see The Best Years of Our Lives before the deadline. My wife owns and loves it, and I've been meaning to see it for years.

[Raiders]

Jezebel (1938) 7.0
Wuthering Heights (1939) 6.5
The Little Foxes (1941) 8.0
Mrs. Miniver (1942) 5.5
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 6.0
Roman Holiday (1953) 6.0
Ben-Hur (1959) 4.0

[Spinal]

Wuthering Heights - 9
Ben-Hur - 8.5

I think I saw The Collector at some point, but I really don't remember it.

[Spinal]

Ben-Hur - 5.0




Ben-Hur (1959) 4.0

Say what?

[Ezee E]

I remember Ben-Hur not being very well liked around here. I don't remember the reasoning, so hopefully it comes up again.

The infamous chariot scene and the scenes in the boat are all I remember, but they're so good, that I'll be giving it a favorable score.

[Raiders]

Say what?

Heston, man. Heston.

Plus, it's dreadfully overlong. I don't remember much else, but that sort of "epic" Biblical film just isn't my thing. It's all so damned... pompous and in love with its grandiosity. On the bright side, that's a higher score than The Ten Commandments gets! That's something, right?

[Adam]

Mrs Miniver 6
Roman Holiday 7

[Philosophe_rouge]

Wuthering Heights 8
The Letter 7
THe Best Years of Our Lives 10
The Heiress 8.5
Roman Holiday 9.5
The Desperate Hours 8
The Children's Hour 6
The Collector 6.5
How to Steal a Million 6


I'd like to see more, quite a few of his are high on my to see list.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Plus, it's dreadfully overlong. I don't remember much else, but that sort of "epic" Biblical film just isn't my thing. It's all so damned... pompous and in love with its grandiosity. On the bright side, that's a higher score than The Ten Commandments gets! That's something, right?

This is my complaint. I don't mind Heston too much, but the length of the film is just unforgivable.

[soitgoes...]

The Good Fairy (1935) - 7.5
Dodsworth (1936) - 8.5
These Three (1936) - 7.0
Dead End (1937) - 6.0
Wuthering Heights (1939) - 7.5
The Letter (1940) - 6.0
The Westerner (1940) - 9.5
Mrs. Miniver (1942) - 7.5
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - 9.0
Detective Story (1951) - 7.0
The Desperate Hours (1955) - 7.5
Friendly Persuasion (1956) - 4.5
The Big Country (1958) - 5.0
Ben-Hur (1959) - 5.5

[Mysterious Dude]

Hell's Heroes - 9
Counsellor at Law - 5
These Three - 7
Dodsworth - 6.5
Dead End - 9.5
Jezebel - 7
Wuthering Heights - 8
The Westerner - 7
The Letter - 7.5
The Little Foxes - 5
Mrs. Miniver - 4.5
The Best Years of Our Lives - 7.5
The Heiress - 10
Detective Story - 7.5
Roman Holiday - 9
The Desperate Hours - 9.5
Ben-Hur - 9.5
The Children's Hour - 7
The Collector - 7.5
Funny Girl - 7

I had no idea he directed both These Three and The Children's Hour.

[B-side]

Wuthering Heights- 7

[Grouchy]

Heston, man. Heston.
... is really awesome?

The Little Foxes - 8
Detective Story - 7
Roman Holiday - 8
The Desperate Hours - 7
The Collector - 8

All things considered, The Collector might be my favorite of those.

[dreamdead]

Rewatching Roman Holiday this week to determine if my rhapsodic viewing of it 11 years ago still holds up. Looking at the other ratings, it seems unlikely. Still, I find his frequent focus on the feminine here intriguing, as is his seemingly penchant for downtrodden endings for his women.

Jezebel - 7
The Best Years of Our Lives - 7
The Heiress - 8
Roman Holiday - 7.5
The Collector - 5.5
Funny Girl - 5

[Boner M]

Nada. Might check out The Best Years of Our Lives this week. In the mood for something epic and dramatically juicy.

[origami_mustache]

The Best Years of Our Lives - 8.5
Roman Holiday - 8
Ben-Hur - 7.5

[Boner M]

The Best Years of Our Lives - 8

Juicy indeed.

[Ezee E]

Tried watching Roman Holiday. Not my thing. Didn't finish it. Won't rate.

[dreamdead]

I can see Roman Holiday not working for everyone. I like it, though, both for Hepburn's radiance and for the way that it allows for a reading against the House Un-American Activities Committee. If we read the romantic relationship as a front, which I think the film does allow for, then the ending, where the pictures (i.e. historical truths) are passed silently back into its owner's hands as the newspapermen refuse to print or otherwise publish such news. I think it can easily be read as a metaphor for those who new about the Hollywood Ten and chose to similarly remain quiet. The film then becomes a reflection of silence in the face of a mad rush for both the Communist Scare and for a newshungry media that seeks to destroy lives.

[jenniferofthejungle]

Jezebel - 8
Wuthering Heights - 7
The Letter - 8
The Heiress - 8.5
Detective Story - 7.5
Roman Holiday - 8
The Collector - 7.5
Funny Girl - 7


I haven't seen Ben-Hur since I was a kid so I can't trust myself on that one.

[dreamdead]

Off to the Chicago Bears/Arizona Cardinals game. Will tally this consensus when I get back!

[thefourthwall]

Jezebel - 7.5
Wuthering Heights - 8
The Heiress - 7.5
Roman Holiday - 8
Ben-Hur - 8.5
The Collector - 7

[Yxklyx]

Counsellor at Law - 8
The Good Fairy - 7
Dodsworth - 9
Dead End - 7
Jezebel - 8
The Letter - 7
The Little Foxes - 7
Mrs. Miniver - 8
The Best Years of Our Lives - 8
The Heiress - 8
Detective Story - 8
Roman Holiday - 8
Ben-Hur - 8

[dreamdead]

The Heiress – 8.25 (8)
The Best Years of Our Lives – 8.0556 (9)
Dodsworth – 8 (5)
The Desperate Hours – 7.9 (5)
Roman Holiday – 7.8182 (11)
Wuthering Heights – 7.4444 (9)
Jezebel – 7.4167 (6)
Detective Story – 7.4 (5)
The Letter – 7.1 (5)
Ben Hur – 7.0625 (8)
The Collector – 7 (6)
The Little Foxes – 7 (4)
Mrs. Miniver – 6.3 (5)

Did not Qualify:
Hell’s Heroes – 9 (1)
The Westerner – 8.25 (2)
The Good Fairy – 7.5 (3)
Dead End – 7.5 (3)
How to Steal a Million – 7 (2)
These Three – 7 (2)
Counselor at Law – 6.5 (2)
The Children’s Hour – 6.5 (2)
Funny Girl – 6.3333 (3)
The Big Country – 5 (1)
Friendly Persuasion – 4.5 (1)

Most Viewed: Antoine
Discarded Roman Holiday: Ezee E (any further reasons? Where did you stop in the narrative?)

[Mysterious Dude]

I was pretty surprised at how many I had seen. It wasn't intentional.

I can't quite pin this Wyler guy down. He goes from directing the huge epic Ben-Hur to the intimate drama The Children's Hour. He's very good, but his filmography is so varied that I wonder if he actually cared about any of the movies he made, or if it was just a job to him (a job to make "prestige" films). I definitely wouldn't call him an auteur.

[Morris Schæffer]

Ben-Hur: 9.5

Love it!

[SirNewt]

Heston, man. Heston.

Plus, it's dreadfully overlong. I don't remember much else, but that sort of "epic" Biblical film just isn't my thing. It's all so damned... pompous and in love with its grandiosity. On the bright side, that's a higher score than The Ten Commandments gets! That's something, right?


Not really, that's kind of like saying you like anything better than crimes against humanity.

[StanleyK]

Hell's Heroes - 5.5
Counsellor at Law - 7
The Good Fairy - 7
These Three - 5.5
Dodsworth - 8.5
Come and Get It - 7
Dead End - 7
Jezebel - 7
Wuthering Heights - 8.5
The Westerner - 7
The Letter - 7
The Little Foxes - 8.5
Mrs. Miniver - 8.5
The Best Years of Our Lives - 8.5
The Heiress - 8.5
Detective Story - 5.5
Carrie - 7
Roman Holiday - 8.5
The Desperate Hours - 8.5
Friendly Persuasion - 5.5
The Big Country - 8.5
Ben-Hur - 7
The Children's Hour - 5.5
The Collector - 7
How to Steal a Million - 7
Funny Girl - 5.5
The Liberation of L.B. Jones - 7



He never quite managed to make a masterpiece, and he's probably nobody's favorite director, but that level of consistency and quality is rare and commendable.