The director of melodramas and Ben-Hur – Daily News – Lisbon

William Wyler was one of the pioneers of the silent period that has adapted to the sound film, in particular in the direction of actors.

Let us agree that in 1966, when it appeared How to Steal a Million , William Wyler (1902-1981), no one knew very well where, and where would American cinema. With the dismantling of the classical structures of the major studios, along with increasing television competition, a deep identity crisis we lived in. – Paradoxically or not, it was also a period of fascinating creativity

In the Oscars, the consecration of a Man for All , historical drama about Thomas More, directed by Fred Zinnemann, illustrated a traditional concept of classicism; However, strange as it now may seem to us, the third biggest hit of the year would be an adaptation of a play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , directorial debut of Mike Nichols, with par Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton.

Wyler was the classic craftsman, able to move with agility and competence in various genres. In his filmography, How to Steal a Million arose between two very different titles: The Obsessed (1965), an Thriller based on the novel the Collector , John Fowles, and Funny Girl (1968), the musical that became Barbra Streisand a star (Wyler end his career in 1970 with the police drama the Price Silence ).

Among the pioneers of the silent period, Wyler was the most rapidly adapted to the sound of the language. His statement went through some titles that would acquire the status of cult objects, including film noir Streets of New York (1937) with Humphrey Bogart, melodrama Jezebel, the unsubmissive (1938), one of the most legendary compositions of Bette Davis, and the glorious adaptation of Wuthering Heights (1939), with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.

in the 1940s, the Oscars also helped to impose it as a specialist of the war melodrama: the Miniver Family (1942) and the Best years of Our Lives (1946) were consecrated as the best of the respective year of production films, paying Wyler first two golden statuettes as a director.

it is no coincidence that the Wyler mark in the golden age of Hollywood comes up often cited along John Ford’s contribution (1894-1973). We can discuss whether human vision Wyler is equivalent in majestic humanism Ford. But that’s what matters not stress: both the filmmakers were able to find answers as sober as imaginative to the narrative challenges involving the integration of sound and, therefore, the direction of actors

Ironically, this filmmaker. many films more or less marked by novelistic tone is often remembered only by the most spectacular title that went: Ben-Hur (1959), just an emblem of blockbusters that in 1950-60, they said the monumentality of the film due to the smallness of the television screen. Consecrated as the best film of the year, he gave Wyler his third Oscar and also a record that nobody exceeded:. 12 nominations for best director