William Wyler

William Wyler received more Oscar nominations than any other director: 12 in all, a record that is unlikely ever to be surpassed.  He won on three occasions: for a now dated piece of World War II home front propaganda, “Mrs Miniver” (1942); for that film’s brilliant, post-war equivalent, “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946), and for the ultimate Hollywood epic, the 1959 remake of “Ben Hur”.  Only John Ford won more gold statutes in the Best Director category.

This is not to say that Wyler was America’s finest filmmaker of his time.  Oscars measure popularity - with the public as well as with Hollywood peers - and Wyler’s records say as much about his political savvy and commercial instincts as they do about his artistry.   Equal or superior talents like Hawks, Welles and Hitchcock went scandalously under-recognised by the Academy during the same era.

Amongst Wyler’s strengths were a sense of the dramatic and literate, good taste.  Although he made movies in a diverse number of genres he is not celebrated as a genre director per se in the same way that Hawks is.  The Wyler sensibility tends to transcend the conventions of the form.  His westerns, for example - “The Westerner” (1940) and “The Big Country” (1955) - are essentially character studies rather generic exercises.  Both are good films but neither tend to be thought of as ranking amongst the great westerns as do the works of Hawks and Ford.  One critic even describes “The Big Country” as an ‘anti-western’, presumably because violence is critiqued and undermined by its Eastern protagonist, a man who sees no sense in range wars, territory disputes or family feuds.

“Ben Hur” is similarly guilty of being far too intelligent for a biblical age epic.  Sure, Wyler delivers on the chariot race spectacle - wisely delegating most of the job to stunt co-ordinator Yakima Canutt - but it is the human drama that improves on Lew Wallace’s source novel, a combination of atmosphere and playing that keeps religious piety at bay and encourages emotional investment in the characters, even Judah’s not entirely unsympathetic nemesis, Messala.

There was nothing pretentious or overblown about the cinema of Wyler.  He made melodramas like “Jezebel” (1938), “The Letter” (1940) and “The Little Foxes” (1941), all vehicles for sometime mistress Bette Davis, but kept the material’s inherent excesses carefully in check, ever aware of the dangers of going over the top or becoming camp.

Perhaps the film that best sums up Wyler is the one that initiated his great period, “Dodsworth” (1936).  It is the tale of a successful businessman whose marriage goes sour in retirement.  Subtle performances from Walter Huston and Mary Astor demonstrate Wyler’s renowned skill with actors, the presentation of late love has a quiet power to it without being cloying, and ideas about class, capitalism and the fear of getting old retain a relevance and resonance over 70 years later.