The Cinema of William Wyler

Among the pantheon of classic Hollywood directors William Wyler occupies a highly honored position: his films have won more academy awards than those of any other director (3 times Best Director for himself), and they span an extraordinary range of genres—spectacle (Ben Hur), western (The Big Country), novel adaptation (Wuthering Heights), play adaptation (The Letter), romantic comedy (Roman Holiday), musical (Funny Girl), crime (Dead End), and especially, human drama (The Best Years of Our Lives, Friendly Persuasion). We will study these films as examples of imaginative visual storytelling and visual dramatization: how the camera behaves and how images are arranged as a sequence to create meaning and feeling. Wyler’s themes are many, but after his experiences in WWII, Wyler focused on the question of pacifism vs. the grounds that make war necessary, as well as the concomitant question of justice vs. revenge. Each of Wyler’s films represents a unique achievement in the art of cinema and in the art of acting.