Post by losingmydignity on Sept 15, 2005 14:48:46 GMT -5
The great Hollywood director is gone.
He started out as an editor, working on such films as Citizen Kane. Then he got his lucky break directing low budget but quality horror films for Val Lewton--"Curse of the Cat People" and "Body Snatchers" with Karloff and Lugosi.
He also directed the classic 1950 sci-fi "Day the Earth Stood Still" which still holds up pretty well and was imitated by every b movie director for the next ten years. It was a breakthrough at the time.
He directed a variety of other films but my favorites are the greatest horror film ever made, 1963's The Haunting, (if you haven't seen this you're in for a treat), and The Sand Pebbles in 1966 with Steve McQueen.
Okay, he directed West Side Story and Sound of Music too. The former, however, is about as good as musicals get, and the latter....well, let's just say I'm not into that kind of film.
He also had a couple of bombs late in his career with Hindenburg and the first Star Trek movie (the result of weak script more than his direction, I think). One overlooked interesting film he did in the seventies was Audrey Rose.
He was one of the best of the big time Hollywood directors. No matter what the genre he brought class, style, and intelligence to anything he did.
He started out as an editor, working on such films as Citizen Kane. Then he got his lucky break directing low budget but quality horror films for Val Lewton--"Curse of the Cat People" and "Body Snatchers" with Karloff and Lugosi.
He also directed the classic 1950 sci-fi "Day the Earth Stood Still" which still holds up pretty well and was imitated by every b movie director for the next ten years. It was a breakthrough at the time.
He directed a variety of other films but my favorites are the greatest horror film ever made, 1963's The Haunting, (if you haven't seen this you're in for a treat), and The Sand Pebbles in 1966 with Steve McQueen.
Okay, he directed West Side Story and Sound of Music too. The former, however, is about as good as musicals get, and the latter....well, let's just say I'm not into that kind of film.
He also had a couple of bombs late in his career with Hindenburg and the first Star Trek movie (the result of weak script more than his direction, I think). One overlooked interesting film he did in the seventies was Audrey Rose.
He was one of the best of the big time Hollywood directors. No matter what the genre he brought class, style, and intelligence to anything he did.
