TMI (Today’s Movie Info)
February: Director’s Month
WILLIAM WELLMAN (1896-1975) was nominated for 3 Best Director Oscars, and won for Best Screenplay on the original A Star is Born (1937). Known as “Wild Bill” for his brave and daring work as an aviator in WWI, the name stuck when he hit Hollywood as a larger than life figure. At age 19, he joined the air wing of the French Foreign Legion and flew for the famed Lafayette Escadrille until he was shot down. In 1927, Paramount hired him, based on his real life experience, to direct its WWI flying epic Wings. It took him a year to wrap production (unheard of in those days), and the film was over budget and way behind schedule. However, it went on to become the very first Academy Award winner for Best Picture (and the only silent film winner until The Artist won in 2012) and was a box office smash. The film starred legendary silent film actress Clara Bow, and also featured a small role for a young Gary Cooper (25 years before High Noon). Despite Wellman’s reputation as bullying director, he went on to direct The Public Enemy (1931) which is still considered one of the great gangster movies, and also sent James Cagney direct to superstardom. Wellman directed three films famous for their biting satire of Hollywood and stardom: A Star is Born (1937), Nothing Sacred (1937), Roxie Hart (1942). He also continued making westerns and war films including: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Story of G.I. Joe (1945), Battleground (1949), The High and the Mighty (1954, with John Wayne). He walked away from Hollywood after the post-production studio tampering of his last film Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Wellman rarely receives due credit for his place in Hollywood history. This is usually attributed to his head-strong inability to collaborate with others, as evidenced by his quote: “Get a director and a writer and leave them alone. That’s how the best pictures get made.” Wellman was the great-great-great-grandson of Frances Lewis, who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Movie Reviews from the Dark 