It would be silly to call William Wyler underrated — he was one of the most acclaimed and commercially successful movie directors in American history. A staple in every American film canon, he was my favorite director long before I knew his name. Growing up I watched Dodsworth, The Little Foxes, The Heiress, and Jezebel dozens of times without noticing that four of my favorite movies were directed by the same person. His legacy is really remarkable: the same person who directed these close and complex dramas, and who was Lilian Helman’s favorite collaborator, also made movies such as Funny Girl, Ben Hur, and Roman Holiday. The man whom we have to thank for the stardoms of Audrey Hepburn and Barbra Streisand also taught Bette Davis how to act and Laurence Olivier how not to overact. And yet he does not inspire the kind of cultish attachment that other directors do. Perhaps that is because his style is almost imperceptibly subtle. It is not clear whether there is such a thing as a “Wyler touch.” We love Wyler movies, but we don’t love Wyler.
The Master of Attention
