ReFocus: The Films of William Wyler

by John Price (Editor)

Overview

In his forty-five-year career, William Wyler not only traversed the silent and the sound eras, but also connected classic Hollywood to "new Hollywood." The range of his films also spans a wide spectrum of genres: from westerns to adaptations of classic literature, from crime thrillers to rom-coms, and from controversial topics to musicals. His three Oscars for Best Director are an achievement surpassed only by John Ford. His life experience as one of Hollywood’s early immigrant artists also speaks to the foreign influence on classic Hollywood. Yet despite his awards and commercial success, artistic recognition has mostly eluded Wyler. This volume of the ReFocus series attempts to analyze this Wyler paradox and also seeks to contextualize and theorize selections from Wyler’s canon and his relationship to American cinematic history and American culture. This collection has gathered contributions from international authors from extremely diverse backgrounds, and therefore differing perspectives on Wyler and his work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399510479
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	11/30/2024
Series:	ReFocus: The American Directors Series
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

John M. Price has a PhD in Film and Literature and previously taught English at Northern Illinois Universityand the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has over twenty years of experience as a producer, director, scriptwriter, and lighting director, working on award-winning film and television productions. He has also contributed to several journals and edited collections including: The Performativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media (2021), Critical Insights: Alfred Hitchcock (2017), Jonathan Swift and Philosophy (2017), Poli-Femo: Letteratura e Arti (2016), and Literature/Film Quarterly (2019).

Table of Contents

Wyler FilmographyAcademy Awards for Acting under WylerNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgments

Introduction: William Wyler – Chariot Races and Flower Shows - John Price

Part 1 Style

1. Wyler’s Early Films: Evolution of the "Styleless Style" - John Price

2. More than Meets the Eye: Perspectives on William Wyler and the Auteur Theory - Kyle Barrowman

3. Traumatic History and the Prosthesis of Myth in Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives - Carol Donelan

4. Persistent Presence: Space and Time in the Films of William Wyler - Francis Mickus

Part 2 Collaboration, Genre & Adaptation

5. Clash of the Titans: The Hidden Collaboration of William Wyler and David O. Selznick on Carrie (1952) - Milan Hain

6. Narratives of Failure: Dead End (1937), The Desperate Hours (1955), and Gangsters in Distress - Terrance McDonald

7. Wyler’s Wuthering Heights: Genre, Transnationalism, and the Adaptation of the Victorian Novel - Gabrielle Stecher

Part 3 Gender & Sexuality

8. William Wyler’s The Heiress (1949) and the Unknown Woman - Agustin Zarzosa

9. These Three: Wyler and His Two Adaptations of The Children’s Hour - Matthias Smith

Part 4 War & Peace

10. A War of the People: Destruction, Community, and Hope in William Wyler’s Wartime Films - Robert Ribera

11. Turning the Other Cheek: Wyler’s Pacifism Trilogy – Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958) and Ben-Hur (1959) - John Price

Part 5 Global Wyler

12. William Wyler’s Voyage to Italy: Roman Holiday, Progressive Hollywood, and the Cold War - Anthony Smith

13. "Down Eros, Up Mars!": Post-Colonialism, Imperial Violence, and the Corrupting Influence of Hate in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) - Kaitlin Pontzer

14. Life Isn’t Always What One Likes: The Unbearable Lightness of Royalty, and Other Stereotypes in Roman Holiday (1953) - Etienne Boumans

Editorial Reviews

With twelve Oscar nominations for Best Director—a record that still stands—and three combined wins for Best Director and Best Picture, William Wyler is a giant of American film history. But compared to the shelves of books discussing the films of John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and other luminaries, his work has only rarely received its due. John M. Price’s Refocus volume aims to remedy that omission and succeeds handsomely.

Leo Braudy