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Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

I stand by what I said about Star Trek - The 'Motionless' Picture in it's original form, ...

... but the word coming from some of our friends in the industry is that the Director's cut coming out today is VASTLY superior, completely eliminating the pacing and monotonous editing flaws forced upon Wise in the rushed original release. See the attached link for more details.

The are three things about Robert Wise's resume which strike me as a lifelong film enthuesiast:
1) His diversity as director.
2) His longevity as a creative force in Hollywood.
3) His groundbreaking achievements as a director.

His diversity can probably be attributed to the financial success of his films, but it's rare to see the degree of flexibility achieved here. This adaptability, in my opinion, is due to the director's own vision (i.e., knowing what works in each genre and being able to capture the appropriate style and scope required).

His longevity as a creative force in Hollywood is probably attributable to his ability to bring in movies on time and under budget; this has allowed him to work in what is easily the most cut throat business outside of a career in espionage as deep cover operative.

Last, but far from least, are the absolute classic films among those listed which you've apparantly opined to omit. These include, but aren't limited to: "Curse of the Cat People" and "The Body Snatcher" which he directed for Val Lewton, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (one of the first true science fiction films and still one of the most memorable), "The Haunting" (one of the most atmospheric psychological fright films ever; second only, IMHO, to Hitchcock's "Psycho"), "The Andromeda Strain" (an inspired visualization of the Michael Crichton novel dealing with a alien microbiological threat) and of course the aforementioned "The Sound of Music" and "Sand Pebbles", each uniquely distinguished and moving in their respective genres.

I'm not a huge fan of the film version of West Side Story either, ...personally, I prefer Alice Cooper's abreviated version best (~;^D), but as his first go at translating a Broadway musical to film having been saddled with actors and a watered down script the studio felt necessary to "open" it, he did an excellent job. Some directors would've balked at the challenge.

Well, I've pretty much said my piece, but check out the URL; you may even want to risk adding the new DVD of ST-TMP(DC), to your collection. I know we're thinking about it!

Cheers,
AuPh


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