A star was born
William Wellman classics like ‘The Public Enemy,’ ‘The Ox-Bow
Incident,’ ‘The Story of G.I. Joe’ and ‘Wings’ are among the most
memorable films ever made, yet somehow the prolific director has
never achieved the same renown of 60 years ago. A new UCLA Film
Archive series hopes to allow Wellman’s seminal works to speak for
themselves, and prove that a hundred years ago …
By Lael Loewenstein
Daily Bruin Contributor
As popular legend has it, William Wellman was so incensed by the
poor films he had been assigned to direct at Paramount in the late
’20s that he carted a truckload of manure onto the desk of studio
executive B.P. Schulberg, planted a screenplay atop the pile and
announced, "That’s what I think of your lousy script."
Wellman’s brash disregard for studio power games may have cost
him work, but that same take-charge attitude guided him through
four decades of filmmaking. Wellman’s career remains one of the
most unconventional, diverse and widely debated in Hollywood
history.
Now, on the centennial of his birth, the UCLA Film and
Television Archive pays tribute to the director with a series that
includes a number of his most famous works and some forgotten
treasures. "William A. Wellman: Hollywood Maverick" runs through
March 10 at Melnitz Theater.
"Wellman was tremendously accomplished for his versatility,
emotional realism and innovation," says series curator Laura
Kaiser. "He was at the forefront of just about every technical
innovation, from sound to color to aerial photography. We feel it’s
appropriate to elevate (his reputation) based on the size of his
oeuvre."
One effect of the series may be just that: a rehabilitation of
the director’s reputation. Though Wellman is generally admired for
his technical virtuosity and realistic style, he has rarely been
ascribed the same praise lavished on cinéastes like John Ford
and Howard Hawks.
Some critics, such as Andrew Sarris, have scorned Wellman for
his apparent lack of a strong directorial perspective and
inconsistency. "With Wellman, crudity is too often mistaken for
sincerity," wrote Sarris in his landmark study of auteurism, "The
American Cinema."
But others critics, like Stephen Hanson, have leapt to his
defense. In a recent article reassessing Wellman’s career, Hanson
argues that Wellman’s "best works are those that sprang from his
emotional and psychological experiences." He further notes that
Wellman, perhaps more than any other filmmaker, may have shaped the
Warner Bros. style.
Working at that studio in 1931, Wellman made the quintessential
gangster film "Public Enemy," screening tomorrow night. Starring
James Cagney in the career-defining role of tough-talking
bootlegger Tom Powers, "Public Enemy" had an innovative use of
sound and a depiction of violence and immorality that shocked the
Catholic Church, paving the way for the Motion Picture Production
Code three years later.
Another Wellman film that prompted the Hays Office to clamp down
on Hollywood’s proclivity for licentiousness and corruption, "Night
Nurse" (also screening tomorrow night), helped make a star out of
Barbara Stanwyck. In this 1931 medical melodrama, Stanwyck plays a
tough nurse who foils the plan of a brutish chauffeur (Clark Gable)
to starve two little girls to death for their inheritance.
Intriguingly, this pre-Code movie shows more skin and women
cavorting in lingerie than almost any movie made in the 30 years
after 1934.
If "Public Enemy" and "Night Nurse" earned the ire of the Hays
Office and the Catholic Church, Wellman made two Depression- era
films that won him the respect of social critics. "Wild Boys of the
Road" and "Heroes for Sale" (both screening Feb. 18), both made in
1933, were semi-documentary in tone. "Wild Boys" takes up the story
of a group of hungry, impoverished kids who struggle to find work,
riding the rails in a seemingly endless journey. With its stark and
provocative cinematography and stunningly realistic train
sequences, "Wild Boys" still resonates.
Like fellow director Howard Hawks, Wellman worked in a variety
of genres, though he may be best remembered for his fighter-pilot
movies. Wellman had been a pilot himself in World War I and shaped
the genre with the pioneering "Wings" (winner of the first Academy
Award for Best Picture in 1927). But he went on to make gangster
films, westerns and screwball comedies.
His comedy "Nothing Sacred" (screening Feb. 22) stars the
inimitable Carole Lombard as a Vermont beauty who becomes the
victim of a public relations scam engineered by a big-city reporter
(Fredric March). Screwball vixen Lombard has one of her best parts
in this still-scathing 1937 battle of the sexes.
Having helped launched Stanwyck’s career and given Lombard one
of her juiciest roles to date, Wellman also gave Janet Gaynor the
role of her career in the original version of "A Star in Born"
(screening Feb. 25). Judy Garland’s reinterpretation of rising star
Esther Blodgett (in the 1954 George Cukor version) might be better
remembered, but Gaynor’s earnestness still shines through in the
original.
Wellman may have helped to shape a number of prime women’s
roles, but he seems destined to be remembered as a man’s director.
In films like "The Ox-Bow Incident" (screening Feb. 25),
"Battleground" (March 10) and his personal favorite, "The Story of
G.I. Joe," Wellman treated issues as far-ranging as vigilante
justice in the West and male bonding under harsh wartime
conditions. Sometimes casting against type, he gave memorable roles
to Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum.
From "Wings" through "Battleground," Wellman painted memorable
portraits of men under adversity. Whether shooting in the air or in
the trenches, "Wellman got the camera off the ground in more ways
than one," says Laura Kaiser. That, she adds, is "a testament to
his mastery of the form."
FILM SERIES: "William A. Wellman: Hollywood Maverick." Tonight
through March 10 at Melnitz Theater. For information, call
206-FILM.
Mae Clark (left) and James Cagney in William Wellman’s "Public
Enemy." (1931)
William Wellman (third from left) directing Clark Gable (far
left) in "Across the Wide Missouri" (1951).
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