The Haunting (1963)
Robert Wise's 1963 Shirley Jackson adaptation. Hill House through implication instead of effects.
Robert Wise started as an editor and cut Citizen Kane before he ever directed, which is visible in everything he made afterward. The films are constructed instead of staged, and he moved between genres with a completeness that makes his filmography read like several careers.
He directed The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Haunting, West Side Story, The Sound of Music and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Two of those won him Best Director and Best Picture. The Haunting remains one of the most frightening films ever made and contains no visible ghost.
The editing background explains the restraint. Wise trusted what an audience would supply for itself, which is why the door bending in The Haunting is more effective than anything a later film would have shown.
Robert WiseRobert Wise's 1963 Shirley Jackson adaptation. Hill House through implication instead of effects.
Robert Wise1961 Robbins-Wise adaptation of the Sondheim-Bernstein stage musical. Romeo and Juliet on Manhattan streets.
Robert WiseRobert Wise directed the 1951 original. Scott Derrickson directed the 2008 remake.
Robert WiseRun Silent, Run Deep is one of the great American submarine films and one of the most accomplished collaborations between Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. Robert Wise had been one of the most accomplished American directors of the previous two…
Robert WiseCrichton's first major bestseller, Robert Wise's procedural patience, and Kate Reid's underrated Dr. Leavitt. The 6.5 reflects what those incomplete viewings have confirmed: the film is terrifying in a slow, low-key way that few other 1971 science fiction films attempted,…
Robert WiseStar Trek: The Motion Picture is the most expensive screensaver in cinema history. Paramount gave Robert Wise a budget that dwarfed the entire television.
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