Posted 6:24 AM by Gene

Robert Wise may never occupy the pantheon of the great film directors, but we must confess a man who directed The Sound of Music, a great success widely revered to this day, despite the property and Pauline "Who Voted for Nixon?" Kael's sneers, must have known very much how to do it.

P. S. He edited Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. Here are his comments on the latter, whose RKO-ordered mangling the ad-blurb copywriters regard as the greatest sin in art history:

The original 131-minute cut of the film proved to be a disaster at a sneak preview, with "people walking out and laughing in all the wrong places," Wise recalled.

"The studio demanded we cut it, and when we did, we had severe continuity problems. Orson was away in South America [working on a documentary film], so I was asked to direct a few linking scenes that would help the story make more sense."

We can't go by a sneak preview, but if all the mocking comments these days for THE GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME are an indication perhaps that sneak audience wasn't entirely wrong. Wise was a consummate professional indeed.