When West Side Story was released as a movie in 1960, I was 12 years old and deeply in love with movies. I enjoyed Mr. Bernstein’s masterpiece so much that I went to see it six times during its initial release year. The opening sequence of the mad dance between The Jets and The Sharks through the streets of New York is still one of my favorite beginnings to any film. West Side Story is absolutely my favorite musical and, most probably, one of my personal top tens just because of the pure enjoyment it has brought to me. The director of the movie, Robert Wise, is an unsung master of many genres. His best films run the gamut from Sci Fi to Film Noir. He made every style he approached look good to the eyes.
His early films with Val Lewton are minor miracles of the horror mode. Both The Body Snatcher and The Curse Of The Cat People get their feelings from a much deeper place than fear. The Curse Of The Cat People is a wonderful black and white eye feast. The true uneasy feeling you get from the movie comes from the fact that all the horror is directed at a young child who is left helpless because the adults around her don’t see what she sees. Truly a creepy flick.
I can watch any level of Film Noir at any moment in the day. Two of my favorite Film Noirs are Wise’s The Set Up and Born To Kill. The Set Up is a back alley fight picture that lives deep in city shadows. Born To Kill is a very real portrait of murder as sex. Claire Trevor is a lascivious creature that gets Laurence Tierney’s attention by her skills with guns. Their partnership in murder is their romance. These two films would make a great double feature.
Wise’s masterpiece is now and always shall be The Day The Earth Stood Still. Pacifist aliens that would have no trouble shutting down life on Earth if provoked by human violence. When Klaatu decides to demonstrate his powers to humankind, he always reminds me of Moses of The Planets in a button down suit.
There are plenty of other treasures in Robert Wise’s work. There is The Sound of Music (Beautiful music, incredible wide screen vistas and Nazis). The Sand Pebbles is a slightly drawn out epic about a very interesting period of history. Odds Against Tomorrow is a late Film Noir with a very powerful depiction of overt racism. The Haunting may be the most frightening movie ever made that relies on pure suggestion and not sudden shock. Hats off to Mr. Wise. I have taken delight.
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