MULDER7875 Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 From the Hollywood era when the studios had the power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 In order------Wilder, Hitchcock, Wyler, Capra, Lubitsch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontyC Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 finance, you don't like Ford or Hawkes? My favorites (in no particular order) are: Ford, Hitchcock, Hawkes, Capra, Wyler, Wilder, Stevens, Zinemann, McCarey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EugeniaH Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 My favorites (in no order) are: Frank Borzage: most notably for Lazybones, but I like his other silents as well. Carl Theodor Dreyer: The Passion of Joan of Arc most notably, other films as well F.W. Murnau: Sunrise, Nosferatu, you name it! Frank Capra: I like his early work (Ladies of Leisure, Forbidden and The Miracle Woman). And not only because of Stanwyck, but because the camerawork is damn great. I like other directors, of course, but these films I listed to me have the most "atmosphere". (UPDATE): Sheesh, forgot Hitch... Edited by: EugeniaH on Dec 1, 2011 1:34 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldbestar Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}My picks:{font} {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}John Sturges{font} {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}George Stevens{font} {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}William Wyler{font} {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}William Wellman{font} {font:Times New Roman} {font}{font:}They all made great movies that I enjoy watching. There are others, of course, but these gentleman are the ones that come to my mind.{font} {font:Times New Roman} {font} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm001 Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 My favorite director is Robert Wise, because he directed so many great films in virtually every genre. His versatility is unequalled, imo. I like many other directors, as well, but Wise is my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldbestar Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Isn't it wonderful that there have been so many talented and visionary directors that it's impossible to list just a few as favorites? It seems that all of them have at least two or three masterpieces to be remembered for. While we deal with classic period ones there have been some greats of recent times as well - Lumet, Kubrick, Pollack, Speilberg - and if we look around future memory makes for those who follow us. Thanks, guys and gals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hawks would be #6. Ford is not on my list because I'm not too big on Westerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pturman Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 > {quote:title=wouldbestar wrote:}{quote}Isn't it wonderful that there have been so many talented and visionary directors that it's impossible to list just a few as favorites? It seems that all of them have at least two or three masterpieces to be remembered for. While we deal with classic period ones there have been some greats of recent times as well - Lumet, Kubrick, Pollack, Speilberg - and if we look around future memory makes for those who follow us. Thanks, guys and gals! 50 years from now I think David Fincher will be thought of as one of the greats. In the last 10 or 15 years, he's directed three movies that I consider to be future classics: FIGHT CLUB, ZODIAC, & SOCIAL NETWORK. And he's only 50 years old give or take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clore Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 I'm only going to give one because he was the first director whom I noticed way back in childhood. The name Michael Curtiz kept popping up in the credits of films that I really enjoyed on TV and he has rarely disappointed me. I've seen just about all of his sound films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefCostello Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Michelangelo Antonioni. If we're only talking Hollywood Golden Age, then it's Billy Wilder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Note that 4 out of 5 of Ford's best director nominations were for NON westerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 HOW GREEN, GRAPES OF WRATH, THE QUIET MAN? What's the fourth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavenderblue19 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 *The Informer* rounds out Fords Oscar nods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Yet, it seems that about 75% of Ford's films were Westerns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 darkblue, did you catch the documentary about Woody Allen on PBS, about two weeks ago? It aired 2 hours Sunday night, 2 hours Monday. I recorded it both nights, but haven't had a chance to watch it yet. I gather it is fairly in-depth, and it was a real coup for the director to get Woody Allen to talk about himself and his work at all. Here is a link to the site about this doc: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1895299/ Obviously, I, too, am a dedicated Woody Allen fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Allen got his start in the Golden Age, if you consider the '60s part of that age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VP19 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I'll name 10: Ernst Lubitsch Howard Hawks Frank Capra William Wellman Billy Wilder Alfred Hitchcock Mitchell Leisen Gregory La Cava Michael Curtiz Victor Fleming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 My picks would be very close to you but I have to admit favorite director is the most difficult of the favorite type rankings for me. If I had to pick a director that directed my most favorite movies it would be Howard Hawks. He was the director of many great movies in many different genres. But he didn't have a very strong style. Hitchcock had a very strong style and thus he tops Hawks in this regard. Of course he made many great movies that I enjoy. Then their would be Wyler. Many of the best performances from my favorite actresses (e.g. Davis, DeHavilland), where with Wyler as director. So those would be my top 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 You've listed just about every big-name director except for Wyler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I don't thing that is the case since VP didn't list Ford, Lang, McCarey, Kazan, or Huston etc.. But this does raise a topic I always find interesting; Those that love to pick a select group of favorites and those that don't (and thus provide a list of many, many selections). I'm from the 'pick a select group' school. My view is more is communicate about an individuals tastes with a select group. i.e. what they pick and just as important, what they leave out. When the list has many selections one really doesn't learn much about what really moves that person. Of course then we have some people that just don't wish to pick any favorites. Hey, if we were asking them to rank their children I would understand! But hey, this is just the movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 You're right. I noticed right away that Wilder was listed but not Wyler. The 2 seem to go hand in hand, not becuse of their work, but because of their similar names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlDenham Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Hitchcock has always been my all-time favorite. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. John Ford has always been up there for me, but he definately moves up a few spots after having seen The Informer for the first time. Let's see, who else... Howard Hawks and Michael Curtiz are easily the most versatile directors that I'm familiar with. Frank Capra did some real inspirational work, and with just a few "complete" works of art, Orson Welles re-invented the wheel as much as Hitchcock, Ford, Hawks, etc. Akira Kurosawa ranks as my second all-time favorite director, however. I consistently gamble on Kurosawa movies I've never seen (I buy the dvds without ever seeing the movies), and have yet to be dissappointed. Drunken Angel is the latest masterpiece of his that I've seen. And even though he's technically not a "studio-era" prodigy, Stanley Kubrick has always been compelling, be it a masterpiece like 2001: A Space Odyssey, or a stinker like Eyes Wide Shut. I find Barry Lyndon to be underrated. Lastly, I have to take this opportunity to mention the "fathers of the American horror movie", Tod Browning and James Whale. Two completely different directorial sensibilities, and yet their work continues to inspire me, no matter how old I get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnm001 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Robert Wise, who I believe is the most versatile director, made more films that I enjoy, than anyone else, so it's Wise. Closely followed by the, not so versatile, Alfred Hitchcock, Then, Brian De Palma, Howard Hawks, John Carpenter, John Ford, M. Night Shyamalan, Michael Curtiz, etc., etc., etc, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormaShearerGirl Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Ernst Lubitsch. His movies are so light and fun that they can turn any day around. He also influenced Billy Wilder (my second favorite), I'm a sucker for a good script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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