Before I begin making my case for why William Wyler matters, I’d just like to draw some attention to a few differences between this installment of Filmmakers Who Matter and my previous “premiere” installment.
For starters, I’ve added a suggested filmography section at the end of the article to curb mentioning each or most of the films of a filmmaker’s career and treating the article like an overview or a bio.
Second, I’ve put more energy, I hope, into making a case for why a filmmaker “matters” as opposed to his or her biography, filmography, and so on. I can’t make a case for why a director or filmmaker matters without discussing his or her films and life somewhat, but I hope to be a little clearer as to my intentions with this series of articles.
Beginnings
William Wyler was born on July 1, 1902 in the French region of Alsace, which was then a part of the German Empire and is now a part of France. Wyler was related to Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, through his mother’s side of the family. These family connections would serve Wyler well, as he would become the youngest director on the Universal lot in 1925. In 1928, Wyler became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
As he began working on the Universal lot, he became quite prolific and started to become a bankable director for the studio. Wyler directed many solid films, but he was yet to hit his stride. Wyler signed with Samuel Goldwyn a while later and began to direct films of more significance, including Wuthering Heights and The Little Foxes.
1942-1945
Between 1942 and 1945, Wyler wound up serving as a major in the United States Army Air Corps. He directed a documentary during this time entitled Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. The film was produced by the United States Army Air Forces Motion Picture unit and depicted the next-to-last mission of the crew of the B-17 bomber aircraft. It was quite an achievement for Wyler.
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