This is my entry to the 31 Days of Oscar blogathon hosted by Kellee, Aurora and Paula from Paula's Cinema Club. To check out the other posts from the blogathon as well as other great
cinema related content click here.
Classic film
fans – like flavours of ice-cream – are not all the same. They have different
main tastes, like sweet or citrus. Prefer diverse additions, as conflicting as
chocolate topping and nuts and some even have movie length preferences akin to
the cone versus cup ice cream debate. Still comparing sweet treats and the film
industry, if director William Wellman aka Wild Bill’s career was condensed into
an ice-cream flavour it would be lemon gelato mixed with dark chocolate covered
in sprinkles and dried apricots. Wild Bill, as his son William Wellman Jr later
dubbed him, made films in pretty much every conceivable mainstream genre and
all – except arguably his brief turn into musicals – proficiently. Looking for
a great drama – think ‘Public Enemy’ (1931) or ‘A Star is Born’ (1937). An
entertaining and fast-paced war film – ‘Wings’ (1927). A screwball comedy with
the great Carole Lombard herself – ‘Nothing Sacred’ (1937). A western for a
Sunday afternoon – ‘The Ox-Bow Incident’ (1943). And even if you has a craving
for a weird musical/ mystery film starring a barely clothed Barbara Stanwyck,
Wellman offers ‘Lady of Burlesque’ aka ‘The G-String Murders’ (1943).
Wellman
said in a 1978 interview:
“I've only had one real
desire in this business: to make every kind of picture that was ever made. And
I did. I made musicals, I made kid pictures, I made romantic comedies, the
whole list. I'm very proud of that. Now, how many directors have done that?”
I first
noticed Wellman in the old fashioned credits of some of my all time favourite
Precode films, like ‘Midnight Mary’ (1933), ‘Safe in Hell’ (1931) and ‘Night
Nurse’ (1931). To me he seems a genius at creating fast-paced, hard-hitting
Depression-era ‘social issue’ pictures. His ability at shooting action scenes
and clear love and experience with planes came to my attention in ‘Wings’ (1927)
which, despite its lack of sound, I simply loved. I wasn’t surprised to read,
therefore, that ‘Wings’ (1927) received the Academy Award for Best Picture in
the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.
