It was difficult whittling down the forty films Wise directed to an introductory list of just ten. But they do suggest the range of his diverse, artful -- and unabashedly entertaining -- body of work, which could be compared to such canonical studio directors as Howard Hawks (the 1932 Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, Red River) and Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce). Although Wise is often thought of as primarily an 'actor's director' -- and he's worked with many of Hollywood's most talented performers -- he has also created several films which are nothing less than visually stunning (The Set-Up, Odds Against Tomorrow, The Haunting), even as they find an ideal balance between image, sound, drama, and theme. In still other films, he knows when to rein in his visual imagination and focus on performance (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Sound of Music).

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