Robert Wise

Directing

Robert Wise

Born — Died

1914-09-10 — 2005-09-14

Place of birth

Winchester, Indiana, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

80 titles

Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director. He won Academy Awards as Best Director for The Sound of Music (1965) and West Side Story (1961) as well as nominations as Best Film Editing for Citizen Kane (1941) and Best Picture for The Sand Pebbles (1966). Among his other films are Born to Kill; Destination Gobi; The Hindenburg; Star Trek: The Motion Picture; The Day the Earth Stood Still; Run Silent, Run Deep; The Andromeda Strain; The Set-Up; The Haunting; and The Body Snatcher. Wise's working period spanned the 1930s to the 1990s. Often contrasted with contemporary "auteur" directors such as Stanl…

Known for

The Mike Douglas Show poster
5.8

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

Great Performances poster
6.1

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Great Performances

1971

The Oscars poster
7.1

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.

The Oscars

1953

No artwork available
5.1

The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.

Film '72

1971

The Sound of Music poster
7.7

In the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

The Sound of Music

1965

Star Trek: The Motion Picture poster
6.5

When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1979

Film credits

2010s · 4 titles

2000s · 8 titles

Buñuel in Hollywood poster
8.0

This documentary traces the relationship of Buñuel with American culture and Hollywood. The program proposes a chronological journey through the Aragonese filmmaker stays in the U.S., the characters he met, the films he made and he could never do. The program also includes new material-unpublished until 2012 - the Aragonese director filmed in the U.S. in the early 1940s and where he can be seen playing one of their children or enjoying a short holiday in a cottage.

Buñuel in Hollywood

2000

Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy poster
9.3

Documentary about the great 1940s horror movie producer Val Lewton, featured on the 2005 DVD release "The Val Lewton Horror Collection."

Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy

2005

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions: America's Greatest Love Stories poster
7.7

A look at one hundred years of romance in American cinema.

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions: America's Greatest Love Stories

2002

Glanz und Elend in Hollywood: Natalie Wood poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Glanz und Elend in Hollywood: Natalie Wood

2009

West Side Memories poster
9.0

Documentary attached to the 50th anniversary MGM Blu-ray collection of "West Side Story" (1961). Details how this successful stage production was reared and molded into a beautiful cinematic one. Deep-dives into Jerome Robbins' choreography and Leonard Bernstein's score-making processes.

West Side Memories

2003

Making The Earth Stand Still poster
8.0

A documentary about the 1951 sci-fi film "The Day the Earth Stood Still," featuring clips from the film and interviews with some of the cast and crew about the making of the film.

Making The Earth Stand Still

2001

The Andromeda Strain: Making the Film poster
6.3

The making of "The Andromeda Strain".

The Andromeda Strain: Making the Film

2003

No artwork available
9.0

Film noir, which enjoyed particular success in the 1930s and 1940s, is probably the most profound genre of classic Hollywood cinema. Eckhart Schmidt tries to show the background and developments and speaks, among others, with directors such as Richard Fleischer and Robert Wise as well as with "femme fatale" actresses. Filmmakers of the following generations explain how the style and themes of noir continue to shape cinema today.

Männer im Trenchcoat, Frauen im Pelz

2004

1990s · 16 titles

The Stupids poster
4.8

An incredibly dull-witted family unknowingly stumble upon an illegal weapons deal while on the trail of their "stolen" garbage.

The Stupids

1996

Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels poster
6.4

Shirley MacLaine was the product of a strict middle-class background from which she and her brother, the future actor Warren Beatty, escaped into the fantasy world of show-biz. Her ballet training and her long-legged pixie charm led to rapid success on Broadway in musical comedy. Inevitably, Hollywood called and by 1955 Shirley was cast in Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry." It wasn't too long before the fine dramatic roles also came to her opposite the most popular leading men of the time, like Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum.

Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels

1996

The Battle Over Citizen Kane poster
7.4

Documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over Welles' Citizen Kane (1941). Features interviews with Welles' and Hearst's co-workers also acts as a relatively complete biograph of Hearst's career.

The Battle Over Citizen Kane

1996

Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her poster
NR

As the first "blonde bombshell," Mae West reigned supreme and changed the nation's view of women, sex and race — on stage, in films, on radio and television.

Mae West and the Men Who Knew Her

1994

Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs poster
3.0

Ekchart Schmidt examines the machinery behind the dream factory; the Hollywood myth is unmasked. How does the studio industry work? What role does marketing and the hype surrounding the stars play?

Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs

1998

Visions of Light poster
7.0

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.

Visions of Light

1992

Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge poster
7.0

Abandoned by his father, he was a reform school kid with nothing going for him and a giant chip on his shoulder. He joined the Marines but never stayed far from trouble. Then he discovered acting — and the woman who would be with him for most of his meteoric career. He was Steve McQueen, one of Hollywood's highest paid stars — and one of its most difficult, most rebellious and, when he wished, most charming.

Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge

1990

Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years poster
7.3

The first half century of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation from its beginnings under Hungarian immigrant William Fox to it emergence as a major studio.

Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years

1997

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1 poster
9.0

Even big stars need to stand in front of the director and audition for their roles, and some of the best screen tests are from the early years of legends. See some of Hollywood's top names and greatest talents in their very first appearances on celluloid. From Dustin Hoffman's 1966 stock and personality tests to Raquel Welch and James Coburn cavorting for Our Man Flint, from The Three Stooges to Rock Hudson, see stars trying to get on film.

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1

1999

A Century of Science Fiction poster
6.9

American Documentary, narrated by Christopher Lee

A Century of Science Fiction

1996

Dark and Deadly: Fifty Years of Film Noir poster
NR

One of the first film noir documentaries, made for British Channel Four, and including interviews with Paul Schrader, Robert Wise, John Dahl, Bryan Singer, Edward Dmytryk, Dennis Hopper, John Alton.

Dark and Deadly: Fifty Years of Film Noir

1995

Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker poster
4.8

A biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, mogul and the power behind 20th Century Fox throughout the Golden Age.

Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker

1995

Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick poster
7.8

Documentary exploring the career of noted film directer William A. Wellman.

Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick

1995

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula poster
8.5

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula uncovers the life and career of legendary actor Bela Lugosi, examining his early life in Hungary and Germany through his Hollywood successes and eventual decline. The film features a vast array of never-before-seen footage of the actor, ranging from remains of his 1918 film Struggle for Life to behind-the-scenes home movies on the set of RKO Studios. Lugosi is peppered with dozens of rare films clips and photographs, with the story itself coming to life thanks to the vast array of on-camera interviewees.

Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula

1997

It's All Brazil poster
6.4

A film essay about Brazil discovered through Orson Welles' eyes during the shooting of It's All True.

It's All Brazil

1997

No artwork available
7.0

A two-and-a-half hour documentary retrospective on the career of Orson Welles.

With Orson Welles: Stories from a Life in Film

1990

1980s · 3 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

The Sound of Music poster
7.7

In the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

The Sound of Music

1965

The Sound of Music poster
7.7

In the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

The Sound of Music

1965

Star Trek: The Motion Picture poster
6.5

When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1979

The Andromeda Strain poster
7.0

When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scrambles to a secure laboratory and tries first to isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form, unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.

The Andromeda Strain

1971

The Andromeda Strain poster
7.0

When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scrambles to a secure laboratory and tries first to isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form, unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.

The Andromeda Strain

1971

West Side Story poster
7.2

In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.

West Side Story

1961

The Haunting poster
7.1

Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…

The Haunting

1963

The Haunting poster
7.1

Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…

The Haunting

1963

Helen of Troy poster
6.3

Prince Paris of Troy, shipwrecked on a mission to the king of Sparta, meets and falls for Queen Helen before he knows who she is. Rudely received by the royal Greeks, he must flee...but fate and their mutual passions lead him to take Helen along. This gives the Greeks just the excuse they need for much-desired war.

Helen of Troy

1956

Blood on the Moon poster
6.2

Down-and-out cowhand Jim Garry is asked by his old friend Tate Riling to help mediate a cattle dispute. When Garry arrives, however, it soon becomes clear that Riling has not been entirely forthright. Garry uncovers Riling's plot to dupe local rancher John Lufton out of a fortune. When Lufton's firecracker of a daughter, Amy, gets involved, Garry must choose between his old loyalties and what he knows to be right.

Blood on the Moon

1948

The Day the Earth Stood Still poster
7.4

An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

1951

Run Silent, Run Deep poster
7.0

The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.

Run Silent, Run Deep

1958

The Set-Up poster
7.4

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

The Set-Up

1949

The Set-Up poster
7.4

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

The Set-Up

1949

Two for the Seesaw poster
6.5

After leaving his wife, lawyer Jerry Ryan moves from Omaha, Nebraska to New York City to start a new life. While studying for the New York Bar Examination and working to finalize his divorce, Ryan meets dancer Gittel Mosca, and the two begin a cautious courtship. However, Ryan feels that he must come to terms with his failed marriage and overcome his lingering attachment to his ex-wife before he can redefine himself and embrace his budding romance.

Two for the Seesaw

1962

Audrey Rose poster
5.7

A man is convinced that 11-year old girl, Ivy, is the reincarnation of his own daughter Audrey Rose, who died in a fiery car accident, along with his wife, two minutes before Ivy was born.

Audrey Rose

1977

Executive Suite poster
7.0

When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice-presidents vie to see who will replace him.

Executive Suite

1954

The Hindenburg poster
6.3

Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.

The Hindenburg

1975

The Hindenburg poster
6.3

Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.

The Hindenburg

1975

Odds Against Tomorrow poster
6.9

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

Odds Against Tomorrow

1959

Odds Against Tomorrow poster
6.9

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

Odds Against Tomorrow

1959

The Body Snatcher poster
7.0

Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted of grave robbery, Gray holds a grudge against Dr. MacFarlane who had escaped detection and punishment.

The Body Snatcher

1945

The Desert Rats poster
6.3

In North Africa, German Field Marshal Rommel and his troops have successfully fended off British forces, and now intend to take Tobruk, an important port city. A ramshackle group of Australian reinforcements sent to combat the Germans is put under the command of British Captain MacRoberts. The unruly Aussies immediately clash with MacRoberts, a gruff, strict disciplinarian, however this unorthodox team must band together to protect Tobruk from the German forces.

The Desert Rats

1953

The Sand Pebbles poster
7.2

Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.

The Sand Pebbles

1966

The Sand Pebbles poster
7.2

Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.

The Sand Pebbles

1966

I Want to Live! poster
7.0

Brazen perpetual offender Barbara Graham tries to go straight but she finds herself implicated in a murder and sent to death row.

I Want to Live!

1958

Until They Sail poster
6.3

Four sisters in New Zealand fall for soldiers en route to the Pacific theater in WWII.

Until They Sail

1957

The Captive City poster
6.1

A small-town newspaper editor defies threats to expose the mob.

The Captive City

1952

The Curse of the Cat People poster
6.2

Amy, the young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed, befriends her father's late first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.

The Curse of the Cat People

1944

Three Secrets poster
6.5

A five-year-old boy is the sole survivor of a devastating plane crash in the mountains of California. When the newspapers reveal the boy was adopted and that the crash occurred on his birthday, three women begin to ponder if it's the son each gave up for adoption. As the three await news of his rescue at a mountain cabin, they recall incidents from five years earlier and why they were forced to give up their son.

Three Secrets

1950

Star! poster
6.9

Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.

Star!

1968

Mademoiselle Fifi poster
6.4

In occupied France during the Franco-Prussian War, a young French laundress shares a coach ride with several of her condescending social superiors. But when a Prussian officer holds the coach over, social standings are leveled and integrity and spirit are put to the test.

Mademoiselle Fifi

1944

Somebody Up There Likes Me poster
7.2

The story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.

Somebody Up There Likes Me

1956

Tribute to a Bad Man poster
7.0

Jeremy Rodock is a tough horse rancher who strings up rustlers as soon as looks at them. Fresh out of Pennsylvania, Steve Miller finds it hard to get used to Rodock’s ways, although he takes an immediate shine to his Greek girl Jocasta.

Tribute to a Bad Man

1956

Born to Kill poster
6.7

A calculating divorcée risks her chances at wealth and security with a man she doesn't love by getting involved with a hotheaded murderer.

Born to Kill

1947

The House on Telegraph Hill poster
6.4

Concentration camp survivor Victoria Kowelska finds herself involved in mystery, greed, and murder when she assumes the identity of a dead friend in order to gain passage to America.

The House on Telegraph Hill

1951

Destination Gobi poster
5.9

A group of US Navy weathermen taking measurements in the Gobi desert in World War II are forced to seek the help of Mongol nomads to regain their ship while under attack from the Japanese.

Destination Gobi

1953

Two Flags West poster
6.2

A group of confedarate prisoners is sent to a unionist fort in the west to help the local garrison to fight the indians.

Two Flags West

1950

Happy Birthday, Wanda June poster
6.0

A hunter back from years in the Amazon finds his wife and life changed.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

1971

So Big poster
5.5

A girl of wealth comes to a Dutch community outside Chicago as a schoolteacher, and while there falls in love with a poor but big-hearted farmer.

So Big

1953