The Unsung Heroes of Film

When speaking of the Golden Age of Hollywood, there are only a small handful of Golden Age
directors that are still talked about as some of the greats of all-time. Howard Hawks, John Ford, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles. Almost everyone who has ever watched a film knows those names. They are those filmmakers that made an impact and are still in mention today as major influences on film. But of an entire generation of filmmakers, you can't tell me that there weren't other directors from that period who were equally as innovative and have made a lasting impact upon film?

These unsung heroes of film, as I call them, are just that. All five are directors, all five have made classic films, and all five have never fully been given their due for all of their talent and impact that they had on the film industry. But no longer must they fly under the radar. I've been gestating this post for some time, and I have finally found the five Golden Age directors that I think deserve their time in the spotlight. So to release the suspense, let's get a move on:

* Carol Reed - The Oscar-winning director of such classics as The Third Man and Oliver! Nominated three times with one win, he was known for infusing his British sensibilities within his works. Like British food, his films are usually straightforward, with very few fantastical frills and whistles, but only a man such as that could successfully transform a Charles Dickens classic about an orphaned waif and make it a song-and-dance musical that became a bona fide classic.

* Victor Fleming - Winning an Oscar for Gone With The Wind, he was essentially the studio's Mr. Fix-It director in the Golden Age. If you look at the credits of many of his films, he was not the only director. Fleming was usually brought in to replace another director and fix the problems with a film to where it is audience ready. To be able to have the vision to take something someone else shot, and mimic it to shoot the other 90% of the story is astounding. Aside from Gone With The Wind he directed The Wizard of Oz and a great many other adventure classics.

* Michael Curtiz - This filmmaker racked up four Oscar nominations in his career with a resultant win on one of the occasions. His mastery of the camera was astounding. When I watch his films I feel as if I'm watching a Spielberg or Scorsese film, they're so masterfully shot, full with movement. Not only that, he gave us films like: Captains of the Clouds, Yankee Doodle Dandy, a great many other war propaganda films, and the genuine classic, Casablanca. Need I say more.

* Elia Kazan - A five time Oscar nominee and two time winner finds his remembrance through his collaborations with a young Marlon Brando. Directing such classics like On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire, he obviously knew talent when he saw it. A marvelous actor's director, often challenging actors to travel out of their comfort zone, as is noticed in his film A Face in the Crowd where good ol' Andy Griffith just plays a straight up unlikable dude. Few directors nowadays would take a gamble like that.

* William Wyler - The most nominated director in Oscar history, and people often don't even know who he is. With twelve nominations and three wins, he is a real, Golden Age filmmaker. He did it all, and so brilliantly I might add. He handled drama in The Best Years of Our Lives. Romance in Roman Holiday. And he knew a thing or two as well about epics, directing Ben-Hur. A marvelous filmmaker if there ever has been, who made the chariot race to beat all chariot races.