Look at some of Robert Wise's early movies............very different from "The Sound of Music," "West Side Story", and "South Pacific"...................

Director and producer[edit]

For Wise, connecting to the viewer was the "most important part of making a film."^[21] Wise also had a reputation for a strong work ethic and budget-minded frugality.^[22] In addition, he was known for his attention to detail and well-researched preparation for a film. For example, before directing Until They Sail (1957), set in New Zealand during World War II, Wise traveled to New Zealand to interview women whose lives were similar to those portrayed in the film. Wise's attention to detail also extended to foreign locales. While in New Zealand doing research for the film, Wise also scouted background shots for the film's second-unit crew, even though the main film was shot on MGM's back lot in California.^[23] He also shot films on location, such as Mystery in Mexico (1948), a minor B-movie thriller filmed in Mexico City.^[24]

Wise's films often included lessons on racial tolerance. For example, Native Americans, Muslims, and African Americans were featured in such films as Two Flags West (1950), This Could Be the Night (1957), The Set-Up (1949) and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).The Sand Pebbles (1966) featured the story of a biracial couple, and Jewish characters were included in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and The House on Telegraph Hill (1951).^[25]

At RKO, Wise got his first credited directing job in 1944 while working for Hollywood horror film producer Val Lewton. Wise replaced the original director on the horror film The Curse of the Cat People (1944), when it fell behind schedule.^[26][27] The film, a well received "dark fantasy about a solitary child and her imaginary friend", was a departure from the horror films of the day.^[28] In many of Wise's films, but especially in Curse of the Cat People and Audrey Rose (1977), the melodrama used a vulnerable child or childlike character to challenge a dark, adult world.^[29] Lewton promoted Wise to his superiors at RKO, beginning a collaboration that produced the notable horror film The Body Snatcher (1945), starring Boris Karlof with Bela Lugosi.^[30] The film's stylization and atmosphere deliberately evoked the groundbreaking horror films of the 1930s, while presenting a psychological horror film more in tune with the uncertainty of the 1940s.^{[citation needed]} Wise identified the film as a personal favorite and its rave reviews also helped establish his career as a director.^[31]

Between Curse and Snatcher, Wise directed Mademoiselle Fifi (1944), an adaptation of two Guy de Maupassant short stories that explored man's darker side with a political subtext.^[32] Fifi's feminist perspective and a memorable chase sequence helped make it a "template picture for Wise".^[33] Wise also directed film noir, among them the Lawrence Tierney noir classic Born to Kill (1947), and Blood on the Moon (1948), a noir Western starring Robert Mitchu