The Auteur Theory: Why Billy Wilder was Underrated as an Auteur in 1960s?

Regarding directors, screenwriters, and producers, the debate about who is the real author of the film has been around for a long time. French film emphasizes the role of the director and Hollywood implements the producer centre system. Generally, we understand that the author is: If a director says in a series of works that show some consistent features in the subject matter and style, they can be regarded as the author of their works, that is, the 'director centre system.' So, is the film a person's art or a group of people's art?

Background and Objective

Le film d’auteur was created by the 1950s French critics associated with the journal Cahièrs du cinema. It has evolved with the development of film critics and was introduced as The Auteur theory to the United States by Andrew Sarris in the 1960s. Andrew Sarris was an American film critic and a major supporter of the auteur theory of film commentary. He first talked about the concept of the Auteur Theory in his essay called 'Notes on The Auteur Theory' in 1962, and 6 years later, in his latter book, The American Cinema, he considered American film directors in 3 classes, 'Pantheon Directors,' 'Less Than Meets the Eye,' and 'Strained Seriousness' based on the Auteur Theory.

Today, The Auteur theory is one of the most shared forms of film criticism. Critics study the style of important artist directors and their creative influence on film content and design. In Andrew Sarris's book,14 directors who were working in America was listed as Pantheon, including Alfred Hitchcock. Billy Wilder had originally fallen into the second category. But in many years later, Sarris wrote 'I must concede that seemingly I have grossly under-rated Billy Wilder, perhaps more so than any other director.' This essay is going to debate around “the Auteur Theory”, trying to understand and justify Sarris’ mis-judgement in 1960s about Billy Wilder. Alfred Hitchcock was highly valued by both Sarris and famous French critics, hence by understanding his film achievement set us a clear pathway to comprehend Sarris’ estimation for an Auteur. In the second half of the essay, one of Wilder’s films will be compared with Hitchcock’s in the language of the Auteur Theory. “The Premises” of an auteur In his historical paper 'Notes of the Auteur's Theory in 1962', Sarris presented three premises in the form of a series of concentric circles to determine whether the director is an auteur. The three premises describe the focuses to review a film director and sets the ground rules for critics to debate around the Auteur Theory.

The first principle of the auteur's theory is the technical competence of the director. This is the value standard. A great director must be at least a good director and at least have basic craft skills. That is to say, the film directed by the author must be technically competitive. The second premise is that the director must have a distinct personality that can be seen over and over again in his work. The unique style is that the viewer will know that this is the work of a director.

Finally, a director gives his film the meaning of the interior, which is inferred from the tension between the director's personality and the material to be used. Probably the meaning is that the deepest soul of the director must be expressed in the movie. Alfred Hitchcock - The master of the Mise en scene In the prime of the Hollywood studios in the 1930s and 1940s, film directors were only hired by film companies. Trying to film as fast and as cheaply as possible, and they were dutiful to the producers. However, the film critics who supported the auteurs respected the director Hitchcock as their auteur, because his works presented a clear and identifiable style. In Andrew Sarris famed 1962 essay, “Notes on the Auteur Theory,” he gave the highest praise to the film's impeccable personal vision of a determined director, such as Alfred Hitchcock.

The film Vertigo is recognized as one of his best films. Martin Scorsese talked about it in an interview that he said “Therefore, it’s a picture I think of Hitchcock’s that is one of his greatest, if not his best. Because you can keep watching it and watching it. It’s always new.' Stylistically, 'Vertigo' is rather Brilliant. The film's excellent use of colour, composition and camera movements has created an example for Dolly Zoom, which is now well known. On a more subtle level, Hitchcock basically used his camera in a fetish way. The camera was used to please the key character and perhaps meet the director's own requirements, which is common today, but it was not really finished in the late 1950s.

This was related to the idea that the New Wave Cinema in the United States would fully control the director. Hitchcock slowly encouraged the concept of authorism, not only showing his complete control over the film, but also showing the idea of expressing his feelings through film and using the camera to write. Just like Alfred Hitchcock said“I want to be remembered as a man who entertained millions through the technique of film”. “Vertigo” is a major achievement in the art cinema we love today. This is one of the first films to rely on filmmaking and emotions rather than stories. Billy Wilder – the writer and the Auteur Billy Wilder was initially dismissed by Sarris and had no personal style. In fact, Wilder handled a variety of amazing materials, from black movies ('The Protest of Prosecution') to Romance Comedy ('Apartment'), Hollywood Tragedy ('Sunset Avenue'), news coverage ('Ace in the Hole') and classic farce (' Some Like It Hot'). Wilder's film shows the diversity of visual style. Therefore, his film cannot be recognized instantly, which is beyond the middle premise of the director. Although his personal style is continuous, his writing ability is indeed combining his reputation. Wilder is a historical screenwriter. His films are superb, suspenseful and humanistic. It looks very interesting and even related to popular culture. In addition, his contribution to film noir is unparalleled.

On the other hand, as in major US production companies, writers often use successful novels, stories, plays, musicals, and even Broadway shows, and Wilder is no exception. The play became Wilder's favourite adaptation of the script, and appeared in famous movies, such as the prosecutor, the eighth wife of Bluebeard, the length of life and so on. However, by mentioning it, German film theorist Walter Julius Bloem defined the director, the auteur is the artist to the product, and others like screenwriters as apprentices. This definition disturbed Wilder's ideas, and he did not consider himself to be the sole creator of the script. In his career, he had always worked with at least one other writer, insisting that the excellence of the complete script was due to the combination of innovation, and later unenthusiastic to attribute certain scenes or lines to individual hard work. Wilder’s another difference from the belief of the Auteur Theory is that people are intensely aware of how to implement the script. The director who is more flexible is the person who can make better films.

This is one of the reasons why Wilder became the director to prevent adjustment of his script. He hated the Auteur Theory and thought that people would ignore the contribution of screenwriters to the film. “Film’s thought of as a director’s medium because the director creates the end product that appears on the screen. It’s that stupid auteur theory again, that the director is the auteur of the film. But what does the director shoot—the telephone book? Writers became much more important when sound came in, but they’ve had to put up a valiant fight to get the credit they deserve.” — Billy Wilder One thing, Wilder did not agree with Hitchcock's film was the way that Alfred Hitchcock shot his film, because Wilder thought that the eye-catching lens would distract the audience. Wilder's photo was very compact and the conversation was memorable. “I like to believe that movement can be achieved eloquently, elegantly, economically and logically, without shooting from a hole in the ground, without hanging the camera from the chandelier, and without the camera dolly dancing a polka.” as Wilder once said.

Witness for the Prosecution, in compare to Hitchcock’s Vertigo Witness for the Prosecution is a mid-career Billy Wilder’s film, which helped him create one of two major genres he mastered, film noir. The other is comedy, which he had proven himself in as well. This film shows the British court drama. The picture is based in Old Bailey, London, based on a play of the same name by Agatha Christie, involving a trial of a man was alleged of murder. Wilder himself once put it as a 'Hitchcock film”, but he didn’t think, it was the strength of Hitchcock'. Wilder's creation of this court drama totally frees the audience from horror and suspense as an excellent comedy or drama. In fact, it is the outstanding describing in the development of the plot that makes the film a melodrama. So, this fillm can also be said to be a first-class example of the melodrama.

Take the beginning of a storyline as an example, to illustrate Wilder’s sagacity as a great screenwriter. The development of the plot has a strong correlation. And it is related to several 'key items'. The introduction of the nurse was to create a conflict with the barrister, which leads to the first 'key item': the cigar! This is not only simply demonstrating the characters, but also produces a comedy effect. The cigar is the key reason that move forwards the storyline. As the two barristers had no matches, they had to include the accused in the room, then the story starts to transfer the case to the barrister. In the accused's story of meeting the elderly woman who was later murdered. The hat is the second “key item”, which links the two people to meet at the first time, and also the second time in the cinema.

In the scene of portraying the barrister, there is another detail that is very noteworthy. During the trial, whenever someone spoke, the barrister seemed to be bored on the table with the twenty pills that the nurse gave him, posing in a square matrix. Later, as the audience sees, the tablets on the table are only half of the original. As the film mentioned earlier, the nurse asked him to take the pills every half hour. Therefore, this scene is actually suggesting how much time has passed... It seems to be the expression Wilder learnt from Ernst Lubitsch through the cooperation in his early years. There were several similar elements in the film Witness for the Prosecution and Vertigo. Firstly, the male protagonists whose powers of detection and fail them at critical moments. The barrister Sir Wilfried Robarts in Witness for the Prosecution and detective John 'Scottie' Ferguson in Vertigo, and they are not well in their health condition. Secondly, in both Witness for the Prosecution and Vertigo, the male protagonists are outwitted by a woman in disguised. Also, both stories are served for their murder purpose, in order to deceive the money.

In Hitchcock’s Vertigo, as we discussed earlier, it is obviously wearing Hitchcock’s personality. In the film, there are several revolutionary cinematography methods, along with the innovative application of colours and the way of storytelling. These matters gain his name as an auteur to its great evidence. While, Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution wasn’t a typical Wilder collection. The story was based on the play of the same name by Agatha Christie. But Wilder’s witty dialog, tight plotting, and beautifully structured character development was invested all along in this film noir. It was still a great film. Billy Wilder proved his name of auteur through the constant exploration of themes of deception, disguise, humanity, celebrities, daily life and people. Wilder is good at writing and precisely guides his thoughts and philosophy through film media.

Conclusion In the eyes of the American film industry, film critics bring more trouble than inspiration, so they have no place. It is said that the real reason for the 20th Century Fox company to hire film critics is to prevent them from writing negative comments about the company's films. Hollywood is more interested by film school students. They have to go through the professional training to enter the film industry. These people never criticize the film industry, they are eager to succeed here, and appreciate the history of this industry.

Sarris' theory of the filmmaker and the enormous influence of the 'New Wave' movement, as well as its ingenious appeal, prompted Americans to pay serious attention to their own film career. Although not everyone agrees with him, many people are still conquered by the 'new wave of heat' and believe that it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on Hollywood films at that time and in the past. To express my own opinion on the Auteur Theory. The director is not the only creative voice from the film, and can be considered a director. This runs counter to Sarris and Truffaut, but I always think these theories are freer. For me, a film is a collaborative media, and should always recognize the work of the screenwriter, filmmaker or producer, and all the craftsmen in the film.

Godard once commented that Visconti evolved from a scene planner to an auteur, while Rossellini degenerated from the auteur to a scene planner. From the beginning, Minnelli was on the second floor and was a designer. Bunuel was already a writer before he began to master first-level skills. Skills are simply the ability to integrate film material in a clear, consistent way.

Currently, many people who has become directors but have not mastered too many skills, even don’t know important photography and editing knowledge. Professional production team may magnify a gorilla to cover the director's chair. How do you distinguish between true directors and a real gorilla? Perhaps we should not be too strict on how to apply the term 'The Auteur theory'. After all, the original purpose of this term was to celebrate great filmmaking and filmmaking artists.