Robert Wise Movies
by BaxterCallow | created - 14 Jun 2017 | updated - 14 Jun 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Directors: Orson Welles, Fred Fleck, Robert Wise | Stars: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter
Votes: 26,768
Orson Welles devotes 9,000 feet of film to a spoiled brat who grows up as a spoiled, spiteful young man. This film hasn't a single moment of contrast; it piles on and on a tale of woe, but without once striking at least a true chord of sentimentality.
2. The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed befriends her father's dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.
Directors: Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise | Stars: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter
Votes: 7,179
Foregoing the horror thrills of its predecessor in favor of childhood fantasy, Curse of the Cat People is a touching and psychologically complex family film couched in a ghost story.
3. Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
Passed | 69 min | Drama, War
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 ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Simone Simon, John Emery, Kurt Kreuger, Alan Napier
Votes: 619
The whole thing is a less-than-successful allegory for the horrors taking place in Europe during WW II.
4. The Body Snatcher (1945)
Approved | 78 min | Horror, Thriller
A ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater
Votes: 10,194
Settings are inexpensive but sufficient for the needs. Production values, in general, however, aid materially in making this picture a winner.
5. A Game of Death (1945)
Passed | 72 min | Adventure
A remake of Richard Connell's famous short story, "The Most Dangerous Game," about a madman who hunts human prey on his personal island habitat.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: John Loder, Audrey Long, Edgar Barrier, Russell Wade
Votes: 449
6. Criminal Court (1946)
Approved | 60 min | Crime, Drama
Steve and his girlfriend are implicated in a murder, but they are innocent! Can they convince the authorities of it in time? Tom Conway and Martha O'Driscoll. He's running for public office. ..what they all must do to get out of it.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Tom Conway, Martha O'Driscoll, June Clayworth, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 534
Though never more than routine, it makes for a pleasant watch.
7. Born to Kill (1947)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A calculating divorcée risks her chances at wealth and security with a man she doesn't love by getting involved with the hotheaded murderer romancing her foster sister.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak, Phillip Terry
Votes: 6,088
Competent if slightly too tame for a supposedly sleazy story.
8. Mystery in Mexico (1948)
Approved | 66 min | Crime, Mystery
Insurance detective Steve Hastings is sent by his company to investigate the disappearance of a fellow agent. His first lead is the agent's fetching sister, Victoria, whom he trails to ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Lundigan, Jacqueline White, Ricardo Cortez, Tony Barrett
Votes: 474
It's routine, but is one of those mystery films you never mind seeing if you want to pleasantly kill some time with something that's not that taxing on the 'old noggin.'
9. Blood on the Moon (1948)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Western
Unemployed cowhand Jim Garry is hired by his dishonest friend Tate Riling as muscle in a dispute between homesteaders and cattleman John Lufton.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan
Votes: 3,502
Above Average western.
10. The Set-Up (1949)
Approved | 73 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Sport
Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter
Votes: 10,090
This is one of the top boxing films ever made, along with Raging Bull and Body and Soul.
11. Two Flags West (1950)
Approved | 92 min | War, Western
Forced by circumstances,Confederate POWs and Union soldiers join forces against Indians but old animosities resurface during their fragile alliance.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Joseph Cotten, Linda Darnell, Jeff Chandler, Cornel Wilde
Votes: 1,202
The Western has a thoughtful historical premise and makes the most of it by the solid direction of Wise.
12. Three Secrets (1950)
Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Three women who secretly gave up their newborn sons for adoption in 1945 wonder if the 5-year-old survivor of a plane crash, named in the the local newspapers, is their long-abandoned son.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, Ruth Roman, Frank Lovejoy
Votes: 671
A well-constructed but poorly paced formulaic soap opera, that turns sentimental with its feel-good surprise ending.
13. The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
Approved | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Concentration camp survivor Victoria Kowelska finds herself involved in mystery, greed, and murder after she assumes the identity of a dead friend in order to gain passage to America.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Richard Basehart, Valentina Cortese, William Lundigan, Fay Baker
Votes: 3,849
Heavy on eerie atmosphere.
14. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 85,797
Socially minded yet entertaining, The Day the Earth Stood Still imparts its moral of peace and understanding without didacticism.
15. The Captive City (1952)
Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A small town newspaperman's investigation into a local bookie operation turns up a web of organized crime.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: John Forsythe, Joan Camden, Harold J. Kennedy, Marjorie Crossland
Votes: 1,262
A tense, absorbing drama.
16. Something for the Birds (1952)
Approved | 81 min | Comedy, Romance
Enviromentalist Anne Richards goes to Washington D. C. to fight for getting legislation passed to save the last remaining sanctuary of the almost-extinct California Condor. She enlists the ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Victor Mature, Patricia Neal, Edmund Gwenn, Larry Keating
Votes: 233
17. Destination Gobi (1953)
Approved | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In 1944, US Navy specialists run a weather station in the Gobi desert where they are harassed by Japanese warplanes but aided by local Mongol nomads.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Richard Widmark, Don Taylor, Max Showalter, Murvyn Vye
Votes: 1,131
Seems odd for awhile but drifts into the usual 'B' movie war story.
18. The Desert Rats (1953)
Approved | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Richard Burton plays a Scottish Army officer put in charge of a disparate band of ANZAC troops on the perimeter of Tobruk with the German Army doing their best to dislodge them.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Richard Burton, James Mason, Robert Newton, Robert Douglas
Votes: 5,303
Looks just like many other war films that salute the glories of war.
19. So Big (1953)
Approved | 101 min | Drama, Romance, Western
In the late 1890s, a young widow becomes a successful farmer and can send her son, nicknamed 'So Big', to college. After graduating, he finds a job as an architect, but forgoes his dream in favor of an immediate financial success.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest
Votes: 820
20. Executive Suite (1954)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March
Votes: 4,587
The dramatics are riveting, though it's all superficial and glossy.
21. Helen of Troy (1956)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, History, Romance
The Iliad's story of the Trojan war, told from the Trojan viewpoint.
Directors: Robert Wise, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Stanley Baker, Rossana Podestà, Brigitte Bardot, Jacques Sernas
Votes: 2,508 | Gross: $6.98M
Tedious historical costume drama.
22. Tribute to a Bad Man (1956)
Passed | 95 min | Drama, Romance, Western
With no law within 200 miles horse rancher Jeremy Rodak runs his spread with an iron hand and deals with rustlers even more ruthlessly.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Stephen McNally, Irene Papas
Votes: 1,724
Earns its kudos by showing the rough-and-tumble everyday working life of the cowboy.
23. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Passed | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Boxer Rocky Graziano's biopic, based on his autobiography, from childhood to his World Middleweight Championship title win at age 28 in 1947.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart
Votes: 9,025
Paul Newman's talent is large and flexible, revealing an approach to the Graziano character that scores tremendously.
24. This Could Be the Night (1957)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy
A school teacher takes a secretarial job in a nightclub. The two club owners quibble about a lot, including her. Unfortunately, she develops an interest for the partner who disapproves of her employment at the club.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Jean Simmons, Paul Douglas, Anthony Franciosa, Julie Wilson
Votes: 886
25. Until They Sail (1957)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Romance, War
During WWII, unmarried New Zealand women meet and marry American soldiers who are fighting in the Pacific theater.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Jean Simmons, Paul Newman, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie
Votes: 1,543
Unfortunately there is a good deal of introspective soul-searching before this narrative arrives at its sad and happy endings.
26. Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
Approved | 93 min | Action, Drama, War
A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Brad Dexter
Votes: 13,122
A better submarine film has not been made.
27. I Want to Live! (1958)
Approved | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, Theodore Bikel
Votes: 7,370
Serves as a telling indictment of capital punishment.
28. Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In need of quick money, a fallen former cop recruits a hard-bitten ex-con and a debt-ridden nightclub singer to pull off a bank job. But as the animosity between them boils over, the entire plan threatens to implode.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Shelley Winters
Votes: 5,566
Ambitious but mainly unsuccessful.
29. West Side Story (1961)
Approved | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Musical
Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
Directors: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise | Stars: Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
Votes: 121,254 | Gross: $43.66M
Buoyed by Robert Wise's dazzling direction, Leonard Bernstein's score, and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, West Side Story remains perhaps the most iconic of all the Shakespeare adaptations to visit the big screen.
30. Two for the Seesaw (1962)
Approved | 119 min | Drama, Romance
Robert Wise directs Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine in this spicy and poignant love story about a free-spirited Greenwich Village girl who hooks up with a brooding Nebraska lawyer. In HD.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shirley MacLaine, Edmon Ryan, Elisabeth Fraser
Votes: 2,060 | Gross: $3.82M
Stage-bound and too talky.
31. The Haunting (1963)
G | 112 min | Horror
Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn
Votes: 42,505 | Gross: $2.62M
The artful cinematic strokes of director Robert Wise and staff are not quite enough to override the major shortcomings of Nelson Gidding's screenplay.
32. The Sound of Music (1965)
G | 172 min | Biography, Drama, Family
A young novice is sent by her convent in 1930s Austria to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn
Votes: 261,231 | Gross: $163.21M
Unapologetically sweet and maybe even a little corny, The Sound of Music will win over all but the most cynical filmgoers with its classic songs and irresistible warmth.
33. The Sand Pebbles (1966)
PG-13 | 182 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1926, a U.S. Naval engineer gets assigned to a gunboat on a rescue mission in war-torn China.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen
Votes: 16,438
The drama wavers between being compelling and reaching too far for greater historical significance, that it loses its bearings.
34. Star! (1968)
G | 176 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A musical biography of Gertrude Lawrence, who led a hustling and bustling life on the stage.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, Daniel Massey
Votes: 2,272 | Gross: $9.16M
35. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
G | 131 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what killed the citizens of a small town and how the deadly contagion can be stopped.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: James Olson, Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid
Votes: 40,461 | Gross: $3.42M
Splendid entertainment that will get you worried about whether they'll be able to contain that strange blob of alien green crystal.
36. Two People (1973)
R | 100 min | Drama, Romance
Evan Bonner is an army deserter who returns home to deal with the fallout of his actions. He becomes distracted when he meets attractive model Diedre McCluskey, thinking he's fallen in love.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Peter Fonda, Lindsay Wagner, Estelle Parsons, Alan Fudge
Votes: 247
37. The Hindenburg (1975)
Approved | 125 min | Adventure, Drama, History
A chronicle of the Hindenburg disaster in which a zeppelin burst into flames.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Roy Thinnes
Votes: 6,590 | Gross: $27.95M
Stilted action adventure. You hang around to see which stars will burn to death.
38. Audrey Rose (1977)
PG | 113 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A stranger attempts to convince a happily married couple that their daughter is actually his daughter reincarnated.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Marsha Mason, John Beck, Susan Swift
Votes: 6,689
An old-fashioned thriller.
39. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan
Votes: 96,653 | Gross: $82.26M
Featuring a patchwork script and a dialogue-heavy storyline whose biggest villain is a cloud, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a less-than-auspicious debut for the franchise.
40. Rooftops (1989)
R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A skilled young street fighter battles criminals across the rooftops of New York City.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Jason Gedrick, Troy Byer, Eddie Velez, Tisha Campbell
Votes: 692 | Gross: $2.04M
This romantic musical drama about homeless Manhattan teens living on rooftops doesn't reach any heights.
41. A Storm in Summer (2000 TV Movie)
94 min | Drama
An old Jewish shop owner Mr. Shaddick ('Peter Falk') suddenly finds himself responsible for a little black boy named Herman Washington ('Aaron Meek') trying to escape the chaos of Harlem as... See full summary »
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Peter Falk, Andrew McCarthy, Nastassja Kinski, Ruby Dee
Votes: 514
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