Better Than Fred Zinneman

I just read Axel Madsen's authorized biography of William Wyler. Wyler was one of those "class" Hollywood directors who won a lot of awards and made well-respected, and often quite successful, films, but doesn't thrill me much. Not that he didn't make a decent film now and then, but his are rarely the type I want to watch more than once.

The bio shows how he worked his way up through the business, and goes into his many years as one of the most exacting directors in town. The great French critic Andre Bazin was a tremendous admirer, but I don't think Wyler's stock is quite as high today. Ultimately, I didn't find his story that absorbing, but I wonder if that's because the bio is authorized, or because I feel the same way about most of his work.