King Wallis Vidor (n. , Galveston(d), Texas, SUA – d. , Paso Robles(d), California, SUA) a fost un regizor, producător de film și scenarist american, a cărui carieră de film întinsă pe o perioadă de 67 de ani a cuprins cu succes perioadele filmului mut și a celui sonor. Lucrările sale se disting printr-o reprezentare vie, umană și înțelegătoare a problemelor sociale contemporane. Considerat regizor de autori, Vidor a abordat mai multe genuri și a permis subiectului să determine stilul, depășind adesea limitele convențiilor de realizare a filmelor.[8]
Cel mai remarcabil și de succes film al său în epoca filmului mut este The Big Parade (1925).[9] Filmele cu sunet ale lui Vidor din anii 1940 și începutul anilor 1950 reprezintă cele mai importante realizări ale sale. Printre cele mai bune filme ale sale se numără Northwest Passage (1940), Comrade X (1940), An American Romance (1944) și Duel in the Sun (1946).[10] Descrierile dramatice ale peisajului vestic american dotează natura cu o forță sinistră în care personajele sale luptă pentru supraviețuire și răscumpărare.[11] Reprezentările sale dramatice ale peisajului occidental american oferă naturii o forță sinistră în care personajele se luptă pentru supraviețuire și răscumpărare.[12][13][14]
1913 The Grand Military Parade
1913 Hurricane in Galveston
1916 The Intrigue
1918 The Lost Lie
1918 Bud's Recruit
1918 The Chocolate of the Gang
1918 Tad's Swimming Hole
1918 The Accusing Toe
1918 I'm a Man
1919 The Turn in the Road
1919 Better Times (sub numele King W. Vidor)
1919 The Other Half (King W. Vidor)
1919 Poor Relations
1920 The Family Honor (King W. Vidor)
1920 The Jack-Knife Man
1921 The Sky Pilot
1921 Love Never Dies
1922 The Real Adventure
1922 Dusk to Dawn
1922 Conquering the Woman
1922 Peg o' My Heart
1923 The Woman of Bronze
1923 Three Wise Fools
1924 Wild Oranges
1924 Happiness
1924 Wine of Youth
1924 His Hour
1924 The Wife of the Centaur
1925 Proud Flesh
1925 The Big Parade
1926 La Bohème
1926 Bardelys the Magnificent
1928 The Crowd
1928 The Patsy, cunoscut și ca The Politic Flapper
1928 Show People
1929 Hallelujah
1930 Not So Dumb
1930 Billy the Kid, titlul american The Highwayman Rides
enBerlinale Retrospective 2020: “...he was actively involved in making movies for 67 years.” And “allowed the material to define the style.” And on “auteur”: “Vidor's status as an auteur is definitely underscored by his independence and by the passion he brought to films. ...Vidor was indeed at times something of an auteur filmmaker. .“ And on “humane”: “There is also a whole series of motifs that repeatedly turn up in his films, and which reflect the things he cared about – issues of class, as well as the issue of race in the US, which he incorporated into his films with a humanist bent...” WSWS Reinhardt 2020: “What distinguished him as an artist was his instinct for substantial and relevant social topics and conflicts.” Gustaffson 2016: “At his best, Vidor “made films about the human condition, about human's moral and physical battles, and the battle between us and nature. Baxter 1976, p. 41: “...Vidor adapted well to sound.”
enPhillips, 2009: “The 141-minute feature was the first silent American movie to deal realistically with the horrors of war and to do it from the standpoint of ordinary soldiers. It was also the most profitable silent-era feature and remained MGM's most successful film until Gone with the Wind in 1939. In some American cities it screened for more than a year.” Also: Decades after its release “it remains a formidable work.” Thomson, 2007: The metronome “sequence seems to have influenced many directors especially Kurosawa and Spielberg.” Reinhardt 2020: “His film The Big Parade (1925) influenced other anti-war classics such as Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).“
enSarris, 1973. P. 27: “...the major directors of 1940 by almost any standard...included King Vidor (Northwest Passage, Comrade X) Baxter 1976. P. 63: The 1940s and early 50s were “Vidor's greatest period...in [his] career.”
enThomson, 2007: “He made films glorifying the effects of Western civilization and its contents, detailing how ordinary men are made extraordinary through their fight against the neutral destructiveness of nature.”
enBaxter 1976: “...the sense of the American landscape...distinguishes his best films. What sets Vidor apart from his contemporaries is...a dark, almost demonic view of the land.” And p. 9: “...Vidor's disquiet about natural forces.”