FRIENDLY PERSUASION: Blu-ray (Allied Artists, 1956) Warner Archive
In development for 8 years, William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion (1956) hit theater screens with all the generosity, appeal and heartwarming human interest for which Wyler’s movies are best known and even more widely regarded today. Wyler’s career ought to be taught, critiqued and revered. In his day, he was much appreciated. But for some unpardonable rationale, his name today never seems to garner the renewable interest of a Hitchcock, Hawks, Capra or Cukor. And yet, when directly compared, the breadth of Wyler’s mastery, not to mention his chameleon-like ability to migrate – seemingly with effortlessness – into any genre and make a stunning exemplar of it, is peerless. Could one man really be responsible for Dodsworth (1936), Jezebel (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Heiress (1949), Detective Story (1951), Roman Holiday (1953), The Desperate Hours (1955), The Big Countr
