Editing King Vidor (section)

==M-G-M: 1938–1944==

Upon completion of ''Stella Dallas'' and his disaffection from Samuel Goldwyn, Vidor returned to M-G-M under a five-film contract that would produce ''[[The Citadel (1938 film)|The Citadel]]'' (1938), ''[[Northwest Passage (film)|Northwest Passage]]'' (1940), ''[[Comrade X]]'' (1940), ''[[H. M. Pulham, Esq.]]'' (1941) and ''[[An American Romance]]'' (1944). In 1939, Vidor would also direct the final three weeks of primary filming for ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939).<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 173 and p. 351 re: ''The Wizard of Oz''</ref>

Film historian John Baxter describes the demands that the studio system at M-G-M had on an [[auteur]] director such as Vidor in this period:
{{blockquote |M-G-M's assembly line system caught up with even top directors like Vidor, who could be called on to pass judgment on a new property or even prepare a project, only to find themselves a few days later shifted to something else.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 58</ref>}}

These unconsummated projects at M-G-M include ''[[National Velvet (film)|National Velvet]]'' (1944) and ''[[The Yearling (1946 film)|The Yearling]]'' (1946), the later in which Vidor presided over a failed attempt to produce a population of juvenile deer who would be age-appropriate throughout the production (female deer refused to reproduce out of season). Both films would be completed by the director [[Clarence Brown]].  Vidor further invested six months shooting an [[Amazon River]] survival-adventure, ''The Witch in the Wilderness'' from which he was diverted to perform pre-production for ''Northwest Passage'' (1940). This period would be one of transition for Vidor but would lead to an artistic phase where he created some of his richest and most characteristic works.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 59, p. 61: Vidor's ''Comrade X'' (1940) and ''H. M. Pulham, Esq.'' (1941) "belong to a period of indecision that produced ''So Red the Rose'' (1935) and ''The Texas Rangers'' (1936)... [b]etween 1939 and 1959 his preoccupation was increasingly with nature, industry and vast forces, the stuff on which his best work has always been founded."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 174</ref>

'''''[[The Citadel (1938 film)|The Citadel]]''''': The first picture under the contract and the first under the Screen Directors Guild (SDG) was ''The Citadel'' in 1938. Filmed in England at a time the British government and trade unions had placed restrictions designed to extract a portion of the highly lucrative American movie exports to the British Isles. M-G-M, as a tactical olive branch, agreed to hire British actors as cast members for ''The Citadel'' and provided them generous compensation. (American actress [[Rosalind Russell]] and Vidor were the only two non-Britons who served on the film's production).<ref>Baxter, 1976 pp. 55–56<br />Reilly, TMC</ref>

The movie is a close adaptation of [[A. J. Cronin]]'s [[The Citadel (novel)|novel of the same name]], an exposé of the mercenary aspects of the medical profession that entices doctors to serve the upper-classes at the expense of the poor. Vidor's Christian Science-inspired detachment from the medical profession influence his handling of the story, in which an independent doctor's cooperative is favored over both socialized medicine and a profit-driven medical establishment.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 207: Vidor "keep[s] faith with Cronin's attack on the mercenary spirit of the medical profession…" And: Hollywood would have rejected "an equally incisive attack on the American medicine…" And p. 209: "the cooperative ideal in the middle way between the dangers of socialism and the problems of an aggressively mercenary medical service…"</ref>

The protagonist, Dr. Andrew Manson ([[Robert Donat]]) ultimately resorts to an act of anarchism by using explosives to destroy a disease-producing sewer, but emerges personally vindicated.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988:  p. 217: "...Manson's public defeat and private victory in ''The Citadel''." And p. 213: "...the destructive renunciations that haunt The Citadel..." And p. 227: "...the muckraking tradition behind The Citadel..." And p. 321: "...''The Citadel''....protest against big business, intellectual trendiness, media control and an apathetic public [in which] Vidor celebrates, not quite terrorism, but 'direct action' with dynamite." <br />Baxter, 1976 p. 57: On the "blow up" of the sewer.</ref> 
A success at the Academy Awards, the film garnered nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Donat), Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.<ref>Reilly, TMC</ref>

During the late 1930s M-G-M enlisted Vidor to assume artistic and technical responsibilities, some of which went uncredited.  The most outstanding of these was his shooting of the black-and-white "[[Kansas]]" sequences in ''The Wizard of Oz'', including the notable musical production in which Dorothy [[Judy Garland]] sings "[[Over the Rainbow]]". Portions of the Technicolor sequences that depict Dorothy and her companions lulled into sleep on a field of poppies were also handled by Vidor.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 58: Over the Rainbow, "the film's most famous sequence…"<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 173-174: "...Hollywood's most fondly remembered musical number, "Over the Rainbow."<br />Galleghar, 2007: "No other director gave Judy Garland comparable moments" as in the Wizard of Oz sequences.</ref>
[[File:Judy Garland Over the Rainbow 2.jpg|thumb|Vidor directed the black & white sequences for The Wizard of Oz (1939), including [[Judy Garland]] singing [[Over the Rainbow]]]]
The sound era saw the eclipse of the Western movie that had its heyday in the silent era and by the 1930s the genre was relegated to the producers of [[B movie]]s. By the end of the decade high-budget films depicting the [[Indian Wars]] in the America of the 18th and 19th century reappeared, notably [[John Ford|Ford]]'s ''[[Drums Along the Mohawk]]'' (1939) and [[Cecil B. DeMille|DeMille]]'s ''[[North West Mounted Police (film)|North West Mounted Police]]'' (1940)<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 185: "the A Western, as predicted, was moribund between 1931 and 1939–or it was perhaps held siege by the nearly one thousand B Westerns of those years." And p. 190 on Ford and DeMille. And "a resurgence of A Westerns generally" in the late 1930s</ref>

In the summer of 1939, Vidor began filming in [[Idaho]] a Western-themed picture using the new [[Technicolor]] system. The picture that emerged is one of his "master works": ''Northwest Passage'' (1940).<ref>Baxter 1976 p, 63, p. 66: "...unmistakably a master work."<br />Silver, 2012: "Whatever its moral and racist implications might be, it is, like the whole of Northwest Passage, undeniably an extraordinary piece of filmmaking."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 174: "...eight weeks of Idaho location work (made particularly cumbersome by Technicolor cameras)."</ref>

'''''[[Northwest Passage (film)|Northwest Passage]]''''': Based on [[Northwest Passage (novel)|an American colonial-era epic novel]], the film describes a punitive expedition against an [[Abenaki]] (Iroquois) village by a unit of British Army [[irregulars]] during the [[French and Indian Wars]]. Major Robert Rogers (Spencer Tracy) leads his green-clad "Roberts Rangers" on a grueling trek through 200 miles of wilderness. The Rangers fall upon the village and brutally exterminate the inhabitants who are suspected of assaulting white settlements. A demoralized retreat ensues led by Rogers. Under retaliatory attack by Indians and a savage landscape the Rangers are pushed to the limits of their endurance, some reduced to cannibalism and madness.<ref>Baxter, 1976 pp. 6465<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 186: "Northwest Passage's savage anti-indianism…" And p. 190: "the carnivorous streak in Northwest Passage." And "the single most ferocious pre-WWII film…"</ref>

The script by [[Laurence Stallings]] and [[Talbot Jennings]] (and several uncredited writers) conveys the unabashed anti-Indian hatred that motivates Roger's men to their task.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: The scripts "astonishing [anti-Indian] rhetoric..."<br />Nixon, TMC: "Racial hatred pervades the film, erupting in the action sequences or even among the Rangers in casual scenes where they jokingly banter with each other. However, audiences at the time of the picture's release were willing to overlook that and accept the script's 'justification' for the hatred, claiming retaliation for brutal attacks against settlers."</ref> The level of violence anticipates [[film noir]] of the post-World War II period and the [[McCarthyism|McCarthy era]].<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 190: "The crescendo of violent anticipates film noir."</ref>
 
Vidor began filming in July 1939, just weeks before war was declared in Europe and the [[Isolationism|isolationist]] or [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionist]] policies were widely debated. The film influenced tropes that appeared in subsequent war films, depicting small military units operating behind enemy lines and relying on harsh tactics to destroy enemy combatants. The relevance of ''Northwest Passage''{{'}}s sanguinary adventurer to contemporary Americans confronted with a looming world war is never made explicit but raises moral questions on "military virtue" and how a modern war might be conducted. Though Vidor was "anti-fascist"  his political predilections are left unstated in ''Northwest Passage''.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 12: "...Vidor's most ferocious film Northwest Passage (1940) – which can be read as a call for World War II intervention by interventionists, and as a call to strenuous self-reliance by [[isolationists]]." And p. 196: Vidor a "pre-mature anti-fascist" who supported the Spanish loyalists in the [[Spanish Civil War]].  And...The film "is impeccably balanced between isolation and intervention" allowing the audience to decide for themselves. And p. 192-193: Vidor uses "what were to become favorite motifs of later war films...." And p. 198: The film's "...disquiet about military virtues..." And p. 199: "Northwest Passage comes close to denying us the complacency of imagining we can derive some general rule about the spirit in which war should be waged."</ref>
Vidor established an unusually close professional relationship with the film's star, Spencer Tracy, and the actor delivered what Vidor considered a performance of "tremendous conviction".<ref>Silver, 2012: "Spencer Tracy's character is strikingly similar to Nathan Brittles, the [[John Wayne]] role in Ford's great ''[[She Wore a Yellow Ribbon]]'' a decade later ... Tracy's [characterization] both autocratic and idealistic ... a classic American hero."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 63</ref>

Vidor used the new three-strip [[Technicolor]] camera system (the two huge 800-pound [365&nbsp;kg] cameras had to be transported by train). The color photography conveys more than the scenic beauty of [[Payette Lake]], injecting documentary realism into key sequences. Notable are those of the Rangers portaging boats through a rugged mountain pass, and the famous river "human chain" crossing. Despite its enormous box office earnings, ''Northwest Passage'' failed to recoup its $2&nbsp;million production costs. The cinematography earned an Oscer nomination in that category.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 64: Vidor "rejected the merely scenic ... opportunities…"  And p. 66: Vidor's "documentary realism"<br />Nixon, TMC: "Vidor had significant challenges making the movie in color. For one thing, the tough location shoot required that the bulky equipment needed to shoot in Technicolor had to be transported in two trains to the remote Idaho setting in McCall and the Payette Lake region ... The most demanding scene for the actors involved the filming of the "human chain" employed by the Rangers to cross a treacherous body of water."  And "viewers flocked to see the epic. Unfortunately, costs had run to well over $2 million ... so even with packed houses failed to turn a profit.</ref>

'''''[[Comrade X]]''''': A political comedy set in the Soviet Union, ''Comrade X'' (1940) was conceived as a vehicle for M-G-M's glamorous acquisition [[Hedy Lamarr]], in the hopes they might duplicate the profits they reaped from M-G-M star [[Greta Garbo]] in [[Ninotchka]] (1939). "Comrade" X is played by [[Clark Gable]], a cynical American journalist who exposes Stalin-era cultural falsifications in his dispatches to his newspaper in the United States. Lamarr plays a Moscow tram conductor. Her coldly logical persona ultimately proves susceptible to Gable's America-inspired enthusiasms. Released in December 1940, the scurrilous tone of the dialogue toward the USSR officials was consistent with US government posture in the aftermath of the [[Hitler–Stalin Pact]] of August 1939. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 (after America's entry into WWII in December 1941), Russians became US allies in the war effort against the [[Axis powers]]. Reflecting these developments, M-G-M executives, just six months after the film's release, inserted a disclaimer assuring audiences that the movie was only a farce, not a hostile critique of the USSR. Writer [[Walter Reisch]], who also scripted Ninotchka, earned an Oscar nomination for best original story.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 352-353: The film is addressed only in the Filmography section, not in the body of book.<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 58: Comrade X, "an unabashed self-plagiarism by MGM of its 1939 success Ninotchka"</ref><ref>Fristoe, TMC: See article for Reisch and Oscar award. Also see Fristoe for Gable/Lamaar film characters.<br />Berlinale, 2020: "Just as Lubitsch's classic was a jab at the autocracy of the Soviet Union in the era of the Hitler-Stalin pact, Comrade X paid homage to the anti-authoritarian spirit of [[Weimar]]-era cinema."</ref>

Vidor disparaged the picture as "an insignificant light comedy" that afforded him "a change of pace."<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 352–353</ref> Vidor's next picture would be a cold-eyed examination of the institution of marriage and a much more personal work: ''H.M. Pulham, Esq.'' (1941).<ref>Durgham and Simmons, 1988 p. 205: "...a stark view of the institution [of marriage], H. M. Pulham, Esq...a film he considered most personal."</ref>

'''''[[H. M. Pulham, Esq.]]''''': With wife and screenwriting partner Elizabeth Hill, Vidor adapted [[John P. Marquand]]'s highly popular novel of the same name. A story of a married man tempted to revive an affair with an old flame, Vidor draws upon memories of a failed romance from his own youth.<ref>Callahan, 2007: "The book had been a best seller...MGM estimated that more than 5 million people had read it." And "Vidor used a failed love affair from his own life as an inspiration for the dynamics in this film."<br /> Miller, TMC: Background on Vidor 1925 failed affair..<br />Durgham and Simmons, 1988 p. 174: "...Vidor and Elizabeth Hill shared script credit." And p. 205: "But as so often with Vidor in the thirties, marriage itself gets a rough going over. He fought for a stark view of the institution in... H. M. Pulham, Esq...a feature [of the film] he considered most personal" and Durgham and Simmons "can't think of another director whose portrayal of marriage is so bleak."</ref>

Harry Pulham (Robert Young), a member of the New England's conservative upper-middle class, is stultified by the respectable routines of life and a proper marriage to his wife Kay (Ruth Hussey). Vidor examines Pulham's past in a series of flashbacks that reveal a youthful affair Harry had with an ambitious German immigrant, Marvin Myles (Hedy Lamarr) at a New York advertising agency.  They prove incompatible, largely due to different class orientation and expectations: Marvin pursues her dynamic career in New York and Harry returns to the security of his Bostonian social establishment. In an act of desperate nostalgia, Pulham attempts to rekindle the relationship 20 years later, to no avail. His attempt at rebellion failed, Harry Pulham consciously submits to a life of conformity that falls short of freedom but offers self-respect and a modest contentment.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 212-213: The film examines the virtues of "abstention from revolt...It asserts a suburban routine and its sedate virtue, when deliberately chosen, as a form of freedom. [The film's] whole structure is dedicated to this twist." (See Synopsis on same pages). And p. 214: In New York, Harry Pulham is "stunned to find a woman [Marvin Myles, played by Hedy Lamarr] driven by a zeal he's known, and then only infrequently, in men." And p. 216: Pulham, confronted with the advertising girl...withdraws" back to New England.</ref>

''H. M. Pulham, Esq'' was completed by Vidor after years of manufacturing "conventional successes" for M-G-M.  The calm certitude of Harry Pulham in the face of enforced conformity may reflect Vidor's determination to artistically address larger issues in contemporary American society. His next, and final movie for M-G-M, would be the "Steel" component of his "War, Wheat and Steel" film trilogy: ''An American Romance'' (1944).
<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 206: A film "highly regarded in its day...with Vidor receiving his best reviews since his MGM silents." And "Vidor's chastened, subdued affirmations that….what an individual might accomplish is a sober rather than a heroic one." And p. 219: "It is tempting to suggest H.M Pulham, Esq is attempt by Vidor to vindicate an aspect of his own career – the turn it had been taking at M-G-M. It's a vindication impersonality."And p. 221: In the 1940s under the "tightly knit" production of Louis B. Mayer "Vidor found himself going to work in the morning like H.M.Pulham."</ref><ref>Baxter 1976 p. 61: The film style Vidor applied in H.M Pulham, Esq "a style..he had decided to forget" And: "Between 1939 and 1959 [Vidor's] preoccupation was to increasingly be with nature, industry and vast forces, the stuff on which his best work has always been founded."<br />Higham, 1972: ''The Big Parade'' and ''Our Daily Bread''...were the first and second parts of a trilogy Vidor thought of as "War, Wheat and Steel." It was not until 1944...that Vidor got the chance to make the "Steel" portion..."An American Romance." And "conventional successes"<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 61: Vidor on actor Robert Young: "...a superb actor without a single problem…" And "In a series of flashbacks recalling an uneventful life of rectitude and quiet achievement, the film developed a character of dignity and charm..."</ref>

'''''[[An American Romance]]''''': Rather than demonstrate his patriotism by joining a military film unit Vidor attempted to create a paean to American democracy. His 1944 An American Romance represents the "steel" installment of Vidor's "War, Wheat and Steel" trilogy and serves as his "industrial epic".and emerged from an extremely convoluted screenwriting evolution.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 222: "...industrial epic…" And p. 223: "...a chaos of revisions, even by Hollywood standards." See footnote on same page for chronology.<br />Higham, 1972: On "trilogy".<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 174: Vidor "preferring not to join a military film unit [he concentrated] on a patriotic saga of industrial and immigrant success, 'an ideal of American democracy'...[and] three years" of effort and multiple scripts to create An American Romance." And p. 221: The function of Vidor's film was to "sustain morale and confidence for audiences" during wartime.</ref> Vidor personifies the relationship between man and the natural resources on which struggles to impose his purpose on nature.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 66: "personifies the conflict between man and nature" And p. ? "dramatize with typical Vidor romanticism the possibilities in the battle with nature if only&nbsp;... one will sacrifice all and not be swerved."<br />Higham, 1972: "Disappointed in the film, many critics noted that Vidor was now celebrating the individualist against the masses in his central figure of a Ford-like tycoon."</ref>

The lead role of immigrant Stefan Dubechek was offered to Spencer Tracy but the actor declined, an acute disappointment for the director who had greatly admired Tracy's performance in his ''Northwest Passage'' (1940).<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 63: "Tracy's success in Northwest Passage made his refusal to star in An American Romance even more hurtful to Vidor."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 223: See here for details on Tracy's decision and other factors.</ref> Vidor's dissatisfaction with the studio's casting, including lead [[Brian Donlevy]], led Vidor to concentrate on the industrial landscape to reveal the motivations of his characters.<ref>Baxter, 1976 pp. 66–67: The "actors&nbsp;... subservient to the landscape".<br />Callahan, 2007: Vidor "was eventually saddled with Brian Donlevy and Ann Richards, supporting players of limited range and appeal.'<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 175: "The eventual cast may have been ruinous" to the film's success.</ref>

Despite producer Louis B. Mayer's personal enthusiasm for the picture, his studio deleted 30 minutes from the movie, mostly essential human interest sequences and only preserving the abundant documentary scenes. Disgusted by M-G-M's mutilations, Vidor terminated his 20-year association with the studio.<ref>Baxter. 1976 pp. 66–67: Baxter lists the family scenes deleted that retained "would have made it less of a stylized spectacular."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 175: "MGM cut 30 minutes after its release" and Vidor quit MGM "deeply discouraged."And p. 6: A "permanent rupture" with MGM. See p. 6 and p. 221 for Louis B. Mayer's "gushing" remark to Vidor that it was "the greatest picture our company ever made" And p. 232: On mutilation of the film "half-chopped lap-dissolves" made in "haste".</ref> The film received negative reviews and was a financial failure. Some critics noted a shift in Vidor's focus from working class struggles to celebrating the ascent of a "[[Henry Ford|Ford]]-like" industrial magnate. Film historian [[Raymond Durgnat]] considers the picture "his least personal, artistically weakest and most spiritually confused."<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 6: for quote. And p. 232: "The critical reaction to the film was overwhelmingly negative."<br />Higham, 1972: "Disappointed in the film, many critics noted that Vidor was now celebrating the individualist against the masses in his central figure of a Ford-like tycoon."</ref><ref>Callahan, 2007: "American Romance is one of those broken films that gropes compellingly for ultimate answers. It remains Vidor's most concentrated attempt at dramatizing the galvanizing power that leads a man to work and get ahead."</ref>

The failure of ''An American Romance'', after an artistic investment of three years, staggered Vidor and left him deeply demoralized. The break with M-G-M presented an opportunity to establish a more satisfying relationship with other studio producers. Emerging from this "spiritual" nadir he would create a Western of great intensity: ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946).<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 6 And p. 232: On "spirit" And p. 232: "in some real way, the experience altered Vidor's spirit. His post-war films are turbulent, almost spiritually desperate." And p. 235: "severing the bond with MGM was just the needed jolt" Vidor required to inspire him to continue filmmaking.<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 68: See here for Vidor's troubling "conflicts" with "domineering moguls" under whose influence he was "pressured to do his best."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 68: "perhaps the greatest outdoor film of the forties."</ref>

===A sound era magnum opus: ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946)===

At the end of 1944 Vidor considered a number of projects, including a remake of his silent era [[Wild Oranges]] (1924), this time with producer [[David O. Selznick]].<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 235</ref>

When Selznick purchased the rights to [[Niven Busch]]'s novel ''Duel in the Sun'' in 1944, Vidor agreed to rewrite [[Oliver H. P. Garrett]]'s screenplay and direct a miniature Western, "small" but "intense".  Selznick's increasingly grandiose plans for the production involved his wish to promote the career of actress-mistress [[Jennifer Jones]] and to create a movie rivaling his successful 1939 ''Gone with the Wind''. Selzick's personal and artistic ambitions for ''Duel in the Sun'' led to conflicts with Vidor over development of the themes which emphasized "sex, violence and spectacle".<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 239</ref> Vidor walked off the set just before primary filming was completed, unhappy with Selznick's intrusive management. The producer would enlist eight additional directors to complete the picture. Though the final cut was made without Vidor's participation, the production reflects the participation of these talented filmmakers, among them [[William Dieterle]] and [[Josef von Sternberg]]. Vidor was awarded sole screen credit after [[Directors Guild of America|Directors Guild]] arbitration.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: pp. 238–239: Selznick "planning a modest Western which expanded as he went along, until he proclaimed his ambition to&nbsp;... 'top' Gone with the Wind." And Vidor considered Garrett's script "dull" and wished to limit the film to a "small" but "intense Western situation." And Selznick's repeated "script revisions" delivered in person on the set led Vidor to withdraw amid "mutual recriminations"<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 235: On Selznick and Vidor And p. 239: Screen Guild arbitration. And p. 239-240: On the beneficial influence of "many hands" in a "concerto, not a solo" effort.<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 68: "The hand of Selznick lies heavily but not without a sureness of touch" on the film. And p. 69: ""Selznick&nbsp;... tried to recapture the scope and vivacity of Gone with the Wind. And: "The interference [by Selznick] of which Vidor complained added significantly to the film's success&nbsp;... Vidor found the constant presence of Selznick on the set galling and he walked off when the film was not quite completed." <br />Callahan, 2007: "The movie is more Selznick than Vidor, who finally walked off the set in frustration at the impresario's compulsive suggestions."<br />Silver, 1982: "We will probably never know for sure just how much of the film was directed by Vidor, Sternberg, William Dieterle, Otto Brower, or David O. Selznick.</ref> 
<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 243: Duel in the Sun "marks a shift...to ''film noir'' [that incorporated] neurotic violence and in vindicating a 'notorious'  woman."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p.243: "...probably the second ''film noir'' in Technicolor after [[Leave Her to Heaven]]."</ref>

''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' is a [[melodrama]]tic treatment of a Western theme concerning a conflict between two generations of the McCanles family. The elderly and crippled McCanles [[Lionel Barrymore]] presides with an iron fist over his a vast cattle estate with his invalid wife Laura Belle Candles [[Lillian Gish]]. Their two sons, Lewt and Jess, are polar opposites: the educated Jess "the good son" [[Joseph Cotten]] takes after his refined mother, while Lewt "the bad son" [[Gregory Peck]] emulates his domineering cattle baron father. The adoption of the young orphan girl Pearl Chavez, the "half-breed" offspring of a European gentleman and a native-American mother, whom Pearl's father has murdered and been executed for his crime, introduces a fatal element into the McCanles family. The ''film noir'' ending includes an attempted fratricide and a suicide-like love pact, destroying the McCanles family.<ref>Silver, 1982: "Duel in the Sun is 'the tale of a sun blistered romance involving a half-breed Indian girl and two dagger-eyed Texas brothers, one of them very good and the other very bad' ([[Bosley Crowther]], N.Y. Times)."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p.243: ''Duel in the Sun'' marked a new, cautious liberalization of Hollywood's attitudes to America's assorted race prejudices..." And p.243: ''Duel in the Sun'' "is racist in the interesting sense of especially admiring a ''different'' ethnicity. Pearl Chavez's "half-breed" blood is rich blood, not bad blood, and whatever strain of passion she has too much of, the McCanles have too little of." (italics in original)</ref>
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|align=right|fontsize=90%|salign=right|quote= The iconic film director [[D. W. Griffith]], famous for his silent classics ''[[Broken Blossoms]]'' (1919) and ''[[Way Down East]]'' (1920) both starring Lillian Gish, visited the ''Duel in the Sun'' set unannounced during filming. Abashed, Gish and co-star Barrymore became tongue-tied. Vidor was compelled to insist that Griffith withdraw, and the chastened Griffith complied graciously.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p.70</ref><ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p.251: a brief remark on the Griffith-Gish-Barrymore incident by Durgnat.</ref>}}

The "unbridled sexuality"  portrayed by Vidor between Pearl and Lewt created a furor that drew criticism from the US Congressmen and film censors, which led to the studio cutting several minutes before its final release.<ref>Miller, TMC: ''Duel in the Sun'' elicited "complaints in Congress about the picture's unbridled sexuality."<br />Simmons, 2004: "...the film's delirious pitch is recognizably in Vidor's best postwar mode. In an attempt to quell the censorship furor, Duel was cut by nine minutes before wide release." And "Lust in the Dust" quote, "...a lurid tale..."</ref>

Selznick launched ''Duel in the Sun'' in hundreds of theaters, backed by a multiple-million dollar promotional campaign. Despite the film's poor critical reception (termed "Lust in the Dust" by its detractors) the picture's box office returns rivaled the highest-grossing film of the year, ''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'' (1946).<ref>Miller, TMC: Selznick, "opening the film in hundreds of theaters around the country rather than starting slowly in a few first-run houses...[Duel in the Sun] proved a box-office bonanza as audiences, prodded by a $2 million publicity campaign, raced to see the film wherever it played. Despite pretty awful reviews, the picture grossed $10 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of the year (behind [[The Best Years of Our Lives]]). And "Lust in the Dust" quote</ref>

Film archivist Charles Silver offered this appraisal of the Vidor-Selznick collaboration:

{{blockquote|"[W]hen Pearl Chavez (Jennifer Jones) rides out to kill Lewt (Gregory Peck), she is uncannily transformed into a phantasm of a young resolute Mrs. McCanles (Lillian Gish), thus killing the son she despises via the daughter she never had. This is perhaps the most outrageous conceit of an entirely outrageous movie, and it is brilliant. As [[Andrew Sarris]] has said: 'In cinema, as in all art, only those who risk the ridiculous have a real shot at the sublime.' In Duel in the Sun, an older, less hopeful, but still enterprising King Vidor came damn close to the bullseye."<ref>Silver, 1982</ref><ref>Thomson, 2007: "The film still has scenes – like the sado-masochistic conclusion where Jones and Gregory Peck kill each other in a harsh rocky landscape – that are a novel injection of disturbed psychology in the Western genre. It is the model of Hollywood going over the top – yet it would not be as vivid without Vidor.</ref>}}

====''On Our Merry Way'' (''A Miracle Can Happen''), Universal Studios 1948====

In the aftermath of his critical failures in ''An American Romance'' (1944) and ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946), Vidor disengaged from Hollywood film production to purchase his Willow Creek Ranch in [[Paso Robles, California]].<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 236: Both films "production disasters."</ref>

''A Miracle Can Happen'' (1948) is a film sketch that Vidor participated in with co-director [[Leslie Fenton]] during this period of relative inactivity. A "low-budget" [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] release of the early [[baby boom]] era, this "omnibus"  presents vignettes filmed or performed by an array of actors and directors (some of them returning from service in the armed forces) among them [[Burgess Meredith]], [[Paulette Goddard]], [[Dorothy Lamour]], [[James Stewart]], [[John Huston]] and [[George Stevens]]. (An episode with British actor [[Charles Laughton]] was cut from the final release, a disappointment to Vidor.) The picture's title was changed shortly after opening to ''[[On Our Merry Way]]'' to promote its comedic virtues. Vidor dismissed the film from his oeuvre in later years.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 70: Vidor "omitted the picture from his filmography" and "Little of the film bears serious consideration." See also for actors involved..<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 355-356: see analysis and details in short Filmography overview</ref>

In 1948 Vidor was diverted from making a series of 16mm Westerns for [[History of television|television]] and produced on his ranch when [[Warner Brothers]] studios approached him to direct an adaption of author [[Ayn Rand]]'s controversial novel ''[[The Fountainhead]]''. Vidor immediately accepted the offer.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 236: "A 26-episode serial of Westerns for television." And Warner's' offer to direct ''The Fountainhead''. "Vidor was immediately keen on it."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 71: "controversial novel…"</ref>

===Warner Brothers: 1949–1951===

Vidor's three films for Warner Brothers studios—''[[The Fountainhead]]'' (1949), ''[[Beyond the Forest]]'' (1949) and ''[[Lightning Strikes Twice (1951 film)|Lightning Strikes Twice]]'' (1951)—were crafted to reconcile the excessive and amoral violence displayed in his ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' (1946) with a constructive presentation of American individualism that comported with his Christian Science precepts of morality.<ref>Higham, 1972: "The Fountainhead" and "Beyond the Forest" with "Ruby Gentry," in which Jennifer Jones played a ferocious "free woman," became a trilogy.</ref><ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 255-256: Vidor wished to reclaim the "lost faith" that "America (and Hollywood) in the transcendent energy that had brought his heroes moral success..."The Fountainhead, Beyond the Forest and...Lightning Strikes Twice can each be seen as responses to Duel in the Sun...to show some constructive resolution...[and] despite some extremely violent sequences [Vidor] maintained his lifelong sympathy for Christian Science." And: "In general, Vidor's films are less concerned with right and wrong than with the harmony of soul and action...resilience is a better protection than strict justice, whose meticulous observance would destroy energy in everybody."</ref>

'''''[[The Fountainhead (film)|The Fountainhead]]''''' (1949): Unhappy with the screen adaptation offered by Warner Brothers for [[Ayn Rand]]'s 1938 novel ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', Vidor asked the author to write the script. Rand accepted but inserted a caveat into her contract requiring that she authorize any deviation from the book's story or dialogue. Vidor accepted the provision.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 267: "Vidor was under contractual constraint to follow the book."</ref>

Rand's political philosophy of [[Objectivism]] is distilled through the character of architect Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), who adopts an uncompromising stance on the physical integrity of his proposed designs. When one of his architectural projects is compromised, he destroys the building with dynamite. At his trial, Roark offers a principled and forthright defense for his act of sabotage and is exonerated by the jury. Though Vidor was committed to developing his own populist notion of American individualism, Rand's didactic Objectivist scenario and script informs much of the film. The Roark character is loosely based on the architect [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], both in the novel and Vidor's film version.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 262: The Fountainhead is a "uniquely right-wing contribution" to the films of this period.<br />Stafford, TMC: "The Fountainhead, despite its shortcomings as a film adaptation of the book, remains a fascinating curiosity in the history of American film. Its righteous view of capitalism and morality place it firmly in the pantheon of right-wing conservative cinema And: "Ayn Rand's best-selling novel, The Fountainhead, which espoused her philosophy of Objectivism, a belief in the integrity of the individual and a general contempt for the mediocre standards accepted by the masses. And "The film version, based on Ayn Rand's screenplay of her novel, preserves her didactic dialogue while placing the main characters, essentially symbolic stand-ins for opposing ideologies."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 259: "Rand's own screen adaption was not merely explicit, but quite didactic."<br />Shaw, 2013. "[M]ost mainstream Hollywood films that deal with politics have delivered a populist message. Not so with the film version of Ayn Rand's hit novel The Fountainhead, which is a paean to radical individualism. Few films have ever so explicitly expressed a political ideology."<br />Thomson, 2007: "A conventional script was written, but when it proved unsatisfactory, Rand took up the task for free – as long as no one messed with her dialogue."<br />Callahan, 2007: "It's filmed like a silent movie, and as Rand's ludicrous dialogue keeps coming at you at an unmodulated volume, you start to wish that it was...the whole thing is a silly stacked deck filled with crude, vague ideas, and it cannot be said that Vidor entirely overcomes the problems of the source material."<br />Shaw, 2013: "Rand ensured that this one would do so by negotiating an unprecedented clause in her screenplay contract that mirrored the demands of her protagonist, Howard Roark: she was guaranteed it would be filmed as she wrote it."<br />Higham, 1972: "Vidor's earlier movies had tended to emphasize the virtues of the common man. But gradually he came to believe that the individualist was the most important of beings, that a man must ignore received opinion and hold ruthlessly to what he believes."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 72: Frank Lloyd Wright<br />Shaw, 2013: "Rand was convinced that the New Deal had undermined the unique nature of American democracy, and The Fountainhead was an attempt to restore it to its former glory."</ref><ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 258: "...the novel's rage seems directed at the New Deal..."</ref>

Vidor's most outstanding cinematic innovation in ''The Fountainhead'' is his highly stylized images of the [[Manhattan]] high-rise interiors and skylines. The urban landscapes, created by Art Director [[Edward Carrere]] were strongly influenced by [[German Expressionism]] and contribute to the film's compelling ''film noir'' character. The eroticism inherent in the sets resonate with the on-screen sexual tension, augmented by the off-screen affair between Cooper and [[Patricia Neal]], who plays the architect's ally-adversary Dominique Francon.
<ref>Stafford, TMC: The Fountainhead's "large, artificial sets designed by [[Edward Carrere]] who was heavily influenced by [[German Expressionism]]."<br />Simmons, 1988: "Vidor pulled out all the stops for his stylized adaptation of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, the doggedly epic apotheosis of her theories of socially beneficial selfishness."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 259: "The Fountainhead forges a new language, borrowing ''film noir''{{'}}s angles and darkness, its paranoia, its focus on a beleaguered or tormented individual."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 72: "In The Fountainhead...New York Skyscrapers are the real focus, rather than the character of Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), the uncompromising architect who destroys his work rather see its purity impaired." And p. 71: "...the central impression of The Fountainhead is one of stylization..." And p.73: "The Fountainhead's most remarkable quality is the stylization at which Vidor so accurately aimed."<br />Callahan, 2007: The Fountainhead's "enormous, arid set design, its obsession with an individual's rights and its erotic suggestiveness, The Fountainhead is a film that exemplifies Vidor's 'mind over matter'outlook perfectly."<br />Gustafsson 2016: "''The Fountainhead''", which is all décor and design and has a graphic look that sometimes makes it feel like a painting by [[Kazimir Malevich]]."<br />Thomson, 2007: "Vidor could see that she and Cooper were falling madly in love and was able to capture their chemistry on screen."<br />Callahan, 2007: "The two actors [Cooper and Neal] fell in love during the shooting, which comes across on screen."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 72-73: On Cooper and Neal affair, influence on film.<br />Simmons, 1988: "What propels the film is Vidor's rapid staging and Robert Burks' noir cinematography...Visually at least, it's easy to glimpse expressionist echoes of the director of [[The Crowd (1928 film)|The Crowd]]. For all The Fountainhead's thoroughly deranged sexual politics, it refreshingly avoids Hollywood timidity. It's an oddball movie, no doubt, but with the strength of its convictions: the triumph of "the supreme egoist."</ref>

''The Fountainhead'' enjoyed profitable box-office returns but a poor critical reception. Satisfied with his experience at Warner's, Vidor signed a two-film contract with the studio. In his second picture he would direct Warner's most prestigious star [[Bette Davis]] in [[Beyond the Forest]] (1949).<ref>Thomson, 2007: "The movie was released in June 1949, and it was another hit for Vidor, but it was not reviewed kindly."</ref><ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 236: "The relatively happy production experience led him to sign a two picture contract with Warners." And: Beyond the Forest "came with a star set..."</ref>

'''''Beyond the Forest (1949)''''': A lurid ''noir'' melodrama that tracks the descent of a petty-bourgeois [[Madame Bovary]]-like character, Rosa Moline (Bette Davis) into marital infidelity, murder and a sordid death, the picture has earned a reputation as a "[[Camp (style)|Camp]]" classic. The film is often cited for providing the phrase "What a dump!", appropriated by playwright [[Edward Albee]] in his 1962 ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' and its 1966 ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)|screen]]'' adaptation.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 271 And p. 308: Durgnat considers Beyond the Forest and Flaubert's Madame Bovary "approximate pairs" in theme.<br />Melville, 2013: "hailed by Bad Movie Aficionados as "arguably the definitive high camp" picture. And: "...mimicked to death by three generations of drag queens – has reduced a complex and fascinating film to the status of a camp joke." <br />Greven, 2011: "King Vidor's 1949 film Beyond the Forest is, for many, a film chiefly notable for having provided the inspiration for a famous moment in Edward Albee's 1962 play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. " And "...the film's aesthetic, feminist, and queer worth [contradict] conventional dismissals of it, dismissals that...are the core logic within its designation as a Camp classic."<br />Levy, 2005: "'What a dump' she exclaims...making this line immortal as high camp."<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 269-270: Edward Albee use of "What a Dump! And p. 278: "...the film touches on film noir expressionism..."</ref>

Despising the role assigned her by producer [[Jack L. Warner|Jack Warner]] and feuding with director Vidor over her character's portrayal, Davis delivers a startling performance and one of the best of her mid-career. The role of Rosa Molina would be her last film with Warner Brothers after seventeen years with the studio.<ref>Thomson, 2007: "Vidor and the actress did not get on well, but the lyrical melodrama and mix of ugliness and passion in Davis' character, a Midwest Emma Bovary, is more impressive than the film's reputation suggests."<br />Callahan, 2007: "...certainly the best-directed Bette Davis movie and still in need of extensive retrospective rehabilitation." <br />Hampton, 2013: "She never gave a shriller, more unmodulated performance, though maybe that's the wrong word: hating the role with every fiber of her being, her performance feels more like an act of resistance than a piece of acting."<br />Melville, 2013: "Given the tensions between the star and her role, it makes sense that Vidor should focus the film on Rosa's own problematic self-image. Throughout his career, Vidor showed a fondness for "wild" women, who might give themselves sexually or emotionally – but would never submit to a male-dominated society, or play the game by male rules."<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 236: "...the film was her last with the studio, for whom she had worked for seventeen years..."</ref>

Vidor's characterization of Davis as the unsophisticated [[Gorgon]]-like Rosa (the film was titled ''La Garce'', ''[The Bitch]'', in French releases) were widely rejected by her fans and contemporary film critics and reviews "were the worst of Vidor's career." 
<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 278: "worst" of his career.<br />Levy, 2005: "She is presented as an enigma, a mystery that needs to be resolved. Rosa not only acts callous, she also looks mean. Wearing a wig of long black hair, Bette Davis is heavily made up, looking like a grotesque caricature."<br />Callahan, 2007: "Beyond the Forest (1949) is certainly the most unheralded of Vidor's major films, mainly because everyone involved with it, especially its vitriolic star, Bette Davis, kept badmouthing it for years."<br />Greven, 2011: "A scandalous box-office and critical failure,"<br />Hampton, 2013: "In France, the film appeared under the title La Garce (The Bitch)."</ref>

Vidor and [[Max Steiner]] inserted a leitmotif into those sequences where Rosa obsessively longs for escape from the dull, rural Loyalton to the cosmopolitan and sophisticated Chicago. The "[[Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)|Chicago]]" theme surfaces (a tune made famous by [[Judy Garland]]) in an ironic style reminiscent of film composer [[Bernard Herrmann]]. Steiner earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Score.<ref>Levy 2005: "Beyond the Forest contrasts Loyalton with Chicago. Whenever Rosa goes to–or thinks of–Chicago, the soundtrack plays a nightmarish version of "Chicago, Chicago" (which Judy Garland made popular). ...Max Steiner's melodramatic score was nominated for an Oscar". And "...Rosa is obsessive about moving to Chicago."<br />Arroyo, 2016: " [Rosa] desperate to get out of that one-horse town and into the nearest big city – Chicago – for the sophistication and excitement she craves."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 273: "...nightmarish [[Bernard Herrmann]] style..."<br />Levy, 2005: Film score nomination for Steiner.</ref>

'''''Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)''''': His final picture for Warner Brothers, Vidor attempted to create a ''film noir'' tale of a deadly love triangle starring [[Richard Todd]], [[Ruth Roman]] and [[Mercedes McCambridge]], a cast that did not suit Vidor.  A standard Warner's melodrama, Vidor declared that the picture "turned out terribly" and is largely unrepresentative of his work except in its western setting and its examination of sexual strife, the theme of the film.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 279: Vidor's "fullest attempt at ''film noir'' 'turned out terribly' owing in part to casting problems..." See notes on quote with Higham in a 1969 interview with Vidor And: Vidor's "common success in exploring sexual tension…" And p. 280: "...sexual tensions...turn into the film's theme…"<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 76-77: "...hardly recognizable as a Vidor film except in its desert setting and its bizarre central situation...[resembling] traditional Warner's melodramas…"</ref> Vidor's next project was proposed by producer Joseph Bernhard after pre-production and casting were nearly complete: ''[[Japanese War Bride]]'' (1952).<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 281</ref>

====''Japanese War Bride'' (1952): Twentieth Century Fox====

The topic of the film, white racial prejudice in post-WWII America, had been addressed in a number of Hollywood films of the period, including directors [[Joseph Losey]]'s ''[[The Lawless]]'' (1950) and [[Mark Robson (film director)|Mark Robson]]'s ''[[Home of the Brave (1949 film)|Home of the Brave]]'' (1949).<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 281: See other film titles offered here in that period.</ref>

The story by co-producer Anson Bond concerns wounded [[Korean War]] veteran Jim Sterling (Don Taylor), who returns with his bride, Japanese nurse Tae (Shirley Yamaguchi), to his parents' farm in California's [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]]. Conflicts arise when Jim's sister-in-law falsely accuses Tae of infidelity, sparking conflicts with the neighboring [[Nisei]]-owned farm. The picture locates acts of racism towards non-whites as personal neurosis rather than socially constructed prejudice.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 284-285</ref> Vidor's artistic commitments to the film were minimal in a production that was funded as a [[B Movie]], though he meticulously documents the experience of workers in field and factory.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 281: The film "hides any depth of commitment behind...B film setups…" And p. 284: "The visual style argues that Japanese War Bride remained an impersonal production for Vidor." And: "he establishes the documentary community...lettuce field-hands...packing plant…[[Cannery Row]]."</ref>

Before beginning direction of ''Japanese War Bride'', Vidor had already arranged with Bernhard to finance his next project and perhaps "the last great film" of his career: ''Ruby Gentry'' (1952).<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 281: Vidor's eye was on Ruby Gentry..."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 78: "...the wild and remarkable Ruby Gentry, Vidor's last great film."</ref>

====''Ruby Gentry'' (1952): Twentieth Century Fox====

With ''Ruby Gentry'', Vidor revisits the themes and scenario of ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946), in which an impoverished young woman, Jennifer Jones (Ruby née Corey, later Gentry), is taken in by a well-to-do couple.  When the foster mother dies (Josephine Hutchinson) Ruby marries the widower  (Karl Malden) for security, but he too dies under circumstances that cast suspicions on Ruby. She is harried by her evangelical preacher-sibling (James Anderson) and her love affair with the son of a local land-owing scion ([[Charlton Heston]]) leads to a deadly shootout, a climax that recalls Vidor's violent 1946 Western.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 286: See here thumbnail sketch of the story compared to ''Duel in the Sun''.</ref>

Vidor deferred his own salary to make the low-budget work, filming the "[[North Carolina]]" landscapes on his California ranch. American critics generally disparaged the movie.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 294: "Disliked by most 'serious' critics in the United States, Ruby Gentry won some respect from English critics" And "Hollywoodwise [Ruby Gentry] was something of an anomaly, with major stars in such a low-budget, violently personal film.</ref>

Film historian [[Raymond Durgnat]] champions ''Ruby Gentry'' "as a truly great American film...''film noir'' imbued with new fervor" that combines a radical social understanding with a Hollywood veneer and an intensely personal artistic statement. Vidor ranks ''Ruby Gentry'' among his most artistically gratifying works: "I had complete freedom in shooting it, and Selznick, who could have had an influence on Jennifer Jones, didn't intervene. I think I succeeded in getting something out of Jennifer, something quite profound and subtle."<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 295: "...Vidor has called Ruby Gentry one of his favorite works…" And: "In its anguished lyricism, Ruby Gentry marks the end of the line for the phase that began back in Duel in the Sun. The reasons for this sudden finale...are no doubt a mix of personal and professional...[in] any case, he would never again have such control over a studio production."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 78: "...the wild and remarkable Ruby Gentry, Vidor's last great film."</ref> The swamp sequence where Ruby and her lover Boake hunt one another is "perhaps the best sequence [Vidor] ever filmed."<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 79</ref> ''Ruby Gentry'' showcases the essential elements of Vidor's oeuvre depicting the extremes of passion inherent in humanity and nature. Vidor commented on these elements as follows:

{{blockquote| "There's one scene I like a lot...because it corresponds to something vital. It's the scene where the girl [Jennifer Jones] has the [[Barrage (dam)|barrage]] demolished. At the moment when the earth is flooded, the man [Charlton Heston] is destroyed. All his ambitions crumble. I think there is a fine symbol there".<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 4, p. 79-80</ref>}}

====Autobiography: ''A Tree is a Tree''====

In 1953, Vidor's autobiography entitled ''A Tree is a Tree'' was published and widely praised. Film critic Dan Callahan provides this excerpt the book:

{{blockquote| "I believe that every one of us knows that his major job on earth is to make some contribution, no matter how small, to this inexorable movement of human progress. The march of man, as I see it, is not from the cradle to the grave. It is instead, from the animal or physical to the spiritual. The airplane, the atom bomb, radio, radar, television are all evidences of the urge to overcome the limitations of the physical in favor of the freedom of the spirit. Man, whether he is conscious of it or not, knows deep inside that he has a definite upward mission to perform during the time of his life span. He knows that the purpose of his life cannot be stated in terms of ultimate oblivion."<ref>Whiteley, 2010: "...a well-received biography…"<br />Callahan, 2007: "In his autobiography, ''A Tree is a Tree'' (1953), he states his case in a nutshell..." See quote above.</ref>}}

====Light's Diamond Jubilee, General Electric, 1954====

As part of the 75th Anniversary of [[Thomas Edison]]'s invention of electric light, Vidor adapted two short stories for television produced by [[David O. Selznick]]. The production aired on all the major American TV networks on October 24, 1954.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p.235-36 And p 358: TV networks included CBS, NBC, ABC and DuMont.</ref>

Vidor's contributions included "A Kiss for the Lieutenant" by author Arthur Gordon starring [[Kim Novak]], an amusing romantic vignette, as well as an adaption of novelist [[John Steinbeck]]'s short story "Leader of the People" (1937) (from his novella ''[[The Red Pony]]'') in which a retired wagon-master, [[Walter Brennan]], rebuffed by his son [[Harry Morgan]], finds a sympathetic audience for his War Horse reminiscences about the Old West in his grandson [[Brandon deWilde]]. Screenwriter [[Ben Hecht]] wrote the scripts for both segments.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 254</ref>

In 1954 Vidor, in collaboration with longtime associate and screenwriter [[Laurence Stallings]], pursued a remake of the director's silent era ''[[The Turn in the Road]]'' (1919). Vidor's persistent efforts to revive this [[Christian Science]]-themed work spanning 15 years in the post-war period was never consummated, though a cast was proposed for an [[Monogram Pictures|Allied Artists]] production in 1960. Setting aside this endeavor, Vidor opted to film a Western with [[Universal-International]], ''Man Without a Star'' (1955).<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 30, p. 236-237, p. 315-316</ref>

====''Man Without a Star'', 1955====

Based on a story by Dee Linford of the same name and scripted by [[Borden Chase]], ''Man Without a Star'' is an iconographic Western tale of remorseless struggle between a wealthy rancher Reed Bowman (Jeanne Crain) and small homesteaders. Saddle-tramp and gunman Dempsey Rae (Kirk Douglas) is drawn into the vortex of violence, that Vidor symbolizes with ubiquitous barbed-wire. The cowboy ultimately prevails against the hired gunslinger Steve Miles (Richard Boone) who had years ago murdered Rae's younger brother.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 295-296: "Hollywood's collective iconography...and the barbed=wire theme…" And "barbed-wire was the symbolic center of freedom's restraints and [on the other hand] the ruthless plundering of nature."</ref><ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 80</ref>

Kirk Douglas acted as both the star and uncredited producer in a collaborative effort with director Vidor. Neither was entirely satisfied with the result.  Vidor failed to fully develop his thematic conception, the ideal of balancing personal freedoms with conservation of the land as a heritage.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 298: "...Vidor strove to establish a wider theme of land as a heritage deserving conservation…" And p. 299: "...it anticipates the conservationist concerns of the next generation." And "...a reverent sense of property and ecology."</ref>
Vidor and Douglas succeeded in creating Douglas's splendid character, Dempsey Rae, who emerges as a vital force, especially in the saloon-banjo sequence that screenwriter Borden Chase termed "pure King Vidor".<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 297: "One must include the saloon sequence as one of the most dazzling" of both Douglas and Vidor. And Borden Chase quote. <br />Baxter, 1976 p. 80: "...Douglas' charmingly lecherous performance…"</ref>

''Man Without a Star'', rated as "a minor work" by biographer [[John Baxter (author)|John Baxter]], marks a philosophical transition in Vidor's outlook towards Hollywood: the Dempsey Rae figure, though retaining his personal integrity, "is a man without a star to follow; no ideal, no goal" reflecting a declining enthusiasm by the director for American topics. Vidor's final two movies, the epics ''War and Peace'' (an adaptation of the novel by Russian author [[Leo Tolstoy]]), and ''Solomon and Sheba'', a story from the [[Old Testament]], followed the director's realization that his self-conceived film proposals would not be welcomed by commercial movie enterprises. This pair of historical costume dramas were created outside Hollywood, both filmed and financed in Europe.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 80: "a minor work..."<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 299: "The film indicates, without exploring, a transition between Vidor's critical [analysis] of contemporary America and his more affirmative pair of costume epics...Vidor's interests seemed to have moved on from America...American had become as constricted as the Old World had been." And p.320: "Vidor's last commercial films – ''Man Without a Star'', War and Peace and Solomon and Sheba – celebrate heroes who, though deeply tainted by their societies, achieve a private integrity." <br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 8 And p. "One might surmise that Vidor's recent failures...to find producers for his more personal projects engendered a certain defeatism, rendering him not unopposed to costume epics..." And p. 260: Vidor: "War and Peace...came to me through an agent, and I did not set out to do [it] as a personal project..."</ref>

===''War and Peace'' (1956)===
Contrary to his aesthetic aversion to adapting historical spectaculars, in 1955 Vidor accepted independent Italian producer [[Dino De Laurentis]]'s offer to create a screen adaption of [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s vast historical romance of the late-[[Napoleonic era]], ''[[War and Peace]]'' (1869).<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 80: "...in his time [Vidor] had been offered...[but] made few real epics" turning down ''[[Ben Hur (1925 film)|Ben Hur]]'' and ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 260: "Vidor must have been the only director to turn down both the 1925 and 1959 versions of [[Ben Hur novel|''Ben Hur'' novel]]."</ref><ref>Baxter, 1976 p, 80: Vidor "had made few real epics [in his career] but in the sixties [1960s] he accepted two of the then fashionable spectacles, both credible exercises in the contrast between man and nature."</ref> In the public domain, ''War and Peace'' was under consideration for adaption by several studios. Paramount Pictures and De Laurenti rushed the film into production before a proper script could be formulated from Tolstoy's complex and massive tale, requiring rewrites throughout the shooting. The final cut, at three hours, was necessarily a highly compressed version of the literary work.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 300 And p. 302-303: "The epic sprawl of Tolstoy's novel...and the piecemeal script construction." <br />Baxter, 1976 p. 80: Author Leo Tolstoy's epic "was boiled down into four hours" though often cut in distribution "to less than three, mutilating what was already a condensed and simplified version" of the novel.</ref><ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 82: Vidor: "I would rather direct a battle scene with six thousand soldiers [than to] direct a love scene with two important stars…"<br />Cady, TMC: "it was in the public domain. No author royalties! David O. Selznick wanted to do it, [[Mike Todd]] wanted to do it, but the ultimate winner was Italian producer Dino De Laurentis…"<br />Thomson, 2007: "War and Peace has amazing spectacle...War and Peace in 208 minutes.</ref>

Tolstoy's themes of individualism, the centrality of family and national allegiance and the virtues of agrarian egalitarianism were immensely appealing to Vidor. He commented on the pivotal character in the novel, [[Pierre Bezukhov]] (played by [[Henry Fonda]]): "The strange thing about it is the character of Pierre is the same character I had been trying to put on the screen in many of my own films."
<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 302</ref> Vidor was unsatisfied with the choice of Henry Fonda for the role of Pierre, and argued in favor of British actor [[Peter Ustinov]]. He was overruled by Dino de Laurentis, who insisted that the central figure in the epic appear as a conventional romantic leading man, rather than as the novel's "overweight, bespectacled" protagonist. 
<ref>Thomson, 2007: "The producer, the late Dino de Laurentis, wanted Henry Fonda for box-office reasons; Vidor, on the other hand, wanted Peter Ustinov – overweight, anti-heroic, and very European. 'I think he would have given the film more stature,' said Vidor."<br />Cady, TMC: "For the overweight, bespectacled Pierre, the center of the novel, many names were thrown about including the most likely candidate Peter Ustinov, but after many compromises, Henry Fonda was cast in the part."</ref> Vidor sought to endow Pierre's character so as to reflect the central theme of Tolstoy's novel: an individual's troubled striving to rediscover essential moral truths. The superficiality of the script and Fonda's inability to convey the subtleties of Pierre's spiritual journey thwarted Vidor's efforts to actualize the film's theme. Recalling these interpretive disputes, Vidor remarked that "though a damn good actor... [Fonda] just did not understand what I was trying to say."
<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 66: Tolstoy's Pierre in War and Peace, to whom Vidor made central to his [1956] film." And p. 302-303: See detailed discussion on themes, and Fonda's performance. And p.306: "Vidor's [interpretive] conflicts with Fonda…" And p. 301 for quoted comment by Vidor on Fonda.<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 80: "...Henry Fonda's languid, puzzled Pierre…"<br />Gallagher, 2007: See Gallaghar for a presentation of these themes. "...his hero is only apparently heroic...Heroic pretensions are chimeras, born in alienation, desperation and sexual will-to-power: only by realizing our common lot within society and family can our lives hold any reason."</ref>
Vidor was delighted with the vitality of [[Audrey Hepburn]]'s performance as [[Natasha Rostova]], in contrast to the miscasting of the male leads.  His assessment of the centrality of Natasha is based in the process of her maturation: {{blockquote|"Natasha permeated [War and Peace's] entire structure as the archetype of womankind which she so thoroughly represents. If I were forced to reduce the whole story of War and Peace to some basically simple statement, I would say that it is a story of the maturing of Natasha. She represents, to me, the anima of the story and she hovers over it all like immortality itself."<ref>Gallagher, 2007: "It really founders on the crucial miscasting of the male leads, but Audrey Hepburn's perfect Natasha is diverting..."And Vidor quoted in full regarding Natasha. And: "[Hepburn's Natasha] is the locus of our empathy; through the star we experience the passions of life. We stare in wonder, at the world with the star and at the star, and a magical interplay breaks out – best achieved with Natasha."</ref>}}

Cinematographer [[Jack Cardiff]] devised one of the film's most visually striking sequences, the sunrise duel between Pierre (Henry Fonda) and Kuragin (Tullio Carminati), shot entirely on a sound-stage. Vidor performed second-production duties to oversee the spectacular battle reenactments and director [[Mario Soldati]] (uncredited) shot a number of scenes with the principal cast.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 82-83: "British cinematographer [[Jack Cardiff]]...is largely responsible of the film's most memorable scene, the duel in the snow between Pierre and Kuragin...more remarkable for the fact that the whole scene is shot on a soundstage..."</ref><ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988 p. 300</ref>

American audiences showed modest enthusiasm at the box-office, but ''War and Peace'' was well received by film critics. The movie was met with huge popular approval in the [[USSR]], a fact alarming to Soviet officials, coming as it did near the height of [[Cold War]] hostilities between America and Russia. The Soviet government responded in 1967 with its own heavily financed adaption of the novel, [[War and Peace (film series)]] (1967).<ref>Cady, TMC: "Critics praised the results but American audiences never warmed to it. Russian audiences, however, did and this version became a big hit in the Soviet Union, a great embarrassment to Soviet officials. This was at the height of the Cold War and surely the Americans could not be allowed to create the only movie version of the greatest Russian novel ever written..."<br /> "La classifica dei film più visti di sempre al cinema in Italia". movieplayer.it. January 25, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2019.<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 302"...the 1967 Soviet adaption...a mixture of sentimentality and superficial realism…"</ref>

''War and Peace'' garnered Vidor further offers to film historical epics, among these ''[[King of Kings (1961 film)|King of Kings]]'' (1961), (directed by [[Nicholas Ray]]) as well as a project to develop a script about the life of 16th Century Spanish author [[Miguel Cervantes]]. Vidor finally settled on the Old Testament story of [[Solomon and Sheba]], with [[Tyrone Power]] and [[Gina Lollobrigida]] tapped as the star-crossed monarchs. This would be Vidor's final Hollywood film of his career.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 84: "...producers offered Vidor a variety of epic subjects...King of Kings...Cervantes [but] in 1958 took on the unpromising of ''Solomon and Sheba'' (1959)...</ref>

===''Solomon and Sheba'' (1959)===

''Solomon and Sheba'' is one of a cycle of bible-based epics popular favored by Hollywood during the 1950s. The film is best remembered as the Vidor's last commercial production of his long career in Hollywood.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 310-311<br />Steinberg, TMC: "One of the many Hollywood biblical epics that enjoyed a vogue in the '50s, Solomon And Sheba (1959) is best remembered as the final project in the long and distinguished career of director King Vidor."</ref>

A tragic footnote is attached to this picture. Six weeks into production the leading man, 45-year-old star [[Tyrone Power]], suffered a heart attack during a climactic sword fight scene. He died within the hour. Considered the "ultimate nightmare" for any major movie production, the entire film had to be re-shot, with the lead role of Solomon now recast with [[Yul Brynner]].<ref>Steinberg, TMC: "This expensively mounted Bible saga, however, is also marked with the unfortunate distinction of having a major leading man become a production casualty."</ref>
The death of Tyrone Powers was less a financial disaster and more a creative loss. Vidor was bereft of an actor who had grasped the complex nature of the Solomon figure, adding depth to Powers' performance. Brynner and Vidor were instantly at loggerheads when the leading man substituted a portrayal of an "anguished monarch" for an Israelite king who would "dominate each situation without conflict." Vidor reported, "it was an attitude that affected the depth of his performance and probably the integrity of the film."<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 301: "...ultimate nightmare…" And Vidor's "fondness" for the Powers film footage and Vidor's "rare public dislike for  [a cast member] Brynner." And "Vidor's complaints about Brynner's refusal to display vulnerability are borne out on film."<br />Steinberg, TMC: "The project's salvaging was not remembered fondly by either the director or his substitute lead. Vidor felt that Brynner's reading lacked the threads of self-doubt that Power brought to the role. "Tyrone Power had understood the dualistic problem of the anguished king," the director recounted in Raymond Durgnat and Scott Simmon's King Vidor, American. Brynner, he continued, 'fought the idea of a troubled monarch and wanted to dominate each situation without conflict. It was an attitude that affected...the integrity of the film.'"<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 85: Baxter reports the same disparity between Power's and Brynner's understanding of the Solomon character as Vidor wished it to be performed."</ref>
Leading lady [[Gina Lollobrigida]] adopted Brynner's approach to her character development of her Queen of Sheba, adding another facet of discord with the director.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 85<br />Berlinale 2020, 2020:  "It was important to Vidor that Tyrone Power could play that conflict, because it echoed [Vidor's] experience in life."</ref>

''Solomon and Sheba'' includes some impressive action sequences, including a widely cited battle finale in which Solomon's tiny army faces an approaching onslaught of mounted warriors. His troops turn their burnished shields to the sun, the reflected light blinding the enemy hordes and sending them careening into an abyss. Astonishing sequences such as these abound in Vidor's work, prompting film historian [[Andrew Sarris]] to observe "Vidor was a director for anthologies [who] created more great moments and fewer great films than any director of his rank."<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 314: "In the climax, Solomon's small force dooms the larger army by burnishing their shields until the sun's dazzle lures the charging cavalry into a canyon [over a cliff]. The genre's de rigueur miracle comes down to human ingenuity and effort."<br />Callahan, 2007: "It's striking moments like this in the midst of more prosaic scenes that led [[Andrew Sarris]] to proclaim Vidor 'a director for anthologies [who] created more great moments and fewer great films than any director of his rank.'"</ref>
Despite the setbacks that plagued the production and the ballooning costs associated with the reshoot, Solomon and Sheba "more than earned back its costs."<ref>Steinberg, TMC: "Although critics of the period were indifferent at best to Solomon and Sheba, the film's global grosses still ensured a multi-million dollar profit despite the on-set disaster."<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317: Solomon and Sheba "more than earned back its costs, which had ballooned from four million to six because of reshooting after Tyrone Powers death…"</ref>

Contrary to claims that ''Solomon and Sheba'' ended Vidor's career, he continued to receive offers to film major productions after its completion. The reasons for the director's disengagement from commercial film-making are related to his age (65) and to his desire to pursue smaller and more personal movie projects. Reflecting on independent productions, Vidor remarked, "I'm glad I got out of it."<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 315: "Solomon and Sheba has the reputation of being the disaster that killed Vidor's career." And  "...at sixty-five he could hardly help having been wearied by the production chaos of his previous two epics...Vidor was intent on returning to [non-commercial] projects closer to his own spirit."<br />Thomson, 2007: "Vidor stopped directing commercial pictures after Solomon and Sheba. He had other projects – a film about Cervantes and a version of Hawthorne's The Marble Faun – but he admitted he wasn't cut out to be an independent producer. 'I'm glad I got out of it,' he said."</ref>

===Post-Hollywood projects, 1959–1981===

====''Truth and Illusion: An Introduction to Metaphysics'' (1964)====

In the mid-1960s Vidor crafted a 26-minute [[16 mm film|16mm]] movie that sets forth his philosophy on the nature of individual perception. Narrated by the director, and quoting from theologian-philosophers [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]] and [[Bishop Berkeley]], the images serve to complement the abstract ideas he sets forth. The film is a discourse on [[subjective idealism]], which maintains that the material world is an illusion, existing only in the human mind: humanity creates the world they experience.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 123: "In the unyielding terms of [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)]], which Vidor cites approvingly in Truth and Illusions (1964), the material world exists only in the mind."<br />Reinhardt, 2020: "a documentary that expressed his belief in the wildest subjective idealism. The short film, complete with a passage from [[Bishop Berkeley]], asserts that the material world is entirely a product of the mind…"<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 91</ref>

As Vidor describes in [[Walt Whitman|Whitmanesque]] terms:

{{blockquote|"Nature gets the credit for what in truth should be reserved for ourselves: the rose for its scent, the [[nightingale]] for its song, the sun for its radiance. The poets are entirely mistaken; they should address their lyrics to themselves and should turn them into odes of self-congratulation."<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317: See here for quote and Whitman comment.</ref>}}

''Truth and Illusion'' provides an insight into the significance of Vidor's themes in his work, and is consistent with his Christian Science precepts.<ref>Callahan, 2007: Vidor "expounded directly on his view that man is God and mind is all... and it is very valuable as a summation of most of his themes."<br />Higham, 1972: "...he has created a beautiful short film on 16mm, "Truth and Illusion," an abstract work consisting of images of nature, pure distillations of his vision of life."</ref>

Micheal Neary served as assistant director on the film, and Fred Y. Smith completed the editing. The movie was never released commercially.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317</ref>

====''The Metaphor'': King Vidor meets with Andrew Wyeth (1980)====

Vidor's documentary ''The Metaphor'' consists of a number of interviews between the director and painter [[Andrew Wyeth]]. Wyeth had contacted Vidor in the late 1970s expressing admiration for his work. The artist emphasized that much of his material had been inspired by the director's 1925 war-romance ''[[The Big Parade]]''.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317: "The Metaphor arose from a fan letter from [artist] Andrew Wyeth praising Vidor's 1925 film ''[[The Big Parade]]''."<br />Tonguette, 2011: "...Wyeth insists he has seen 180 times."</ref>

The documentary records the discussions between Vidor and both Wyeth and his spouse Betsy. A montage is formed by inter-cutting images of Wyeth's paintings with short clips from Vidor's ''The Big Parade''. Vidor attempts to reveal an "inner metaphor" demonstrating the sources of artistic inspiration.<ref>Tonguette, 2011: Relevant clips of The Big Parade and insert shots of particular Wyeth paintings [were] cut to as they come up in the course of conversation. [Film editor Rex] McGee worked extensively on integrating clips of ''The Big Parade'' into Metaphor. And  "The fact that these inspirations came to Wyeth from the films of King Vidor hammered home this whole idea of what creativity is and what a limited definition we have of it in this country.<br />Thomson, 2007: "...The Metaphor (1980), the latter with painter Andrew Wyeth. Ever since The Crowd, Vidor had been fascinated with the notion that movie action depended on inner metaphor."<br />Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317: The Metaphor "explores Wyeth's imagery, particularly the influence of ''The Big Parade'' (1925)" a film he had studied [extensively]."</ref>

Considering the film only a work in progress at the time of his death, the documentary had its premiere at the American Film Institute in 1980.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317: The Metaphor, "which he never finished to his satisfaction…"</ref> 
It was never given a general release and is rarely screened.<ref name="Tonguette, 2011">Tonguette, 2011</ref>

===Unproduced film projects===

'''''Northwest Passage (Book 2)'':''' Vidor attempted to make a sequel to his film ''[[Northwest Passage (film)|Northwest Passage]]'' in which [[Rogers' Rangers]] find the Northwest Passage, although filming never began because author [[Kenneth Roberts (author)|Kenneth Roberts]] refused to cooperate with the project, and because MGM thought the cost in making the first film in [[Technicolor]] had proven prohibitive enough.<ref name="TCM">Rob Nixon, [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/21745 ''Northwest Passage''], TCM.com</ref>

'''''Bright Light'' (late 1950s):''' a biographical study of [[Christian Science]] founder [[Mary Baker Eddy]].<ref name="Simmon p. 17">Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 17, p. 317</ref>

'''''Conquest'' (formerly The Milly Story):''' In 1960, Vidor resumed efforts to make a sound version of his 1919 ''[[The Turn in the Road]]''. His reconceived screenplay concerns a Hollywood director disillusioned with the film industry who inherits a gas station from his father in the fictional [[Colorado]] town of "Arcadia". The script's dialogue contains oblique references to a number of Vidor's silent films including (''[[The Big Parade]]'' (1925) and ''[[The Crowd (1928 film)|The Crowd]]'' (1928)). ''Conquest'' introduces a mysterious young woman, "a feminine archetype" (a figure in [[Jungian archetypes|Jungian]] philosophy) who serves as "the answer to everyone's problems" while pumping gas at the station. She disappears suddenly, leaving the director inspired, and he returns to Hollywood. Impressed by Italian director [[Federico Fellini]]'s ''[[8 ½]]'' (1963), Vidor briefly corresponded with Fellini while writing ''Conquest''. Vidor soon abandoned his 15-year effort to make the "unfashionable" movie, despite [[Sid Grauman]] – like Vidor an adherent to Christian Science – having purchased the rights. Even the modest budgetary requests were rejected by the tiny [[Monogram Pictures|Allied Artists]] and they dropped the project.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 315-317 And p. 17<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 91<br />Berlinale 2020, 2020: "He saw the advent of the auteur film; he was fascinated by Fellini's 81⁄2."</ref>

'''''[[The Marble Faun]]'':''' a "quite faithful" version of the 1860 story by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]].<ref name="Simmon p. 17"/>

'''''The Crowd'':''' Vidor developed revisions of his 1928 silent masterpiece, including a 1960s sequel of [[Ann Head]]'s 1967 novel ''[[Mr and Mrs Bo Jo Jones]]'' (made as a TV feature without his input), and in the early 1970s another effort, ''Brother Jon''.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 86, p. 317</ref>

'''''A Man Called Cervantes'':''' Vidor was involved in script writing for an adaption of [[Bruno Frank]]'s novel, but withdrew from the project, unhappy with script changes. The movie was shot and released in 1967 as ''[[Cervantes (film)|Cervantes]]'', but Vidor withdrew his name from the production.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317<br />Thomson, 2007</ref>

'''''William Desmond Taylor'':''' Vidor researched the murder of silent era actor-director [[William Desmond Taylor]], killed under mysterious circumstances in 1922. Though no screenplay was forthcoming, author [[Sidney D. Kirkpatrick]] alleges in his novel, ''A Cast of Killers'' (1986), that Vidor solved the murder.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 317: "Vidor's research...led to the solution"...of the crime, as described in Kirkpatrick's novel. And "Vidor's research for script based on the 'silencing' of the 1922 [[William Desmond Taylor]] murder led to his solution of it...recounted by Sydney D. Kirkpatrick in A Cast of Killers<br />Thomson, 2007: "Vidor did detective research on the old William Desmond Taylor Hollywood murder case from 1922, which eventually turned into Sidney Kirkpatrick's book, ''A Cast of Killers'' (1986).</ref>

'''''The Actor'':''' In 1979, Vidor sought financing for a biography of the ill-fated [[James Murray (American actor)|James Murray]], star of Vidor's ''The Crowd'' (1928).<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 86 p. 317<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 91<br />Whiteley, 2010: "an unsuccessful attempt in 1979 to raise finance for a film about James Murray, the star of 'The Crowd' and an alcoholic who had died an early death from drowning in 1936.</ref>

====Academic Presentations====

Vidor lectured occasionally on film production and directing in the late 1950s and the 1960s at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] and the [[University of Southern California]]. He published a non-technical handbook providing anecdotes from his film career, ''On Film Making'', in 1972.

On at least one occasion, Vidor made a presentation to film historian [[Arthur Knight (film critic)|Arthur Knight]]'s class at USC.<ref name="Tonguette, 2011"/><ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: p. 319: Vidor "taught production courses at Los Angeles universities."...And:  His book an "anecdotal guidebook.<br />Thomson, 2007: "Vidor had a ranch in [[Paso Robles, California]] and a cottage in [Beverly Hills] Los Angeles. It was natural that he should teach (at USC for 10 years) and write.<br />Whiteley, 2010: Vidor "gave occasional lectures on movie directing and film making at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles."</ref>

===Vidor as actor: ''Love and Money'' (1982)===

Vidor served as an 'extra" or made cameo appearances during his film career. An early film still exists from an unidentified Hotex Motion Picture Company silent short made in 1914, when he was 19 years old (he wears a [[Keystone Cops|Keystone Cop]] costume and false beard). While attempting to break into Hollywood as a director and screenwriter, Vidor took "bit parts" for [[Vitagraph Studios]] and [[Inceville]] in 1915–1916. During the height of his fame he made a number of cameo appearances in his own films, including ''[[The Patsy (1928 film)|The Patsy]]'' in 1926 and ''[[Our Daily Bread (1934 film)|Our Daily Bread]]'' in 1934. 
 
He did not appear as a featured actor until 1981, at the age of 85. Vidor provided a "charming" tongue-in-cheek portrayal of Walter Klein, a senile grandfather, in director [[James Toback]]'s ''[[Love and Money (film)|Love and Money]]''. Vidor's motivation in accepting the role was a desire to observe contemporary movie-making technology. ''Love and Money'' was released in 1982, shortly before Vidor's death.<ref>Durgnat and Simmon, 1988: See early movie images of Vidor: p. 23 in untitled Hotex one-reeler still photo, 1914, p. 23. And p. 24: He plays a chauffeur in [[The Intrigue]] (1916). And p. 322: In costume (work shirt) for cameo appearance in Our Daily Bread (1934), p. 318: Love and Money; (1982). And For cast of Love and Money, see p. 361<br />Baxter, 1976 p: 36: Composite image of Vidor and Davies on The Patsy set.<br />Thomson, 2007: "In 1981, he took a supporting role in James Toback's Love and Money – and played it with great charm."</ref>