Oscar Profile #378: Mark Robson

Born December 4, 1913 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mark Robson was a political science major at the University of California who found work in the prop department at 20th Century-Fox. Fired by Daryl F. Zanuck for asking for a raise, he moved to RKO.

At RKO, Robson became an assistant editor under Robert Wise, working on Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and then helping Wise edit The Magnificent Ambersons without Welles’ participation. After completing the editing on Welles’ Journey Into Fear, Welles was fired and Robson, along with Wise, was moved to Val Lewton’s B-unit.

Robson’s impressive editing of Lewton’s 1942 film Cat People and 1943’s I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man, all of which were directed by Jacques Tourneur, led Lewton to assign him the direction of 1943’s The Seventh Victim and The Ghost Ship. Lewton assigned the direction of 1944’s Return of the Cat People and 1945’s The Body Snatcher to Wise but gave Robson the direction of 1945’s Isle of the Dead and 1946’s Bedlam, Lewton’s last horror film.

Out of work for two years, Robson was chosen by producer Stanley Kramer to direct his two 1949 films, the boxing drama, Champion and the war drama, Home of the Brave, which were the first two A films he directed. Champion earned him a Golden Lion nomination at the Venice Film Festival and a DGA nomination that failed to translate to an Oscar nod.

Robson’s output over the next few years included such impressive films as the priest murder mystery, Edge of Doom, the life-affirming Bright Victory and the whaling ship drama, Hell Below Zero. His direction of the 1955 adaptation of James Michener’s Koran War drama, The Bridges at Toko-Ri led to another DGA nomination, but again, no Oscar nod. Finally, his DGA nominations for 1957’s box-office smash, Peyton Place and 1958’s religious biopic, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, led to Oscar nods. Subsequent films included the 1960 film of John O’Hara’s From the Terrace; 1962’s Gandhi assassination drama, Nine Hours to Rama; 1963’s Hitchcockian thriller, The Prize, 1965’s World War II thriller, Von Ryan’s Express; 1967’s trashy but highly successful, Valley of the Dolls; the 1969 thriller, Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting and the 1974 disaster film, Earthquake!.

Robson died of a heart attack with just two days shooting left on Avalanche Express, which was completed by Monte Hellman, although it was no secret that cinematographer and sometimes director Jack Cardiff did much of the direction under Robson’s supervision. It was also no secret Robson’s severe heart condition was exacerbated by the friction between his two heavy drinking stars, Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw. Shaw died two months later, some of his lines having to be dubbed in post-editing. The film was released the following year.

Mark Robson died on June 20, 1978. He was 64.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

CHAMPION (1949)

Robson and his fellow RKO editor and director Robert Wise both released highly acclaimed boxing dramas in April 1949. Both were international film festival hits, Wise’s The Set-Up at Cannes and Robson’s Champion at Venice. Wise’s film was a BAFTA nominee for Best Film From Any Source, but Robson’s film ultimately fared better with two Golden Globe nods, winning for Black-and-White Cinematography and six Oscar nods, winning for Film Editing. Kirk Douglas as a boxing heel and Arthur Kennedy as his brother received their first Oscar nominations but DGA nominee Robson and the film itself were not nominated.

THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI (1955)

The third film from a James A. Michener work, and the first of his novels to be filmed, this engrossing Korean War drama features outstanding performances from William Holden as a Jet-Bomber pilot, Grace Kelly as his wife, Fredric March as his superior officer, Mickey Rooney and
Earl Holliman as helicopter rescue pilots and Charles McGraw as Holden’s fellow bomber pilot. Filmed with real soldiers and equipment near the real combat zones during the war itself, the film received an Oscar nomination for Film Editing and ab Oscar for Special Effects. Robson received a DGA but was once again ignored by Oscar.

PEYTON PLACE (1957)

This beautifully filmed version of Grace Metalious’s scandalous novel eschews the salaciousness of the original but still manages to uncover the then shocking small town scandals that filled its narrative. Nominated for nine Oscars including Best Picture, Actress (Lana Turner), Supporting Actor (Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn), Supporting Actress (Hope Lange, Diane Varsi), Cinematography, Screenplay and finally Best Director for Robson, it failed to win any of them. Not nominated, but certainly worthy of consideration were the supporting performances of Lloyd Nolan, Betty Field and Mildred Dunnock.

THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (1958)

This heavily fictionalized account of the life of English missionary Gladys Aylward in China earned Robson his fourth DGA nomination and his second Oscar nod. It won a Golden Globe for Best Film Promoting International Understanding as well as nominations for Best Actress (Ingrid Bergman as Aylward) and Best Actor (Robert Donat who was nominated posthumously as the local Mandarin). Bergman had previously won the National Board of Review for Best Actress while Donat posthumously won the NBR award for Best Supporting Actor. Bergman and Curt Jurgens as her fictional Eurasian lover were nominated for BAFTAs.

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967)

Jacqueline Susann’s best-selling novel was pure trash. Unlike Peyton Place, there wasn’t much that could be done to clean it up and no one including Robson tried. Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate are the three stars who fall faster than they rise. Tate is sweet, but Parkins is bland and Duke is shrill in what was arguably the worst performance by a recent Oscar winner in film history. Susan Hayward, a last-minute replacement for Judy Garland, exhibits real star power, but is not around long enough to make a difference. The male cast led by Paul Burke, Tony Scotti and Martin Milner doesn’t fare much better.