Walter Wanger, United Artists publicity photo from 1938. (Aberdeen collection). To purchase Aberdeen photos for reprint purposes click here.

Walter Wanger's Rules of Filmmaking

From Walter Wanger Productions press release, 1937

"He'll tackle any story subject, provided it's in good taste. The fact an idea seems iconoclastic stimulates his urge to incorporate it in a screen story. It was his rebellion at rote-and-rule producing that chiefly motivated his ambition to go on his own [as an independent] and let the chips fall where they may.

"The Wanger school of thought on screen entertainment for world-wide consumption includes these points:

1. Don't underestimate the mass intelligence.
2. Don't be afraid to displease [a minority of audiences], because it's impossible to please everybody, everywhere.
3. Don't sacrifice quality for quantity.

Walter Wanger's We've Never Been Licked from 1943.

SOURCES:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Margaret Herrick Library, Beverly Hills, California.

See Bibliography.