When did directors start ...

• Feb 2, 2006 03:00 AM ET
• by Maitland McDonagh

Question: When did directors start getting credits like “Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho," where their names are given as "owners" of their films?

Answer: That’s called a possessory credit, and popular belief is that it’s a product of the '50s, when directors began thinking of themselves as solo auteurs rather than parts of a collaborative team. This struck many other behind-the-scenes personnel, especially screenwriters, as a world-class case of too-big-for-their-britches syndrome. Otto Preminger lobbied hard for and got the especially lofty “A film by Otto Preminger” credit, which prompted a legendary exchange between director Billy Wilder and screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond. “That’s Otto Preminger’s house,” Wilder is supposed to have observed as they were driving, to which Diamond replied, “No, that’s ‘A House by Otto Preminger.'” But the fact is, possessory credits have been around since the silent era: Witness D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915), Cecil B. De Mille's Ten Commandments (1923) and King Vidor's Big Parade (1925). I recently saw the Cary Grant-Jean Arthur picture Talk of the Town (1942), and the title card reads “George Stevens’ Talk of the Town”; he also got a possessory credit on Penny Serenade (1941) and Shane (1953), as did Frank Capra on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). So the lesson appears to be that, like the poor, the possessory credit will always be with us.