Paul Wunder

BORN: November 19, 1941 in Brooklyn, N.Y. As a young child, Paul Wunder, whose parents were both teachers in the New York City School system, was fascinated by fantasy and "play acting." At the age of eight, he was making 8mm home movies with dramatic plots and friends as actors. He experienced his first theatrical movie when his parents took him to see a revival of "NANOOK OF THE NORTH" (1922 by Robert J. Flaherty) in 1947. Wunder became "hooked" on the cinema in 1950 when his father took him to the premiere of George Pal's "DESTINATION MOON" Seminal films during Wunder's formative years as a critic were: The HORROR movies of the 1950's THE KILLING(1956) Dir: Kubrick VERTIGO(1958) Dir: Hitchcock ON THE BEACH(1959)Dir: Kramer MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE(1962) Dir: Frankenheimer 2001(1968) Dir: Kubrick Wunder graduated from college in 1963 as an Electrical Engineer and immediately got a union job as an associate film editor for MPO, then, the largest producer of commercial and industrial films in the US. His uncle was an attorney for the union - the I.A.T.S.E. In 1966, Wunder was "forced" by his political, moral and social views to leave MPO, where he was now an assistant film editor, and become a teacher in the N.Y.City school teacher; a job that was exempt from the draft. In 1969, Paul Wunder wrote his first review for the "UNITED TEACHER," a newspaper that was distributed to all of the teachers in the school system. The film was Robert Altman's "THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK." The review was strongly negative. Thanks to the fact that millions of Public School students were affected by Wunder's reviews, his importance, in the eyes of the movie companies, rose quickly. In September, 1976, Wunder began his still running weekly show on WBAI Radio, "SOUNDTRACK." The show featured film music, interviews with film makers and reviews. The first program was dedicated to film music composer Bernard Herrmann (still his favorite), who had recently died. In its current incarnation, SOUNDTRACK concentrates on interviews with major film makers, and can be heard over WBAI in N.Y. on Thursday's at 10 PM. Portions of his programming are broadcast nationally by satellite. Wunder has taken graduate level courses in THE HISTORY OF FILM, and various other related topics. Paul Wunder reviews films on 99.5FM WBAI which airs on Thursdays at 10PM.

PAUL WUNDER'S TEN BEST FILMS OF 1998 (In alphabetical order): BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR: "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" TEN BEST:

• ELIZABETH
• HILARY & JACKIE
• LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
• PLEASANTVILLE
• SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
• SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
• A SIMPLE PLAN
• THE THIN RED LINE
• WAKING NED DEVINE
• YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS

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