a case could be made for a lot of them. ive never got into bergman or ozu but alson with kurosawa they could make a claim. ive only seen the first two fellini films. heard of a couple of those mizoguchi films but havent seen. not a western guy so ford is out. lot of sirk heads out there. kazan makes a compelling case as does billy wilder to my taste. the easy answer is hitchcock. not necessarily the right one.

meanwhile nicholas ray is stealing thunder from (uncle) chester erskine and there is so little to steal. i wonder who did the bulk of the directing.