Critically-neglected for his lack of a consistent, visual style in an era that prizes an auteur's distinctive stamp, Robert Mulligan allowed his stories to dictate their look, so there is nothing about the black-and-white measured pictorialism of arguably his greatest film, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), that would indicate he was the same man responsible for "Summer of '42" (1971), its pastel prettiness evoking the nostalgia of memory. The former divinity student started as a messenger at CBS and rose through the ranks, establishing himself during the 1950s helming fare for that network's
