The Apartment, a multiple Oscar-winning film, is one of the greatest Billy Wilder films ever made and appropriate New Year’s viewing. Be a mensch. Do you know what that means? The gist of the film is that insurance clerk Calvin Clifford (C.C.) “Bud” Baxter lets senior coworkers use his Upper West Side apartment for their affairs. He does this in hopes of helping him climb up the ladder at work. Meanwhile, he is attracted to…
"The Apartment: One Of The Best Billy Wilder Films"Tag: Billy Wilder
Three years after getting a Criterion Collection Blu-ray, Some Like It Hot makes its debut on 4K Ultra HD by way of Kino Lorber. “Well, nobody’s perfect.” – Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown) Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond base their script on a 1935 French film, Fanfare of Love. Problems finding the original script meant having to work off of the 1951 German remake, Fanfares of Love. While there’s also a strong push for original…
"Some Like It Hot Arrives on 4K Ultra HD"
Love in the Afternoon, starring Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn, is Billy Wilder’s best attempt at making a film in the spirit of his late mentor, Ernst Lubitsch. Ariane Chavasse (Audrey Hepburn) is a cello student and overhears a conversation between her private detective father, Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier), and a client, Monsieur X (John McGiver). Claude’s specialty is going after the spouses who are unfaithful. Anyway, Monsieur X insists that he will kill American…
"Love in the Afternoon: Billy Wilder’s Lubitsch Film"
The Oscar-nominated and Billy Wilder-directed Witness for the Prosecution is one of the best courtroom dramas in cinematic history. Let’s discuss the ending first. The film concludes with the following voiceover narration: “The management of this theater suggests that, for the greater entertainment of your friends who have not yet seen the picture, you will not divulge to anyone the secret of the ending of Witness for the Prosecution.” For this reason, I certainly will not…
"Witness for the Prosecution: A Billy Wilder Classic"
Sabrina may not be in the top tier level of Billy Wilder’s filmography but the romantic comedy teams three of the biggest stars of the era. Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) is the daughter of Larrabee family chauffeur, Thomas Fairchild (John Williams). Because of his job, the two of them live right above the mansion’s garage. She has a crush on David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy of the family. Upset with this, the film becomes…
"Sabrina: Billy Wilder Classic Still Has It"
Stalag 17 finds a way to mix comedy and drama to give audiences one of the best films to take place in a POW camp during World War II. The film is set at a Nazi prison camp in Austria while the Battle of the Bulge is taking place in 1944. Clarence Harvey “Cookie” Cook (Gil Stratton) provides the narration for the POW camp-set film. Manfredi and Johnson are shot during an attempt to escape. …
"Stalag 17 Is One Of The Best POW Films"
While Ace in the Hole was not a commercial success on upon release in 1951, the film is still relevant when it comes to media sensationalism. The concept of media sensationalism dates back to the 16th or 17th centuries. It’s not something that is going to go away anytime soon. We still see it in the very media we consume to this day. Much like Network predicted the likes of Fox News, Ace in the…
"Ace in the Hole Is Still Relevant"
Sunset Boulevard isn’t only Billy Wilder at his finest but the film is easily the best film ever made about Hollywood in cinematic history. The fate of Joe Gillis (William Holden) is doomed from the start. Upon flashing back, we later learn how he came to be in this most unfortunate situation. It turns out that Joe is having the worst luck as a screenwriter. He was unsuccessful in Sheldrake (Fred Clark) on a story. …
"Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder At His Finest"
Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend is one of three films to take home both the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and Best Picture at the Oscars. The Lost Weekend deals with Don Birnam’s (Ray Milland) alcoholism. What it does not deal with–and I’ll get to this shortly–is the fact that he’s in the closet. Because the film doesn’t press this point, Brackett and Wilder’s script gives Helen St. James (Jane Wyman) a bigger…
"The Lost Weekend Holds Up, Could Be Improved"
A Foreign Affair is a romantic comedy–albeit one that falls under the category of cynical–that takes place in post-World War II Berlin. Iowa congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur) is a part of a committee investigating American troop morale after the war. Captain John Pringle (John Lund), a fellow Iowan) cynically woos her but he has his reasoning for doing so. He’s trying to cover up his affair with singer Erika von Schlütow (Marlene Dietrich). The…
"A Foreign Affair: A Post-World War II Rom-Com"
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