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The Director's Chair => The Director's Chair => Topic started by: i/o on April 30, 2003, 03:00:06 AM

Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: i/o on April 30, 2003, 03:00:06 AM
Kind of new to this site...

Couldn't find any subject for Billy Wilder, so here you go.

He has to be my favorite director, I have never found another director who could tackle pretty much every film genre and come up with a great film more often than not.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: (kelvin) on April 30, 2003, 10:29:06 AM
For me, his best film is definitely "The Apartment". It has everything Billy Wilder always represented for me: it is, of course, funny, but there are also some tragic elements in it, not to foget Wilder's cynicism. (I just love his well-known aphorisms)
"Sunset Boulevard" is as well a brilliant film, I liked Erich von Stroheim in the role of the butler a lot. Has anyone read Cameron Crowe's book/interview with Wilder? Remarkable.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: i/o on April 30, 2003, 12:49:38 PM
I can't agree with you more. The Apartment really does someting to me, it has something that I can't explain. The film is not one sided, it does not tell you who is bad and who is good. There really is no such thing as bad and good in the film.
Double Indemnity can do somewhat the same in a different way.

It's all about characters.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: dufresne on April 30, 2003, 02:35:10 PM
i have a very special place in my heart for Double Indemnity.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on May 01, 2003, 12:49:31 AM
Along with those talked about, I have to also mention "The Lost Weekend". What a fascinating character study about the struggles of alcoholism. "Stalag 17" is one of the best war prison camp movies, dealing more with suspicion, mystery and intrigue than action.

And "Some Like It Hot," "The Fortune Cookie" and "The Seven Year Itch" are some of the best comedies ever.
Title: irma la douce
Post by: modage on May 08, 2003, 05:00:31 PM
love love love billy wilder.  even his lesser works are still just so watchable!  nobody mentioned IRMA LA DOUCE which nobody usually does, but is really entertaining and i really love.  reteaming of lemmon and maclaine doesnt live up to the classic dramedy of the apt, but is a pretty wacky wilder movie nonetheless and really fun. with a great comic performance by lemmon and a great parisian setting.  cool andre previn score too.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on June 04, 2003, 06:21:57 PM
ive seen...
-DOUBLE INDEMNITY
-SUNSET BOULEVARD
-SABRINA
-THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
-LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON
-SOME LIKE IT HOT
-THE APARTMENT
-IRMA LA DOUCE
-FORTUNE COOKIE
-AVANTI!


and currently have One Two Three and The Front Page sitting here from the library about to watch.  plan on Netflixing Stalag 17, The Lost Weekend, Witness For The Prosecution sometime soon. (although i plan on seeing all the wilder catalog), any other suggestions?


on a side note:  i found a vinyl copy of the Andre Previn IRMA LA DOUCE score from 1963 unscratched for a dollar at a thrift store today and am now transferring to cd.   pretty nifty.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: godardian on June 04, 2003, 08:33:45 PM
I've liked or loved everything I've ever seen of Wilder's. Embarrassingly limited:

-The Lost Weekend

-Witness for the Prosecution

-Stalag 17

-The Apartment

-Sunset Boulevard

-The Fortune Cookie (a friend gave it to me for Christmas, and it was probably one of the best presents I got). It was this one that left me most unsurprised that the French New Wave directors were so into Wilder.

I really want to see One, Two, Three... When I saw the clip in Martin Scorsese's Personal Journey, it looked right up my alley. Anyone seen it??
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: mina aphrodosia on June 05, 2003, 10:38:06 AM
one, two, three is his best! when he did it, nobody understood the homour...but today it´s just funny, funny, genius!! wilder, my love!
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on June 05, 2003, 03:35:12 PM
just watched One, Two, Three.  it was pretty damn wacky!  a lot of early 60s political humor (East and West Berlin, Soviet Union, communism, nazis, etc.)  it was pretty good.  It was actually the first James Cagney movie ive seen.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: godardian on June 05, 2003, 08:23:27 PM
Quote from: themodernage02just watched One, Two, Three.  it was pretty damn wacky!  a lot of early 60s political humor (East and West Berlin, Soviet Union, communism, nazis, etc.)  it was pretty good.  It was actually the first James Cagney movie ive seen.

Did you watch it on DVD? VHS? TV?? I'm sort of waiting for the DVD.

I wonder which Wilder film I should see next...? I suppose it will have to be Some Like it Hot. That's the one I'm most ashamed never to have seen.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on June 06, 2003, 02:48:15 AM
umm vhs, from the library. but the transfer is pretty good.  cleaned up.  but it seemed to be a bit cropped, so it will be nice to see the widescreen.  yeah go with Some Like It Hot.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: mina aphrodosia on June 06, 2003, 09:08:04 AM
i watched it in television, here in germany it´s shown almost every week. does an dvd exist?
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on June 08, 2003, 07:31:49 PM
was reading an interview book with WILDER today where he said some of his favorite American Films ever made were...

BILLY WILDERS TOP 5 AMERICAN PICTURES
-THE INFORMER
-THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
-THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
-THE GODFATHER PART II
-THE MALTESE FALCON

(he also mentioned Grand Illusion as being one of his favorites, but thats not american, obviously).
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: ksmc on June 09, 2003, 12:22:42 PM
Billy Wilder is probably my favorite filmmaker, and The Apartment is quite possibly my all time favorite film. Also excellent are: Stalag 17, The Seven Year Itch, The Lost Weekend, Witness for the Prosecution, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Love in the Afternoon, and The Spirit of St. Louis. Oh yeah, how could I forget Some Like it Hot?
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on August 14, 2003, 10:58:00 PM
Quote from: MacGuffinAlong with those talked about, I have to also mention "The Lost Weekend". What a fascinating character study about the struggles of alcoholism.

GOD you werent kidding!  i just finished watching it, and that was a pretty searing portrait of an alcoholic.  kind of a precursor to Leaving Las Vegas.  just a hopeless drunk from the first frame practically to the last.  was very very sad, and truthful.  (my dad also suggested i see Days Of Wine And Roses for more on this subject.)
very different from all the other wilder flicks ive seen.  didn't know he made pictures like this one.  great dialogue, but with the subject matter, obviously not funny at all, making it quite different and surprising from what ive seen and had expected.  the only thing that really dates this movie is throughout they kept playing this funny music that sounds like it belongs when the spaceship lands in some 50's science fiction movie.  or in Mars Attacks.  was very over the top, and unintentionally funny.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on August 14, 2003, 11:05:15 PM
Quote from: themodernage02the only thing that really dates this movie is throughout they kept playing this funny music that sounds like it belongs when the spaceship lands in some 50's science fiction movie.  or in Mars Attacks.  was very over the top, and unintentionally funny.

The Theremin. It's become synonymous with sci-fi films, but here I think it works perfectly to relay his paranoia, especially when he starts halucinating.

And "Days Of Wine and Roses" is also a great companion and one of Jack Lemmon's best roles.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: metroshane on August 15, 2003, 01:22:49 PM
I love 7 year itch.  When i'm writing and get down, I always try and remember how Wilder pretty much did the whole movie in one location (apt scene).  That's writing.  Forget lot's of action or locations, you're really something if you can make a movie work with two people in one location.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: cine on September 17, 2003, 02:13:43 PM
for some reason I just noticed this thread. I like reviving ones of old directors because i don't like seeing them sink to the bottom. but to be fair, i can see how they drop so easily... people don't have much to say after things like Wilder's cynicism have been brought up.. no one really cares to discuss how he deals with it and what have you.
but anyhow, yes, I love Wilder as well. INCREDIBLY daring filmmaker. Probably had bigger balls than any director of his time. Great for dipping into all sorts of genres, like screwball comedy, noir, war, drama, etc. I've read Crowe's interview on Wilder and its a wonderful study on him.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: Ghostboy on March 23, 2004, 12:36:06 PM
I just began Crowe's book, and figured I should brush up on his films (only having seen Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity). I watched The Apartment last night, and don't have too much to add to what everyone's said...it's a masterpiece. I've never seen such a precise blend of humor and pathos. For me, making a film like that, I'd probably have been tempted to err towards the dramatic when the suicide elements come in; Wilder's refusal to play overtly for neither laughter nor tears is a valuable lesson in  proportions.

Tonight I'm watching The Seven Year Itch....
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on March 23, 2004, 01:16:29 PM
i LOVE billy wilder.  he and alfred hitchcock are probably my two favorite older directors.  because their best are masterpieces and their worst are still watchable.  i've now seen...

-the apartment
-double indemnity
-sunset blvd.
-sabrina
-some like it hot
-seven year itch
-irma la douce
-the fortune cookie
-stalag 17
-avanti!
-witness for the prosecution
-the lost weekend
-love in the afternoon
-one two three


they were all good and would rank them somewhat how i have above.  i still want to see ace in the hole, spirit of st louis, kiss me stupid, private life of sherlock holmes and the front page.  thats a really great book, and i'd like to re-read it actually now that i've seen a few more than when i had originally read it.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: Bethie on March 23, 2004, 05:11:30 PM
Double Indemnity is one of the best films I have ever seen. Billy Wilder films definitely stand the test of time.

I want to say so much more about him, but I'm not that great with words. I'll just leave it at, Wilder is brilliant.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: SiliasRuby on March 12, 2005, 04:59:40 AM
Watched Some Like It Hot tonight and thought it was decent but it didn't necessarily make me laugh out loud. I love Sunset Blvd though and I have yet to see his other ones.  I have the apartment and double indemnity on my list. Any other suggestions?
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on March 12, 2005, 10:26:23 AM
yes, see my list above.  everything towards the top is the best, and everything towards the bottom is just 'great'.  but definitely see double indemnity and the apartment next and then watch some like it hot again when you're not drunk.  billy wilder is the best ever,  i cant believe this thread is 2 pages and most of it is me.  lets go talk about foriegn directors.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: SiliasRuby on March 12, 2005, 01:12:33 PM
I saw Some like it hot again and I liked it more, much more. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I haven't really liked movies about crossdressing but this one was awseome. This one is going on my DVD wish list again.
Title: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on March 12, 2005, 02:59:45 PM
Quote from: themodernage02everything towards the bottom is just 'great'.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Lost Weekend is better than just 'great'.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: SHAFTR on November 20, 2005, 05:15:43 AM
It is 5am, I just stayed up so I could watch the 3 am showing of Double Indemnity (my first time seeing it).  Incredible and easily my favorite Noir film.  I need to see more Wilder.

I have seen and loved (5 stars):
Double Indemnity
Sunset Boulevard
The Apartment

Seen and liked a lot (4 stars):
Some Like it Hot

I think I'll go with The Lost Weekend and Stalag 17 next.  I should also buy Sunset Boulevard and The Apartment (is Double Indemnity even on DVD?).
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on November 20, 2005, 09:56:52 AM
Quote from: SHAFTR on November 20, 2005, 05:15:43 AM(is Double Indemnity even on DVD?).
technically yes, but basically no.  it was released years ago in a very short run that basically was only rental copies and can only be found now for hundreds of dollars or through an ebay bootleg.  (or at Macguffins house, i believe he has one.)  universal had annouced it to be released earlier this year on dvd and then pulled it indefinitely with no explanation.  hopefully they're cooking up some extras, but they could just be hammering out some rights issues.  theres really no reason this hasn't been released. 

don't forget to see Sabrina.  Lost Weekend is good but it's a very un-Wilder Wilder. 
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: Gold Trumpet on November 20, 2005, 06:04:44 PM
Quote from: modage on November 20, 2005, 09:56:52 AM
Quote from: SHAFTR on November 20, 2005, 05:15:43 AM(is Double Indemnity even on DVD?).
technically yes, but basically no.  it was released years ago in a very short run that basically was only rental copies and can only be found now for hundreds of dollars or through an ebay bootleg.  (or at Macguffins house, i believe he has one.)  universal had annouced it to be released earlier this year on dvd and then pulled it indefinitely with no explanation.  hopefully they're cooking up some extras, but they could just be hammering out some rights issues.  theres really no reason this hasn't been released. 

don't forget to see Sabrina.  Lost Weekend is good but it's a very un-Wilder Wilder. 

Word is reason they pulled it is because they are going to allow Criterion release it. Criterion has even acknowledged they plan to release some Wilder in the future so we'll see. Its just the biggest running rumor going around.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on November 20, 2005, 06:10:04 PM
best...rumor....ever.  :shock:
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: Split Infinitive on January 27, 2006, 12:33:59 AM
Just wondering if anybody has seen The Major and the Minor.  Besides a sharp script and an absolutely dynamite performance from Ginger Rogers, it really set the tone for the rest of his career to follow.  Wilder made a point of making subversive films that were so witty and dynamic that the mainstream audience swallowed it and loved it.  Essentially, his debut skirts issues of pedophilia, making the whole proceedings a bit creepy.  Great movie.  Some of his later, better known films dealth with gender issues, the Hollywood industry, and most especially, extramarital affairs.  Any thoughts on Wilder's subversiveness?  Did he go far enough to truly be considered subversive?
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on April 21, 2006, 05:54:15 PM
Universal is FINALLY delivering a Double Indemnity: Special Edition on 8/29 ( SRP $26.98 ). It's only one of the greatest film noirs ever made, and it's been YEARS since the Image Entertainment DVD went out of print. Thankfully, your patience will be rewarded with a 2-disc set that's part of the Universal Legacy Series no less! Extras are TBA.


:onfire: :multi: :onfire: :multi: :onfire: :multi: :onfire: :multi: :onfire: :multi:
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on April 21, 2006, 08:27:07 PM
thank GOD.  though this has been pushed back indefinitely so many times i'll believe it when i see it.  too bad most of the Legacy cover art is crappy.  and to think, if criterion had done this people might actually watch it.  :yabbse-undecided:
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on May 05, 2006, 09:08:27 PM
Quote from: modage on April 21, 2006, 08:27:07 PMtoo bad most of the Legacy cover art is crappy.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedigitalbits.com%2Farticles%2Fmiscgfx%2Fcovers3%2Fdoubleindemnityulsdvd.jpg&hash=199b7f5c2d2f59235fb7d881c374238924f7ca95)

I kinda like it better than the original poster:

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimagecache2.allposters.com%2Fimages%2FMG%2F143692.jpg&hash=f9e2b29159dfccadc2b2657831c5a7104abb75a0)
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: SiliasRuby on May 22, 2006, 05:48:12 PM
Looks like I might buy Double indemnity again, I love that film. One of the first original great film noirs of it's kind. The apartment and Sunset Boulvard are both pretty fabulous as well, Sunset especially. Can't wait to buy the new SE of Some like it Hot too.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on May 26, 2006, 04:51:28 PM
TCM Throws a Wild(er) Party!

Had that blasted pneumonia just left Billy Wilder alone, he would have turned 100 this June 22. (As it was, he made it to 96, which is pretty damn impressive.) In celebration of his centennial, Turner Classic Movies has planned a six-film series, starting on the 22nd with Double Indemnity, arguably Wilder's greatest achievement. The following day will feature five films, among them Sunset Blvd., Sabrina, and The Lost Weekend.

In addition to the mini-retrospective, TCM will also be offering something pretty special: A 90-minute interview with Wilder, edited down from three hours of footage that aired on German television in 1988. The TCM version of the interview is being called Billy Wilder Speaks and is described by the network as "a lesson in filmmaking, an oral history of the movie business and an intimate portrait of one of cinema's most talented masters." According to Variety, the interview footage (Which doesn't appear to have ever aired in the US before) is particularly valuable because Wilder, told that his words wouldn't be available in the US until after his death, was reportedly unusually frank in some of his comments.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on May 26, 2006, 04:53:50 PM
that sounds great.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: Bethie on May 27, 2006, 12:33:32 AM
I am staying home that day.  Wilder is my favourite director.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: Pubrick on May 27, 2006, 09:36:29 AM
Quote from: Bethie on May 27, 2006, 12:33:32 AM
Wilder is my favourite director.
i see you've been talking to cbrad again.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on June 18, 2006, 09:51:48 PM
Playing by his rules
Billy Wilder told me which camera angles to avoid, what shoes to buy, what to eat, and to never be boring.
By Volker Schlöndorff, Special to The Los Angeles Times

"Are we boring you?" Billy Wilder turned to ask his rapt Sunday guests, before returning to the saucy conversation he was having with screen legend Marlene Dietrich.

"Your violin teacher, was he before or after the aging actor?" Wilder asked, trying to catch up with her catalog of lovers.

"Before, of course, but there was a woman in between," she responded.

"Fritzi Massary?"

"Yes, I think it was her."

"I'll never get your affairs straight," Wilder said, before turning back to his guests and once again asking, "Are we boring you?"

It was Wilder's First Commandment: Never bore anyone! Neither in front of the camera nor behind it, neither in the screening nor drawing room, not on the phone nor in a restaurant. Wilder on the set — a battered cap perched rakishly on his head, pacing restlessly back and forth, dispatching witty remarks right and left, single-handedly entertaining his entire team: This is how I remember him, from our first meeting in 1976, during the shooting of "Fedora," his second-to-last film.

He was already 70 at the time, vivacious and chipper — and if not quite wise, at least no longer caustic. He did not direct his leads, he performed with them, palavering in French with Marthe Keller, in Berlin dialect with Hildegard Knef, and in Brooklyn slang with William Holden. Rather than acting out a scene himself to indicate what he was looking for, he used ironic exaggeration. It is my hope to someday achieve his seemingly carefree levity. For as different as our personalities and films may be, he has always been my role model.

I still remember how proud I was the day I received a letter from him. He had seen "The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum" and he wrote, "... simply the best German picture since Fritz Lang's 'M.' " I drafted one reply after another — but, in the end, I was too embarrassed to send anything. Then, one day, I got a chiding call from Wilder's agent: "He sent you a fan letter months ago, which you didn't even seem to feel the need to reply to. Mr. Wilder is in Munich, staying in the Four Seasons Hotel. Come and apologize!"

I did. Then, whenever I could, I went to watch him on the set of "Fedora." Scurrying between the camera and actors, he gave out small lessons in filmmaking. Comedies, he said, are like Swiss clockwork: Just as one gear wheel locks into another, each rejoinder drives the next; the straight line must be delivered clearly before the punch line, then a short pause for laughter, followed by another punch line to redouble the laughter and to keep it going. Nothing is worse than sporadic laughter — only roaring, continuous laughter brings down the house.

As long as he was making jokes, he did not have to talk to anyone on the set. He never wanted to be a confessor, shrink or father-figure. Deflecting every serious moment with a joke, Wilder gained a reputation as a cynic. But for him it was only a question of dignity: The really serious things we should keep to ourselves.

I wanted to learn from Billy Wilder the way he had been inspired by German director Ernst Lubitsch. (As the sign written in large calligraphic letters on the wall of Wilder's office asked, "How would Lubitsch do it?")

But what did I have in common with Billy Wilder? Next to nothing, if you consider our films, except maybe our predilection for journalists as movie characters. And yet, we were friends for 25 years, until his death in 2002. We often discussed films, and he was always full of stories, tricks, rules, answers. He had rules for every situation in life, in a script and on the set: how something should be done, and what should not be done under any circumstances. What shoes you should buy and where. What you should eat. What cut you should never make, and what camera angle you should never use (worm's-eye view or from a chandelier). What an actor cannot express without looking stupid (a sudden realization). What is indecent to show (a close-up of a person who has just learned of a friend's or relative's death).

I had always wanted to make a compilation of all these rules, to put together a little handbook of "Filmmaking According to Billy Wilder." But when I would suggest bringing along a camera, he would talk me out of it.

Until one morning in January 1988, at around 9:30 a.m., I met Mr. Wilder, then 81, on the way to his small office on Santa Monica Boulevard, which was really more of a writer's studio. At the time, Wilder was working on a book with German writer Hellmuth Karasek. I asked if I could join them with a little camera, and he finally agreed. Just as he had wished, my conversations with Wilder remained under lock and key during his lifetime. He gave me permission to show them in the United States only after his death: "Who cares what people think of me then?" he had said.

On the move

BORN in 1906 in Sucha, a section of Poland that was then in the Austro-Hungarian empire, Wilder's family moved to Vienna when he was a young boy. Wilder was 19 when he left there, dropping his law studies in the middle of his first semester to follow an American jazz band to Berlin as a self-proclaimed press attaché.

In Berlin, he proceeded to scrape by as a journalist before turning to screenwriting with "Emil and the Detectives," among others. In 1933, he fled first to Paris, where he even directed a film, "Mauvaise graine," but it was such a terrible experience that he rarely talked about it.

Then, at last, he got his chance to leave for America.

Unlike many of his fellow emigrants, Wilder never felt as if he was in exile in Hollywood. To the contrary: It was a dream come true. He threw himself wholeheartedly into the American popular culture, pulp, sports and radio above all. Within months, he was already collaborating on screenplays, the best known being Lubitsch's "Ninotchka" with Greta Garbo.

The action of Lubitsch's American films was always set in Europe, wheras Wilder felt like enough of an American citizen to make American movies right from the start. He had clear, often inconvenient political convictions, partook in community life, made generous donations — and even opened a restaurant in Beverly Hills.

By contrast, Wilder hated hospitals, and cemeteries were his worst nightmare. Even so, he took me to Lubitsch's grave to show me that his secretary really had been buried at the master's feet — "in case he needs to dictate something to her."

Wilder had seen more than enough corpses in 1945, when he had worked with the Allies to document the liberation of the camps. It was extremely important to him, "so that later on no one can claim that those Jews in Hollywood made it up"; and no doubt also because his mother and his entire Austrian family were among those killed.

Wilder made an uncharacteristic film, "Death Mills," a documentary about the German concentration camps, to be shown in that country. Germans, however, did not want to see this unflinching film. Wilder suggested to authorities that they coax people to watch the film before receiving their food stamps. To get viewer feedback, he organized a preview and provided paper and pencils.

"At the end of the screening, there was nobody left in the theater," Wilder recounted, "and all the pencils had been stolen."

Soon, the director himself ironically made light of these attempts at reeducation in "A Foreign Affair" with Dietrich. He was fascinated by her: "She was sharp, deft and practical. Not a great actress, no — it was all in her presence." According to Wilder, the femme fatale with her feather boas, fake eyelashes, high cheekbones and long legs was always just a persona. At home, Dietrich scrubbed the floors on her hands and knees, fried eggs and potatoes, and doctored partners and stagehands with homemade remedies for hangovers and colds. He called her "Mother Teresa, with better legs." And because she was so down-to-earth, she, unlike Marilyn Monroe, became a close friend.What may have connected them most was that they both became Americans because of their democratic convictions. U.S. passport in hand, they became even more adamant in their demand for a better Germany — she dressed up as a vamp, he as a clown.

"Nobody's perfect." The last line of "Some Like It Hot," originally just a provisional punch line, became a virtual motto, Wilder's Weltanschauung in a nutshell.

And while nobody may be perfect, his films are.

Monroe's character, who simply does not understand why everyone keeps ogling her bosom and curves, is a wonderful creature, lovingly and tenderly depicted by the pen of Wilder and his scriptwriter I.A.L. Diamond. It isn't the blond who's the fool — it's the men coming on to her who are. And this even though the director hardly had an easy time of it with her. Monroe had a nervous breakdown on the set, which her husband at the time, playwright Arthur Miller, blamed on Wilder. Wilder retorted that his job was to be a director, not a nurse. Then she miscarried. "I had no way of knowing that she was pregnant," Wilder apologized years later. "He simply should have told me that she was pregnant. I've never been as patient as I was while shooting 'Some Like It Hot,' but I'm not a doctor and a studio isn't a clinic."

"Many actresses were more reliable and had a better grasp of technique — Shirley MacLaine, for example. But no one was as convincing or had better timing."

I was friends with both Wilder and Miller, so I heard both sides of the story. "He was a bastard," Miller told me tersely on the set of "Death of a Salesman," which I shot in New York in 1985. Wilder's response the next time I saw him in Los Angeles was, "How can you stand being with that moralizer?! And that salesman who does nothing but schlepping, complaining and whining, whining...."

"Arthur," I replied, "has a great sense of humor."

"But," Billy shot back, "he's not funny."

Quiet on the set

ACTORS who worked with Wilder loved him — above all Audrey Hepburn, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Holden. "Never raise your voice on the set," cautioned Wilder. "Don't even let conflicts come up — nip them right in the bud. In every face-off there's always a loser, whether it's the director or the actor. That hurts the film and ultimately everyone involved in it, winner and loser alike."

The laconic Yankee — embodied perfectly by Holden, Gary Cooper and Humphrey Bogart — became Wilder's alter ego. In his early Hollywood years, during the war, his enthusiasm for the United States was boundless, and he hid his sarcasm under a smooth façade. It was only after the war, when the smugness and bigotry of the McCarthy era gained the upper hand, that Wilder became caustic ("Sunset Blvd."), attacking the press ("The Big Carnival," a.k.a. "Ace in the Hole") and deriding both the bourgeoisie ("The Seven Year Itch," "Kiss Me Stupid") and all the Cold War posturing ("One, Two, Three").

His heroes then became Lemmon and Matthau. In the eyes of most Americans — especially moral and religious watchdogs, women's associations and the respectability-craving nouveau-riche California establishment — this was going too far. Yet Wilder refused to give in.

In Wilder's world, there were the power-hungry and those who were left behind — usually because they chose the good at a critical moment: "In the third act, the hero should have a choice and, hopefully, make the right one."

In "The Apartment," Lemmon's character can either become his boss' accomplice and rise through the ranks or stop lending out his apartment for affairs and be fired. It's inevitable — decency goes unrewarded, no good deed remains unpunished.

To call Wilder a cynic for this would be absurd. He had decidedly moral expectations of himself and of us.

When "Stalag 17" was to be released in Germany, Paramount asked him to change the traitor from German to Polish, just for the German market. Wilder felt so insulted, after all the Germans had done to Poland, that he not only refused but asked for an apology. As none was offered, he packed his things and left Paramount after 18 years of great work. Today, a building there bears his name. But he was proud that he never sacrificed the truth nor spread lies in his films.

That said, he would advise me: "You can't tell the truth flat-out. Dip it in a bit of chocolate."

Art, alongside film and even more than sports and politics, was his passion. Even in his early years in Berlin, he invested money in art, starting with posters, ending up with Picassos. His apartment looked like a museum, and there were even paintings propped up in the halls.

When he auctioned off his collection in the late '80s, it brought in some $33 million. "I earned more in 35 minutes than with all my films over 50 years of work," he remarked and then invited me to join him for dinner on the Upper East Side.

He liked to talk about his films — not to flatter himself but to figure out what made them tick and where the clockwork got stuck. The most important thing is not to "keep making the same film, like Hitchcock," he said. "Make something different every time."

In the end, I managed to "wangle" 30 hours of conversation out of Wilder. He speaks candidly, interrupting himself to answer the phone, scratching his back, whirling around on his swivel chair like Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina."

In winter 1992, I showed him three hours' worth of edited material. He watched patiently. After a long silence, he asked, "What does this show us?"

"I think it's a wonderful manual for filmmaking and for life in general," I offered.

He retorted: "What this shows us is that you should never give an interview on a swivel chair. Also, you shouldn't talk so much with your hands if you have a mouth. And above all never use a back-scratcher during an interview! It just does not look dignified."

Schlöndorff lives in Germany and has directed such films as 1979's "The Tin Drum," which won the Academy Award for foreign film, and the upcoming "Strajk." This article was translated by Sophie Schlöndorff.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: grand theft sparrow on June 19, 2006, 10:06:37 AM
ATTENTION XIXAX NYC

http://www.filmforum.org/films/wilder.html
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on June 22, 2006, 12:48:20 AM
Quote from: MacGuffin on May 26, 2006, 04:51:28 PMIn addition to the mini-retrospective, TCM will also be offering something pretty special: A 90-minute interview with Wilder, edited down from three hours of footage that aired on German television in 1988. The TCM version of the interview is being called Billy Wilder Speaks and is described by the network as "a lesson in filmmaking, an oral history of the movie business and an intimate portrait of one of cinema's most talented masters." According to Variety, the interview footage (Which doesn't appear to have ever aired in the US before) is particularly valuable because Wilder, told that his words wouldn't be available in the US until after his death, was reportedly unusually frank in some of his comments.

Reminder: This airs today on TCM @ 8pm and 11:30pm ET/PT
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on June 22, 2006, 08:30:37 AM
fake tivo is set.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: MacGuffin on June 22, 2006, 05:15:00 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on April 21, 2006, 05:54:15 PMExtras are TBA.

The Double Indemnity (Special Edition) DVD will feature the following bonus materials:

Introduction by Robert Osborne
Shadows of Suspense Featurette
Audio Commentary with film historian Richard Schickel
Audio Commentary with film historian/screenwriter Lem Dobbs and film historian Nick Redman.
Double Indemnity TV Movie (1973)
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: grand theft sparrow on June 22, 2006, 06:17:12 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on June 22, 2006, 05:15:00 PM
Audio Commentary with film historian/screenwriter Lem Dobbs

Is he going to spend the whole time bitching about how Wilder changed everything Raymond Chandler had accomplished with the script?
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: grand theft sparrow on January 16, 2007, 11:02:25 AM
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=152031&mainArticleId=152021

Set your (fake) TiVos, everyone!

On Thursday January 25, at 2:30am, Turner Classic Movies will show Billy Wilder's hard-to-find, alleged masterpiece Ace in the Hole/The Big Carnival as part of a Kirk Douglas tribute.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: modage on January 16, 2007, 11:22:47 AM
oh thanks!  i'm totally going to set my (fake) tivo.  it's playing at the Film Forum right now so i had considered going just to see it, but this will save me $22.  i'm re-reading Conversations With Wilder now since i got it for christmas and recently noticed that Wilder's Spirit Of St. Louis with James Stewart got released on DVD at some point recently because you can now get it on Netflix.
Title: Re: Billy Wilder
Post by: Gold Trumpet on January 16, 2007, 12:12:37 PM
Criterion recently completed a deal with Paramount to release some of their films. The deal includes, which has been confirmed, Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole. Likely why the film now suddenly pops up on TCM's schedule since many marathons dedicated toward Kirk Douglas before have not featured it.

I've known about this for a little while. I'll list the other confirmed films in the Criterion thread.