Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
It still amazes me how well Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend works because it is first and foremost a teetotalling film, a dramatic deconstruction of a man consumed by his need and addiction to alcohol where the alcoholism is the center of every single scene. However, buoyed by Charles Brackett's and Billy Wilder's expertly written… Continue reading The Lost Weekend: A Second Look
#25 in my ranking of Billy Wilder's filmography. This bothered absolutely no one but me, but back when I did the run through of Billy Wilder's movies I missed his first film, Mauvaise Graine, also known as Bad Seed. It's a minor work, made in the brief period he lived in France after he fled… Continue reading Mauvaise Graine (Bad Seed)
Billy Wilder was born in Poland to Austrian Jewish parents in the first decade of the 20th century. He moved to Germany where he studied journalism and got involved in screenwriting. Fleeing from Germany with the rise of Hitler, he came to America and became a citizen in 1939 while beginning work in Hollywood as… Continue reading Billy Wilder – A Retrospective
#26 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. This is such a sad way for the great Billy Wilder to end his career. After everything he made, he’d never made a bad film until this. He’d had less than successful ones, but never one that was actually outright bad. Until this, his final film. Some… Continue reading Buddy Buddy
#23 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. If you don’t see the twist coming from a mile away, then this might be the first movie you’ve ever seen. It’s obvious, and a bit frustrating that the movie holds onto that secret so long, but it does get revealed at the halfway point allowing the… Continue reading Fedora
David Vining, Author 