Although, or perhaps because, he was born in Austria, writer, director, and Hollywood legend Billy Wilder saw America more clearly than most, probing its absurdities, hypocrisies, and self-delusions with a witty and often devastatingly cynical eye. This selection from his 1940s prime brings together two frequently overlooked World War II gems (the dynamic espionage thriller FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO and the sophisticated romantic comedy A FOREIGN AFFAIR) and two of his undisputed masterpieces: the definitive film noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY and the intense, groundbreaking study of alcoholic self-destruction THE LOST WEEKEND.
Directed by Billy Wilder • 1943 • United States
Starring Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff
The second film that Billy Wilder directed in Hollywood is a crackling World War II espionage thriller in which a British officer (Franchot Tone) stranded in Libya assumes the identity of a dead wa...
Directed by Billy Wilder • 1944 • United States
Starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
Has dialogue ever been more perfectly hard-boiled? Has a femme fatale ever been as deliciously wicked as Barbara Stanwyck? And has 1940s Los Angeles ever looked so seductively sordid? Wo...
Directed by Billy Wilder • 1945 • United States
Starring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry
Billy Wilder’s searing portrait of alcoholic self-destruction broke new ground in its frank, hard-hitting treatment of addiction. Ray Milland delivers a fearless, Academy Award–winning performance as ...
Directed by Billy Wilder • 1948 • United States
Starring Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund
Émigré director Billy Wilder returned to Europe for this strikingly sophisticated romance, which daringly combines comedy and geopolitics amid the ruins of postwar Berlin. Jean Arthur came out of re...
