One, Two, Three (1961)

A Coca-Cola executive (James Cagney) in West Berlin dreams of being promoted to the London office. His boss asks a personal favor: keep an eye on his wild daughter for a few weeks. This proves to be a difficult task.

There is a significant tonal shift between Wilder’s screwball comedy Some Like it Hot (1959) and his black comedy The Apartment (1960). The tonal shift to One, Two, Three, however, is off the chart. The comedy is extremely broad and the pace is absolutely frenetic. I suggest subtitles.

Leon Askin, better known as General Burkhalter from Hogan’s Heroes, plays a Russian doing business with Cagney’s MacNamara. John Banner (Sargent Schultz) did some voice work. But it's Cagney's larger than life persona that takes up the vast majority of the film. His performance is breathtaking, quite literally.

There are several references to Cagney’s prior work, arranged like poorly hidden Easter eggs. At one point he quotes a line from Edward G. Robinson, whom he is often mistaken for.

The Berlin wall was erected during filming causing big problems. Production had to relocate to Munich, and now a major plot element (crossing back and forth between east and west) was no longer possible. Most importantly, the public’s view of the divided city and the cold war turned pretty negative. No longer a prime topic for a zany comedy, it bombed.

One, Two, Three is a peculiar film with a peculiar title. Very over-the-top comedy seldom works for me, but if you listen close you will hear Billy Wilder’s unique brand of wit. AMRU 3.5.

A Foreign Affair (1948)

A Senate committee travels to post-war Berlin to investigate stories of lax attitudes and inappropriate behavior by US servicemen. Among them is the young Congresswoman Frost (Jean Arthur). She sees our boys buying goods on the black market and chasing German women, but when she learns that someone has been covering for a cabaret singer (Marlene Dietrich) with a Nazi link, she is determined to uncover the truth. She enlists the help of fellow Iowan Captain Pringle (John Lund). Will love bloom?

It’s not a spoiler to reveal that it’s Cap Pringle who’s been covering for singer Von Schluetow. And Cap makes for a pretty poor romantic lead. Our introduction to him is pretty rough and it doesn’t get better. But this is Billy Wilder and he knows how to spin a tale.

Squeaky little Jean Arthur took four years off from filmmaking, and would wait another five for her last film, Shane. She was very charming as the naive and uptight Senator. She and rival Dietrich were both pushing fifty, very unusual for a film of this time. Dietrich, true to form, didn’t think much of her co-stars. She referred to Lund as a piece of petrified wood and Arthur as “that ugly, ugly woman with that terrible American twang". She never did play nice.

So, did A Foreign Affair stick the landing? More or less, I would say. From a story and dialog perspective, it’s not top Wilder. But it’s not too bad either. Good performances (particularly if you like Dietrich’s singing) and the footage of bombed out Berlin were quite striking. AMRU 3.

The Major and the Minor (1942)

Susan (Ginger Rogers), disillusioned with life in New York City, decides to move back home. Unfortunately, fares have increased and she can no longer afford her ticket. So naturally she dresses as a minor to get a half fare. The train ushers don’t buy it so she hides in the cabin of an Army Major (Ray Milland). He doesn’t doubt her for a second and they strike up a friendship.

Ginger Rogers has a youthful appearance and pulls off the child look to a degree, but it is a big ask of the audience to think that anyone taking a close look would actually believe she is a child. Major Kirby’s fiance sees Sue-Sue without pigtails and get’s the “wrong” idea, only to become convinced once the pigtails return.

Let’s get the big issue out of the way, which is the budding relationship between a 35 year old, engaged Army Major and someone he believes to be under twelve years old. That the viewer knows full well from the beginning that Susan is an adult helps keep the creep factor at bay, aided by the fact that Rogers is simply not believable as a preteen. Also, Billy Wilder’s comedic script keeps the tone light and deftly side-steps problematic notions.

Susan stays with the Major’s fiancee (Rita Johnson, two years younger than Ginger), bunking with her little sister (Diana Hill). Hill’s Lucy not only sees through the ruse but explains in detail why. They live at the cadet training institute that fiance's dad runs and Susan attracts the sometimes toxic attention of the none-the-wiser teenaged cadets.

Longtime screenwriter Wilder was given a chance to direct a Hollywood feature, and the result isn’t bad. It’s not one of his best, but certainly not a misfire. Not as funny or moving as his best work, and I didn’t care for the conclusion, but that’s setting a high bar. AMRU 3.

Stalag 17 (1953)

Prisoners in a German POW camp suspect there is a snitch in the barracks.

I grew up watching reruns of Hogan’s Heroes, which I understood was adapted of Stalag 17. I believed this while watching. There are many parallels, for instance barracks life, the word Stalag, and William Holden’s Sgt. Sefton is not a terrible analog for Bob Crane’s Col. Hogan. They both also share a Sgt. Schultz. Obviously the show has a more comedic, family friendly tone and while you can draw a line between show and film characters, they don’t line up perfectly.

In reality, while I believe the show was greatly inspired by the film, it was not an authorized adaptation. In fact the authors of the play the film was based on sued the TV show and initially won. The judge, however, reversed the decision. They can do this.

The film is somewhat episodic. The exploits of Sefton as well as Shapiro and “Animal” provide comedic interest. But the through line of the story is the Nazi spy they are trying to find, and there the stakes are high. Sefton becomes a prime suspect.

Peter Graves has a significant role, as does Richard Erdman, who is best remembered as that guy who reviews snack foods on youtube. There are a great many notable character actors throughout.

While I had never seen this film, I was well aware of it even as a boy. Unfortunately it was spoiled for me in an unexpected way. Mad Magazine would do satirical renditions of famous movies, and Stalag 17 was one of them. I read this issue in maybe 1980 and remembered the reveal to this very day. Still, it is a greatly enjoyable film. AMRU 4.

"I see nothing!"

Ace in the Hole (1951)

Big shot reporter Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) must resort to working for a small-time newspaper in Albuquerque to crawl his way back to the top. Nothing breaks for him until he stumbles upon a story he can sink his teeth into. A man is trapped in an Indian cave and Chuck manipulates the sheriff, the townsfolk, even the man’s wife (Jan Sterling) to turn the story into a personal gold mine.

O’ll Chuck may be our main character but he is not a good guy. He is unabashed in his ambition to exploit a bad situation. He even brings the cub reporter along for the ride. Still, I found myself rooting for him a bit. But as he transitions from taking advantage of a desperate situation to taking control, his truer nature is revealed.

Sterling was no stranger to genre pictures, but this was a rare leading role for her. She played the self-involved ditz pretty well. Frank Cady played an early arrival at Chuck’s carnival. He was a recognizable character actor in many films, but will forever be remembered as Sam Drucker from Green Acres. It’s the place to be.

Native peoples are featured, somewhat in the background, but respectfully considering the day. Chuck calls a native man ‘chief’ but this informs us of Chuck’s character. That native was Iron Eyes Cody himself, the litter-hating Indian from my youth. Keep America Beautiful. His real name was Espera DeCorti. Speaking of bit parts, Timothy Carey may have had a bit part as a construction worker. It is unconfirmed. Remember him from Kubrick’s The Killing and Paths of Glory. He was a weirdo.

Ace in the Hole takes a bleak, cynical look at human nature. Chuck is the circus ring leader, but almost everyone is willing to jump through his hoops. Maybe not quite as much ironically hilarious dialog as one expects from Billy Wilder, but it is among his more important films. AMRU 4.

“Bad news sells best. ‘Cause good news is no news.”

Ball of Fire (1941)

Nightclub singer Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) must hide out until the heat is off her gangster boyfriend (Dana Andrews). She stumbles upon a group of professors (NNNNNERRRRRDSSSSS!!) working on an encyclopedia, and they want her help studying modern slang. The cops would never think to look for her there. Will love bloom?

Much of the story makes no sense but it doesn’t matter. It is just a framework for the fish out of water to fall in love with the head nerd … I mean professor (Gary Cooper). The seven other professors are modeled after the seven dwarfs, presumably with Stanwyck as Snow White and Cooper as the prince. Billy Wilder wrote the story prior to the release of the Disney movie and in one shot a marquee can be seen showing the Disney flick.

Because the plot revolves around our nerds … I mean professors trying to learn modern slang, the dialog is chuck full of exaggerated or completely made up terms, sounding silly or awkward. This is to heighten the sense of the other fish being out of the other water. Unfortunately our two leads didn’t show much on-screen chemistry. Maybe because their characters were from such different universes or maybe because Cooper acts with all the panache of an uncooked potato. Plus, the 40ish never-been-kissed Cooper looked old enough to be 34ish year old Stanwyck’s dad.

Some prolific character actors make up the the seven dwarfs, most notably S.Z. Sakall from Casablanca and most recently Christmas in Connecticut. Also here is the prolific Charles Lane, whose career spanned from the early 30’s until the mid 90’s. If ever you needed a grumpy lawyer, he was your man. His docket is even longer than Ian Wolf’s, whom I detailed recently. Between the two they appeared in almost 700 movies and TV shows, with only a half dozen titles in common, maybe because they played similar character types.

I wanted to like this film a bit more but I simply didn’t buy either character actually falling for the other. There were funny parts and Stanwyck was as charming as ever, but I have yet to see Cooper in something I liked. That said, mom would have enjoyed it. AMRU 3.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

In the summer, wives and children of the well to do escape the Manhattan heat for lakeside paradises, leaving husbands and fathers behind to behave like unsupervised delinquents. Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) wants to be good, yes he does, but, you see, this hot blond (Marilyn Monroe) just moved upstairs, and you know …

Originally a play, the story revolved around a man’s affair when the wife is away. No, actual affairs just won’t do, says the Hays office. Instead of feeling guilty for having an affair, good old Sherman has to feel guilty about WANTING to have an affair. So Ewell plays the aging, dorky, ladies-man-wanna-be to Monroe’s ditzy sexpot confused why men react strangely to her baby-doll act. We, the audience, grin and pretend to be wiser.

For reasons that escape me, now that I’ve seen the film, I don't understand how Marilyn’s subway skirt scene became so iconic. It is shorter and less sexy than I expected, and, well that’s all I have to say about that. Hey, look! It’s Carolyn Jones, again in a tiny role. She played Morticia …. nevermind.

The production code turned a very provocative stage play into a somewhat confounding film. Billy Wilder and George Axelrod did their level best to create a viable comedy out of a redacted screenplay, but the end result is only mildly amusing and eminently dated. Compare this to Irma la Douce made seven years later also by Wilder (and originally was to star Monroe) after standards were loosened quite a bit. Neither were fantastic films, but Irma at least had sex appeal. In a very giggling-twelve-year-old sort of way, but still. I would be curious what a faithful adaptation would look like.

The Seven Year Itch isn't uninteresting, but it is somewhat strange (Sherman has fantasy conversations and narrates his own life). There is humor, but nothing to evoke an actual laugh. AMRU 3.

“Miss Morris, I'm perfectly capable of fixing my own breakfast. As a matter of fact, I had a peanut butter sandwich and two whiskey sours.”

Irma la Douce (1963)

An honest Parisian cop (Jack Lemmon) is fired for calling a raid on street walkers. He then falls in love with one of them (Shirley MacLaine) and becomes her pimp. It’s the classic love story.

What was originally a musical was adapted into a rather strange film. Themes like crime, prostitution, infidelity, domestic violence, and even murder are treated with a bizarre whimsy. Universal Protagonist Jack Lemmon suffers through all of it. He loves Irma and cannot stand it when she serves her customers, so he concocts a bizarre plan to deal with his jealousy, but no spoilers here.

Marilyn Monroe and Charles Laughton both were set to appear but were totally croak-city come production. A Marilyn Irma (or EAR-ma) would have been an interesting change. Surely she would have highlighted the character’s stupid qualities. Laughton would have played bar owner Moustache, and would have been wonderful but I don’t see how he could have improved on Lou Jacobi. Who wasn’t dead yet was Grace Lee Whitney as Kiki the Cossack, whom geeks will recognize as Yeoman Janice Rand. Also interesting is the the film debut of James Caan and an early appearance of Bill Bixby. Look them up, ya damn millennials!

Very bawdy by early 60’s standards. Unlike another Billy Wilder film made a few earlier (which I will soon cover), the sexuality holds up. Many shots of topless women from the back, MacLaine included. It’s a twelve-year old’s dream. Before the internet, that is. It is a good example of how Hollywood changed during these times. What a difference eight years makes.

MacLaine didn’t think much of the script nor the film, but it earned her an Oscar nom none-the-less. The tone is almost off-putting with it’s flip treatment of dark material, but it doesn’t fail to entertain. The dialog is clever and witty like (almost) all Wilder films, and it is visually appealing. But that’s another story. AMRU 3.5.

“It's a hard way to earn an easy living.”

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Don Birnam (Ray Milland) is an alcoholic. His brother and his pretty girlfriend (Jane Wyman) try to help him, but when he is left to his own devices with a ten-spot, things go bad.

What does an alcoholic look like? Well, if you are in most movies of the 30’s to the 50’s, they were funny, harmless, frequently wore top hats, hiccuped a lot, and occasionally saw pink elephants. In The Lost Weekend, as in real life, they are well-intentioned, self destructive, rationalizing, and tragic. Also, not nearly as amusing as you’ve been led to believe.

This is my first film starring Jane Wyman I’ve seen. She was Mrs. Ronald Reagan at this time, but that wouldn’t last long. Ray Milland, having done a string of light comedies, wasn’t considered by many to be star material for an A picture, but the studio insisted. Milland, doubting himself, prepared by spending a night inside Bellevue Hospital. He would earn an Oscar. I was certain I had seen him in something else, but I don’t know what. Billy Wilder wrote the screenplay as an exploration of the life of Raymond Chandler after working with him on Double Indemnity. Chandler had an interesting relationship with the spirits.

The Lost Weekend is something of a departure for Billy Wilder. Not a comedy, and while it’s billed as Film-Noir, I don’t see it. It is a fascinating exploration of a tragic personality. Don means well but his demons intervene. If alcoholism has touched your family then this story will ring true. AMRU 4.

“We're both trying, Don. You're trying not to drink, and I'm trying not to love you.”

Sabrina (1954)

Young Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) is the daughter of the Chauffeur. She has a life long crush on the playboy son of her father's employer (William Holden), but he hardly notices her. She is sent off to Paris to learn to cook and returns with a new outlook, and the attention of the Larrabee boys.

Responsible older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) arranges for brother David to marry the daughter of a sugar plantation owner as part of a larger plastics deal, when David finally notices Sabrina. Linus' solution is to get David out of the way, make her fall in love with him, then ship her off to Paris again with a half-hearted apology. Nice guy this Linus.

For most of this film I was loving it. Hepburn was absolutely charming and the dialog was great. But I really struggled with Bogart as the rich, responsible, leading man-type. Also, in his mid fifties, he was creepy grandpa next to Hepburn's porcelain skin. Cary Grant was originally cast, but he turned it down. Grant was only a couple years younger than Bogart, but looked much younger and was way more appropriate for the role.

Early critics said Holden should have played the older brother and someone younger play David, and I agree. He seemed old as playboy David, and Bogart was older than the man playing Sabrina's father!

Bogart also didn't think much of Hepburn or Holden, or even Billy Wilder. He wanted wife Lauren Bacall for the lead, but I can't imagine anyone matching Hepburn's charm. In three years he would be gone.

Sabrina is rather charming and well written, but what started well ended up being a fairly generic rom-com by the third act. Maybe I'm holding the fast start or questionable casting choices against it, but there's no helping that. At worst, it's still a fine film. AMRU 3.5.

"A woman happily in love, she burns the soufflé. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven."

The Apartment (1960)

A young insurance company worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) loans out his humble apartment to executives for their romantic liaisons. When the director of human resources (Fred MacMurray) finds out, he wants in. C.C. gets ahead in life, but things become complicated.

This movie seems to be about people not knowing what they truly want. C.C. wants success but it doesn't make him happy. Fran the elevator girl (Shirley MacLaine) wants a married man, and that never ends well. Sheldrake wants it all, and see how that comes out. It's only when they realize what's really important that anything is resolved.

Writer/Director Billy Wilder, tired of working with demanding and unprofessional Marilyn Monroe, included a small part of a dumb blond with a baby-doll voice apparently as a dig at her. Fred MacMurray got grief from fans for this very non-family friendly roll. He would do only tripe from that moment on.

Amusing, clever, somewhat dark, absolutely charming, and very satisfying. Billy Wilder is fast becoming my favorite movie maker. Every film I've seen so far has been excellent. The Apartment was so well acted, so well written, and was Best Picture in what was an amazing year for Cinema. And Shirley MacLaine is adorable. AMRU 4.

"That's the way it crumbles... cookie-wise."

Ninotchka (1939)

Just before the onset of World War II three Russian operatives arrive in Paris to sell the legally confiscated jewels of the former Grand Duchess. Unfortunate for them, they chose the same hotel that the Grand Duchess (former) herself was staying at. Her lover (Melvyn Douglas) interrupts the sale and makes a claim on them. The operatives are living the Paris lifestyle waiting for the courts to decide, but Soviet government grows impatient and suspicious. They send in their sternest and most serious envoy to take over negotiations, Nina Ivanovna Yakushova (or Ninotchka to her friends, had she any).

A Lubitsch rom-com written (at least partially) by Billy Wilder, how can it go wrong? Greta Garbo, who underwhelmed in Grand Hotel, sparkles. First as the comically humorless Russian agent then as love-lorn and conflicted. She and the Grand Duchess' lover (soon to be former) cross paths without knowing who they are. He takes a fancy to her and she finds him amusing enough. Then things get complicated.

Hey, Bela Lugosi is here! Briefly. He has a quick and unimportant scene late in the film telling Ninotchka to check in with the same three operatives again, this time in Constantinople (not Istanbul). Was he begging for bit parts already?

Wonderfully written, delightfully performed, Ninotchka is a lot of fun. It does seem to lose track and go heavy handed on the Soviet social commentary, but that doesn't spoil a great viewing experience. AMRU 4.

"The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians."

Double Indemnity (1944)

Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) pays a visit to a client who's car insurance is about to expire. The Mr. Dietrichson isn't home but Wally likes what he sees with the Mrs. (Barbara Stanwyck). Eventually the Mrs. floats the idea of life insurance, in case anything unfortunate happens to the Mr. Of course the Mr. mustn't ever found out he bought it. Well, Walter smells a rat. And he likes what he smells. Together they plan how the insurance gets bought and how accidents can happen.

The fly in the ointment is Walter's boss, the savvy Mr. Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). You see, he has a "little man" that tells him something is fishy. Apparently Keyes' "little man" is a bit smarter than Neff's.

Excellent acting, great dialog, engaging story, Double Indemnity earned it's reputation as a great film. IMdb ranks it 55th all time (currently) and in the genre of film-noir it's third. I put a rush on watching it because Starz was making a hasty exit from the land of netflix, and while I enjoyed the movie, I can't say I love it up to it's reputation. I'll give it a 4.

So, what's the buzz about the movie? Apparently director Billy Wilder and co-screenwriter Raymond Chandler hated each other. Wilder would later say he flaunted his "womanizing ability" to torment the closeted Chandler. Wilder also had Stanwyck wear an ugly blond wig to give her a cheap, fake look. Later a studio exec remarked "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington".

"How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) are down on their luck musicians. The only job offered is for an all girls band in Florida. When they become witness to the Valentine's Day massacre, they decide to borrow some dresses and take that gig.

So, on the train they go with a bunch of women trying hard not to stand out. There they meet troubled hottie Sugar Kane, played by troubled hottie Marilyn Monroe. George Raft played a gangster, like in that other movie that featured the Valentine's Day massacre.

Anyhow, they get in and out of trouble, meet strange and interesting people, and find true love, of a sort. Curtis and Lemmon were great, the dialog was crisp, and the hottie was hot. Way to camouflage a pregnancy, Marilyn. She'd be dead in three years.

Monroe, I understand, was an utter train wreck on the set. Always late, couldn't remember her lines, difficult to the end. She wasn't invited to the wrap party. Billy Wilder hated her, though used her notoriety for his own gain. He considered Mitzi Gaynor for the role.

Banned in Kansas and condemned by the Catholic Church, Some Like it Hot was a well written, well made, and wonderfully crafted movie. AMRU 4. By the way, the title refers to how they like their Jazz. Sugar liked it hot.

"Well, nobody's perfect."

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Gloria Swanson was a 50 year old washed up silent film star trying to make her comeback. She plays Norma Desmond, a 50 year old washed up silent film star trying to make her comeback. One thing Gloria has over poor Norma is that her comeback film is good. Very good, in fact.

William Holden plays Joe Gillis, a hack writer down to his last straw. While escaping the men who would reposes his car, he hides in what he believes to be an abandoned mansion on the famous boulevard. The mansion is in fact occupied by the above mentioned prima donna and her faithfully loopy butler.

Norma wrote an enormous and ridiculous script that would be her 'return' to cinema but it needs the touches of a hack writer to clean it up. Joe needs cash and has no appointments on his social calendar. Slowly, Joe falls under the thumb of the melodramatic Norma. Every time he attempts to assert himself, she pulls him back in.

In the final analysis, everybody is a phony. Everybody is trying to get something from somebody else. Except the hot Nancy Olson.

Here are a couple cool things: It is reveled that butler Max Von Mayerling is really Norma Desmond's first director. He is played by real life director Enrich von Stroheim. There is a scene (which I missed most of because my library DVD was, well, from the library) where he runs the projector for a screening of an old Norma Desmond film, which is in fact Queen Kelly, an old Gloria Swanson film that was directed by Stroheim! 1950 and Hollywood had turning it's critical eye onto itself!

Also, there is a scene where Joe, Norma, and a few friends play cards, which I missed most of because ... you know. Anyhow, the other card players were washed up has-been silent film stars Buster Keaton (a favorite of mine from my youth) and Anna Q. Nilsson.

There are a lot of other things to explore with this film (like, what's Jack Webb doing in the movie, and what's up with the dead monkey?) but I'll leave them to other people. I really enjoyed the movie. AMRU 4.

"She was the greatest of them all. You wouldn't know, you're too young. In one week she received 17,000 fan letters. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. Later he strangled himself with it!"

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

A rich widow is dead and the dashing ne're-do-well Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), who had been showing her a lot of attention lately, is accused of the murder. Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton), against the advice of his nursemaid (Elsa Lanchester, the Bride in Bride of Frankenstein and Laughton's real-life wife), takes Vole's case.

Like all Agatha Christie stories, there are many characters, details, and plot twists. Marlene Dietrich plays Power's none too helpful wife, some 12 years his senior (and looking every minute of it). Una O'Connor (the maid in Bride of Frankenstein) plays the maid, the last role of her life. Great performances, all.

I had never seen a Dietrich movie and I now understand what Madeline Kahn was doing in Blazing Saddles. I also never saw Tyrone Power before, who died at 44 the same year the movie was released. I'm curious to see more from them.

Through the film we learn more about Vole's relationship with the widow French (Norma Varden), and more about his relation ship with the Mrs. Vole. This movie was a pleasure. The complex plot kept me guessing and the dialog and acting were great. Definitely worth a second viewing. The AFI called it the 6th best courtroom drama and I give it an AMRU of 4.