Some Like It Wilder Page 50
Director of Photography: Daniel Fapp (Panavision)
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Production Designer: Alexander Trauner
Special Effects: Milton Rice
Music: André Previn
Sound: Basil Fenton-Smith
Cast: James Cagney (C. R. MacNamara), Horst Buchholz (Otto Ludwig Piffl), Pamela Tiffin (Scarlett Hazeltine), Arlene Francis (Phyllis MacNamara), Howard St. John (Hazeltine), Hanns Lothar (Schlemmer), Leon Askin (Peripetchikoff), Ralf Wolter (Borodenko), Karl Lieffen (Fritz), Hubert von Meyerinck (Count von Droste Schattenburg), Lois Bolton (Melanie Hazeltine), Peter Capell (Mishkin), Til Kiwe (reporter), Hennig Schlüter (Doctor Bauer), Karl Ludwig Lindt (Zeidlitz), Lilo Pulver (Ingeborg), Red Buttons (MP), Christine Allen (Cindy MacNamara), John Allen (Tommy MacNamara), Frederick Hollander (orchestra leader, uncredited)
Released: December 1961
Running Time: 115 min.
Irma la Douce (1963)
Production Company: Mirisch Company/United Artists
Producer: Billy Wilder
Associate Producers: I. A. L. Diamond and Doane Harrison
Production Supervisor: Allen K. Wood
Director: Billy Wilder
Assistant Director: Hal Polaire
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, based on the musical play by Alexandre Breffort and Marguerite Monnot
Director of Photography: Joseph LaShelle (Panavision)
Color Process: Technicolor
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Production Designer: Alexander Trauner
Set Decorators: Maurice Barnathan and Edward G. Boyle
Music: André Previn, adapted from the score by Marguerite Monnot
Costumes: Orry-Kelly
Sound: Robert Martin
Cast: Jack Lemmon (Nestor Patou), Shirley MacLaine (Irma), Lou Jacobi (Moustache), Bruce Yarnell (Hippolyte), Herschel Bernardi (Inspector Lefevre), Hope Holiday (Lolita), Joan Shawlee (Amazon Annie), Grace Lee Whitney (Kiki the Cossack), Paul Dubov (Andre), Howard McNear (concierge), Cliff Osmond (police sergeant), Diki Lerner (Jojo), Herb Jones (Casablanca Charlie), Ruth Earl and Jane Earl (Zebra Twins), Tura Satana (Suzette Wong), Lou Krugman (first customer), James Brown (customer from Texas), Bill Bixby (tattooed sailor), James Caan (soldier with radio), Louis Jourdan (narrator, uncredited)
Released: June 1963
Running Time: 147 min.
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
Production Company: Mirisch Company / Lopert Films
Producer: Billy Wilder
Associate Producers: I. A. L. Diamond and Doane Harrison
Production Manager: Allen K. Wood
Director: Billy Wilder
Assistant Director: C. C. Coleman Jr.
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, suggested by the play L’ora della fantasia by Anna Bonacci
Director of Photography: Joseph LaShelle (Panavision)
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Production Designer: Alexander Trauner
Art Director: Robert Luthardt
Set Director: Edward G. Boyle
Special Effects: Milton Rice
Music: André Previn
Songs: “Sophia,” “I’m a Poached Egg,” and “All the Livelong Day,” music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Cast: Dean Martin (Dino), Kim Novak (Polly the Pistol), Ray Walston (Orville J. Spooner), Felicia Farr (Zelda Spooner), Cliff Osmond (Barney Milsap), Barbara Pepper (Big Bertha), James Ward (milkman), Howard McNear (Mr. Pettibone), Doro Merande (Mrs. Pettibone), Bobo Lewis (waitress), Tommy Nolan (Johnnie Mulligan), Alice Pearce (Mrs. Mulligan), John Fiedler (Reverend Carruthers), Arlen Stuart (Rosalie Schultz), CliffNorton (Mack Gray), Mel Blanc (Dr. Sheldrake), Eileen O’Neal (showgirl), Susan Wedell (showgirl), Bernd Hoffmann (barkeeper), Henry Gibson (Smith), Alan Dexter (Wesson), Henry Beckman (truck driver)
Released: December 1964
Running Time: 122 min. (2003 restored version: 126 min.)
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
Production Company: Mirisch Company/United Artists
Producer: Billy Wilder
Associate Producers: I. A. L. Diamond and Doane Harrison
Production Supervisor: Allen K. Wood
Unit Manager: Patrick J. Palmer
Director: Billy Wilder
Assistant Director: Jack Reddish
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder
Director of Photography: Joseph LaShelle (Panavision)
Editor: Daniel Mandell
Production Designer: Robert Luthardt
Set Decorator: Edward G. Boyle
Special Effects: Sass Bedig
Music: André Previn
Song: “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To,” music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Sound: Robert Martin
Cast: Jack Lemmon (Harry Hinkle), Walter Matthau (Willie Gingrich), Ron Rich (Luther “Boom Boom” Jackson), Judi West (Sandy Hinkle), Cliff Osmond (Chester Purkey), Lurene Tuttle (Mother Hinkle), Harry Holcombe (O’Brien), Les Tremayne (Thompson), Lauren Gilbert (Kincaid), Marge Redmond (Charlotte Gingrich), Noam Pitlik (Max), Harry Davis (Dr. Krugman), Ann Shoemaker (Sister Veronica), Maryesther Denver (nurse), Ned Glass (Doc Schindler), Sig Ruman (Professor Winterhalter), Archie Moore (Mr. Jackson), Howard McNear (Mr. Cimoli), William Christopher (intern), Dodie Heath (nun), Herbie Faye (Maury, the equipment man), Billy Beck (Maury’s assistant), Judy Pace (Elvira), Helen Kleeb (receptionist), Keith Jackson (football announcer), Don Reed (newscaster), Robert DoQui (man in bar)
Released: October 1966
Running Time: 126 min.
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Production Company: Mirisch Company/United Artists
Producer: Billy Wilder
Associate Producer: I. A. L. Diamond
Production Supervisor: Larry De Waay
Production Manager: Eric Rattray
Director: Billy Wilder
Assistant Director: Tom Pevsner
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Director of Photography: Christopher Challis (Panavision)
Color Process: DeLuxe Color
Editor: Ernest Walter
Production Designer: Alexander Trauner
Art Director: Tony Inglis
Set Decorator: Harry Cordwell
Special Effects: Cliff Richardson and Wally Veevers
Music: Miklos Rozsa
Ballet Adviser and Dance Arranger: David Blair
Title Design: Maurice Binder
Sound Editor: Roy Baker
Sound Recorders: J. W. N. Daniel and Gordon K. McCallum
Cast: Robert Stephens (Sherlock Holmes), Colin Blakely (Dr. John Watson), Genevieve Page (Gabrielle Valladon), Christopher Lee (Mycroft Holmes), Tamara Toumanova (Petrova), Clive Revill (Rogozhin), Irene Handl (Mrs. Hudson), Mollie Maureen (Queen Victoria), Stanley Holloway (gravedigger), Catherine Lacey (old lady), Peter Madden (Von Tirpitz), Michael Balfour (cabbie), James Copeland (guide), John Garrie (first carter), Godfrey James (second carter), Robert Cawdron (hotel manager), Alex McCrindle (baggage man), Frank Thornton (Porter), Paul Hansard (monk), Miklos Rozsa (conductor)
Released: November 1970
Running Time: 125 min. (2003 DVD version: 185 min.)
Avanti! (1972)
Production Company: Mirisch Company/United Artists
Producer: Billy Wilder
Production Manager: Alessandro von Normann
Director: Billy Wilder
Assistant Director: Rinaldo Riccio
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, based on the play by Samuel Taylor
Director of Photography: Luigi Kuveiller (Panavision)
Aerial Photography: Mario Damicelli
Color Process: DeLuxe Color
Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Production Designer: Ferdinando Scarfiotti
Set Decorator: Nedo Azzini
Musical
Arrangements: Carlo Rustichelli
Musical Conductor: Gianfranco Plemizio
Sound: Basil Fenton-Smith, William Varney, and Frank Warner
Cast: Jack Lemmon (Wendell Armbruster), Juliet Mills (Pamela Piggott), Clive Revill (Carlo Carlucci), Edward Andrews (Joseph J. Blodgett), Gianfranco Barra (Bruno), Francesco Angrisano (Arnoldo Trotta), Pippo Franco (Mattarazzo), Franco Acampora (Armado Trotta), Giselda Castrini (Anna), Rafaele Mottola (passport officer), Lino Coletta (Cipriani), Harry Ray (Dr. Fleischmann), Guidarino Guidi (maître d’), Giacomo Rizzo (barman), Antonino Faà di Bruno (concierge), Yanti Somer (nurse), Janet Agren (nurse), Aldo Rendine (Rossi)
Released: December 1972
Running Time: 144 min.
The Front Page (1974)
Production Company: Universal
Producer: Paul Monash
Executive Producer: Jennings Lang
Production Manager: Carter De Haven Jr.
Director: Billy Wilder
Second Unit Director: Carey Lofton
Assistant Directors: Charles E. Dismukes, Howard G. Kazanjian, and Jack Saunders
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, based on the play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Director of Photography: Jordan S. Cronewath (Panavision)
Special Effects: Nick Carey
Color Process: Technicolor
Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Production Designers: Henry Bumstead and Henry Larrecy
Set Decorator: James W. Payne
Music Adaptation: Billy May
Songs: “Button Up Your Overcoat,” music by Ray Henderson, lyrics by B. G. De Sylva and Lew Brown; “Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine,” music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Irving Kahal and Willie Raskin; “Congratulate Me,” music by Lou Handman, lyrics by Bob Rathberg
Sound: Martin Hoyt and Robert Martin
Titles: Wayne Fitzgerald
Cast: Jack Lemmon (Hildy Johnson), Walter Matthau (Walter Burns), Susan Sarandon (Peggy Grant), Carol Burnett (Mollie Malloy), Vincent Gardenia (“Honest Pete” Hartman), David Wayne (Roy Bensinger), Allen Garfield (Kruger), Austin Pendleton (Earl Williams), Charles Durning (Murphy), Herb Edelman (Schwartz), Martin Gabel (Dr. Max J. Eggelhofer), Harold Gould (mayor), Cliff Osmond (Officer Jacobi), Dick O’Neill (McHugh), Jon Korkes (Rudy Keppler), Lou Frizzell (Endicott), Paul Benedict (Plunkett), Doro Merande (Jennie, the janitor), Noam Pitlik (Wilson), Joshua Shelley (cab driver), Allen Jenkins (telegrapher), John Furlong (Duffy), Biff Elliot (police dispatcher), Barbara Davis (Myrtle), Leonard Bremen (Butch)
Released: December 1974
Running Time: 105 min.
Fedora (1979)
Production Company: Geria Films/Bavaria Film Studios/United Artist
Producers: Helmut Jedele and Billy Wilder
Director: Billy Wilder
Script: I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, based on the novella by Thomas Tryon from his book Crowned Heads
Assistant Director: Jean-Patrick Constantini
Director of Photography: Gerry Fisher
Color Process: Technicolor
Editors: Stefan Arsten and Fredric Steinkamp
Production Designer: Alexander Trauner
Music: Miklos Rozsa
Cast: William Holden (Barry “Dutch” Detweiler), Marthe Keller (Fedora), Hildegard Knef (Countess Sobryanski), José Ferrer (Dr. Vando), Frances Sternhagen (Miss Balfour), Mario Adorf (hotel manager), Stephen Collins (Young Barry), Henry Fonda (president of the academy), Michael York (himself), Hans Jaray (Count Sobryanski), Gottfried John (Kritos), Arlene Francis (newscaster), Jacques Maury (usher), Christine Mueller (young Antonia), Rex McGee (photojournalist)
Released: April 1979
Running Time: 113 min.
Buddy Buddy (1981)
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Producer: Jay Weston
Director: Billy Wilder
Assistant Director: Gary Daigler
Script: Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, based on the play L’emmerdeur by Francis Weber
Director of Photography: Harry Stradling Jr.
Editor: Argyle Nelson
Music: Lalo Schifrin
Song: “Cecilia,” arranged by Peter Rugolo, sung by Michael Dees
Cast: Jack Lemmon (Victor Clooney), Walter Matthau (Trabucco), Paula Prentiss (Celia Clooney), Klaus Kinski (Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot), Dana Elcar (Captain Hubris), Miles Chapin (Eddie, the bellhop), Michael Ensign (assistant manager), Joan Shawlee (receptionist), Fil Formicola (Rudy “Disco” Gambola), C. J. Hunt (Kowalski), Bette Raya (Mexican maid), Ronnie Sperling (hippie husband), Suzie Galler (pregnant wife), John Schubeck (newscaster), Ed Begley Jr. (lieutenant 1), Frank Farmer (lieutenant 2), Neile McQueen (saleswoman)
Released: December 1981
Running Time: 98 min.
Notes
Billy Wilder granted the author an extended interview in his Hollywood office on September 30, 1975, and the present book was developed from that interview. From time to time over the years, the interview was updated by telephone. All quotations from Wilder that are not attributed to another source are from this interview.
1. FROM BERLIN TO HOLLYWOOD
1. Kevin Lally, Wilder Times: The Life of Billy Wilder (New York: Holt, 1996), 1. Wilder’s first name was spelled Billie until he went to Hollywood, when he changed the spelling to Billy because Billie was used for females there, e.g., Billie Burke. But I use the spelling Billy throughout this book for the sake of consistency.
2. Hellmuth Karasek, Billy Wilder: Eine Nahaufnahme [Billy Wilder: A close-up] (Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe, 1992), 29–30. This book has the most complete treatment of Wilder’s youth; it has not been published in an English translation. Robert Scheff translated the cited passages. Unless otherwise noted, all translations are in the Billy Wilder file, National Film Archive, British Film Institute, London.
3. Geoffrey Macnab, “Gold Leaf and Shadow-Play: Vienna in Films,” Sight and Sound, n.s., 16, no. 9 (2006): 32.
4. Karasek, Billy Wilder, 34–35.
5. Maurice Zolotow, Billy Wilder in Hollywood, rev. ed. (New York: Limelight, 1987), 341–42; Billy Wilder, “Going for Extra Innings,” interview by Joseph McBride and Todd McCarthy, Film Comment 13, no. 1 (1979): 42.
6. Zolotow, Billy Wilder in Hollywood, 26.
7. Daniel Johnson, “On the Wilder Side of Freud,” Times (London), September 30, 1995, 2.
8. Tom Wood, The Bright Side of Billy Wilder, Primarily (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970), 164; see also Karasek, Billy Wilder, 53–55.
9. Billy Wilder, interview by Richard Gehman, Playboy, June 1963, 58.
10. Fred Zinnemann, interview by author, London, May 15, 1994.
11. Peter Bogdanovich, Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Film Directors (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998), 565.
12. Fred Zinnemann, A Life in the Movies: An Autobiography (New York: Scribner, 1992), 16.
13. Billy Wilder, “Wir von Filmslude” [We of the Film Studio], Tempo, June 23, 1929, 2. Robert Scheff translated the cited passages. Wilder and his partners called their film unit the Film Studio—an ironic title, since they were not associated with any film studio.
14. “People on Sunday,” Sight and Sound, n.s., 15, no. 6 (2005): 86; see also Jeffrey Meyers, introduction to The Lost Weekend: A Screenplay, by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, ed. Jeffrey Meyers (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000), vii.
15. Zinnemann, interview.
16. Kevin Brownlow to author, July 14, 2006.
17. Wood, Bright Side of Billy Wilder, 174.
18. Karasek, Billy Wilder, 94.
19. Glenn Hopp, Billy Wilder: The Cinema of Wit (Los Angeles: Taschen, 2003), 10.
20. Garson Kanin, Hollywood: Moviemakers and Moneymakers (New York: Viking, 1974), 152.
21. Michael Blowen, “The Art of Billy Wilder,” Boston Globe, October 22, 1989, 81.
22. Wilder, interview by Gehman, 58.
23.
Gene D. Phillips, Fiction, Film, and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1986), 14.
24. Lincoln Barnett, “The Happiest Couple in Hollywood,” Life, December 11, 1944, 104, 102.
25. John Gregory Dunne, “The Old Pornographer: Billy Wilder,” New Yorker, November 8, 1999, 90.
26. Billy Wilder, “One Head Is Better Than Two,” in Hollywood Directors, 1941–1976, ed. Richard Koszarski (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 270.
2. CHAMPAGNE AND TEARS
1. Ernst Lubitsch, “Film Directing,” in Hollywood Directors, 1914–1940, ed. Richard Koszarski (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), 273–74.
2. Scott Eyman, Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993), 259.
3. Ibid., 257.
4. “Billy Wilder,” in Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age at the American Film Institute, ed. George Stevens Jr. (New York: Knopf, 2006), 302; see also Michiko Kakutani, “Ready for His Close-Up,” New York Times Magazine, June 28, 1996, 14.
5. Jürgen Muller and Jorn Hetenbrugge, “Chaos and Illusion: Notes on the Movies of the Thirties,” in Movies of the Thirties, ed. Jürgen Muller (Los Angeles: Taschen/BFI, 2005), 17; see also David Freeman, “Sunset Boulevard Revisited,” New Yorker, June 21, 1993, 74.
6. Barry Paris, Garbo: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1995), 361.
7. Ibid., 363.
8. Jay Nash and Stanley Ross, eds., The Motion Picture Guide, 1927–1983 (Chicago: Cinebooks, 1985), 2171.
9. Wood, Bright Side of Billy Wilder, 39–40.
10. Zolotow, Billy Wilder in Hollywood, 69.
11. Louis Giannetti, Understanding Movies, 11th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008), 419.
12. David Chierichetti, Hollywood Director: Mitchell Leisen (Los Angeles: Photoventures Press, 1995), 123.
13. Wood, Bright Side of Billy Wilder, 65.
14. Manohla Dargis, “Film,” New York Times, April 15, 2007, sec. 2, p. 4.
15. “David Kipen Picks Five Great Screenplays,” Chicago Tribune Book Review, February 26, 2006, 8.