A friend is taking a film class- 10 directors who challenged the typical Hollywood formula of the 1950’s (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

A friend of mine is taking a film class at the University he works at for fun. The class focuses on the time period these films were made and how the directors were pushing away from the standard Hollywood formula of the era. The class will discuss and critique these titles.

He gave me the tiles as I was curious what they are and I plan to watch them at my leisure. For this project, I’ve been collecting the films on discs. If anyone is interested, here’s the list and I’ll try to post my thoughts on the films after I’ve viewed them. I have seen some before, but most I’ve never seen before. This will be an interesting education. Of course I am not participating in the class itself so I’m going to hear the comments from the students. I’ll be curious if anyone cares to comment too.

Here’s the list:

1. John Ford:
THE QUIET MAN
THE SEARCHERS

2. Billy Wilder:
SUNSET BOULEVARD
ACE IN THE HOLE
Bonus film: Mervin LeRoy’s THE BAD SEED

3. Alfred Hitchcock:
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
NORTH BY NORTHWEST - I’ve seen this many times, I look forward to see the new 4K disc.
Bonus film: Jacques Tourneur’s NIGHTFALL

4. Fritz Lang:
THE BIG HEAT
*RANCHO NOTORIOUS* the instructor is replacing this film with:
WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS
Bonus film: BLUE GARDENIA.

5. Vincente Minnelli:
THE BAND WAGON
SOME CAME RUNNING

6. Nicolas Ray:
*REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE* the instructor just replaced this film with:
ON DANGEROUS GROUND.
JOHNNY GUITAR

7. Elia Kazan
A FACE IN THE CROWD
*EAST OF EDEN* the instructor has replaced this title with:
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS directed by Don Siegel.

8. Ida Lupino:
THE HITCH HIKER
OUTRAGE

9. Samuel Fulller:
PICK UP ON SOUTH STREET
FORTY GUNS

10: Stanley Kubrick:
THE KILLING
PATHS OF GLORY

 

[Nelson Au]

Besides the more obvious things that it is - a romance, a comedy, a drama, a romantic comedy, it’s also something to a certain segment of Americans, particularly Irish-Americans: a fantasy.

You probably wouldn’t guess it from my name but I have a lot of Irish heritage. So many people of Irish descent landed here not because they necessarily wanted to leave their homes but because of the famine, and their American offspring picked up on that nostalgic longing for their homeland. The Quiet Man presents a vision of a beautiful land untroubled by the passage of time, where life seems to move at a less hectic pace, with its own set of quaint rituals that emphasize community and tradition. Everyone seems welcome and accepted, giving you the feeling as a viewer that you’ll be warmly embraced for showing up. In a sense, it’s probably no more realistic than Star Wars or James Bond or Disneyland, but it feels real - that’s one of John Ford’s greatest gifts as a storyteller.

When someone like me says that they want to see Ireland before they die, most of the time we’re not really saying we want to visit a modern country with 21st century with advantages and disadvantages like our own; we’re saying we want to step into that fantasy and enjoy a place where time seems to move slower, where nature seems unobstructed, where we can take a deep breath and let that chip fall from our shoulders and experience a kind of tranquility that our modern life doesn’t often seem to allow for.

Thanks Josh, I’m not Irish, so I was thinking there are some cultural things going on that were unfamiliar to me.

It’s interesting to read your impression of the film, that it’s a fantasy of an idyllic place to go and enjoy a better life. Because this class’s instructor paired The Searchers with The Quiet Man, I thought that there might be some reason for it. Ethan Edward’s is a man who has lost everything, his way of life, his family, his home. So after he is able to bring Debbie home, he’s not part of that home, and returns to the wilderness to roam. But in the Quiet Man, Sean Thornton leaves America to return to ancestral home. He is able to buy his house back and also after a struggle, he is able to win his bride. Yes, it was a romance and comedy, I saw it as the opposing view of Ethan who becomes no one and will roam the wilderness, and Sean who finds his home and settle down. So that was my struggle. So perhaps the point of these films is to show how John Ford can tell such different stories.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Ethan Edwards was always destined to roam the land whether he lost his family and home or not. He's simply an outsider that knows he's not part of normal family life or society.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Ethan Edwards was always destined to roam the land whether he lost his family and home or not. He's simply an outsider that knows he's not part of normal family life or society.

Wordlessly expressed in the brilliant doorway shot at the finale of the film.

- Walter.

 

[jayembee]

I'd be interested to know what aspects of the 50s Hollywood formula (not sure of the exact definition here) these films are said to have challenged.

Well, the 1950s marked the change from the studio system to the independent producer system. So, one could argue that we see less of the "house style" of the studio films and more of a focus on edgier material that started becoming the norm.

 

[Nelson Au]

One added note, my friend said the instructor timed the week for the Kazan films with A Face in the Crowd to coincide with the election. I know there is no political talk allowed on the forum. I just wanted to say he wanted the class to see that film before the election. I’ve never seen that title before, so I’ve got that on order.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

One added note, my friend said the instructor timed the week for the Kazan films with A Face in the Crowd to coincide with the election. I know there is no political talk allowed on the forum. I just wanted to say he wanted the class to see that film before the election. I’ve never seen that title before, so I’ve got that on order.

It is a fantastic film, really a must see. It says many things but one of the big statements the film makes is about the power of propaganda. That with the bullhorn of the media and a charming personality you can shape the direction of a nation. Andy Griffith gives what can only be called a stunning performance in the film, it will change the way you see him as an actor. The story really gets its hooks into you and it is an uncomfortable ride. It really does not have much to do with this upcoming election, made long before the people running were ever on the political stage, but it shows how people can be sucked in by a liar, a person that is dishonest but folksy, that is only out for their own gain but easily sways people into thinking he is one of them.

It is a dark and grim film that points out things about humanity that are really uncomfortable and I am sure reminds people of what we are going through now. It is not a prediction though, it is just a fact that people like this have always existed and have always been able to sway a certain number of people to their side.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

And reexamining the list of films, I guess the connective tissue here is these films do tend to take a look at the darker side of humanity. Wilder's Ace in the Hole is another nasty examination of the human animal. I would say it would pair well with A Face in the Crowd except that if you watched the two of those in a row, you probably would not be feeling great about your fellow human beings.

If you want to make it a trilogy, of exploring the nasty side of humanity, 1957's Sweet Smell of Success slots right in. Again, it won't make you feel good about people, these are dark adult films that have a willingness to examine the ugly as well as the beautiful. Definitely grown-up entertainment.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I do think these are all films that deeply influenced filmmakers in the 1970s. Somewhat in the 1980s and 1990s, and now are no longer the kind of films people prefer to make.

 

[Walter Kittel]

If you want to make it a trilogy, of exploring the nasty side of humanity, 1957's Sweet Smell of Success slots right in. Again, it won't make you feel good about people, these are dark adult films that have a willingness to examine the ugly as well as the beautiful. Definitely grown-up entertainment.

Excellent suggestion. Sweet Smell of Success is a terrific film with incredibly accomplished writing, cinematography, and performances. Released in 1957 it (in some ways) feels like a precursor to the advent of the anti-hero in films which really takes hold in the 1960s.

- Walter.

 

[bujaki]

After seeing a wonderful 35mm print of Sweet Smell of Success, I felt like going home and taking a shower. Magnificent film!

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m expecting the Criterion edition of A Face in the Crowd next week. And I happen to have the Criterion Sweet Smell of Success in my collection. I haven’t opened that disc yet. Now I have a reason. But I think I’ll leave some time between watching it after watching A Face in the Crowd.

 

[Nelson Au]

The second week of film study is on two Billy Wilder films. I’ve seen Sunset Boulevard once or twice before many years ago. But not recently, so it wasn’t fresh in mind. The second film is Ace in the Hole and one I’ve not heard of or seen before.

William Holden is Joe Gillis, a Hollywood screen writer who is struggling as he’s not sold any work for sometime. He’s also running from debt collectors who have orders to re-possess his car. On his run, he stumbles onto a mansion on Sunset Boulevard that appears derelict and unkept. He hides his car in the garage and finds the house is inhabited by Norma Desmond portrayed by Gloria Swanson. Norma is a former silent film star who’s been living for years re-living her last glories and has the idea that she can make a comeback.

After a misunderstanding by Norma of who Joe is, she invites Joe to help her with a screenplay for her comeback. Because Joe is in need of a job, he accepts, but doesn’t expect that Norma wants Joe to stay and be her romantic partner. Because he is such need, he decides to go along with Norma until he can finish the screenplay. He becomes a kept man.

I’m not very good at satire. It doesn’t always work for me. I have to make an effort to figure it out because I usually take it as a straightforward story, literally. So on the surface for me, Sunset Boulevard is a film about the tragic path that Joe Gillis takes with Norma that leads to his undoing. Norma is plain stark raving. But I get it now that it’s a sharp and biting look at Hollywood.

There is a dark side that Wilder explored as what a man will do to rise up in his industry. And I imagine that many film actors and actresses have periods where they want to recapture past glories. This film takes both Joe and Norma to extremes. This is a dark film and neither Joe or Norma are very sympathetic. Though I thought Joe had a moment where he could have pulled out of Norma’s grip when he starts sneaking out at night to work on a screenplay with Betty, an attractive young screen writer at Paramount. They are falling for each other, they seem made for each other. My interpretation was that he didn’t feel it could work as he was too far down the road under Norma’s grip and needs her. Betty is saved, but heartbroken as she learns the truth.

This is another strong film that I’ll likely need to take time away from and then revisit and absorb it more. It was dark and was a sad ending.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I am aware that Sunset Boulevard is very much a satire on Hollywood. So it was interesting that Wilder was able to get away with some of what he did. It almost felts like biting the hand, but he never made any criticisms of Paramount Studios. It was cool that he was able to shoot the film at the Paramount gate and on the studio grounds. And Wilder got onto the shooting set of a DeMille film actually in production. So it was very much an insider film with looks at the real studio. And the film is a look at the madness that can happen to those in the industry.

The next film is Ace in the Hole. This is not a film I’ve ever heard of and this was my first time viewing it. For some reason, I was able to see what was going on in this film, what message Wilder was trying to send. Probably because it was so over the top. Like Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole is about a down and out newspaper reporter who was at the top of his game and is not on his downward spiral and would take a job at any lower tier small newspaper to find a story that will bring him back to the top and to New York. Kirk Douglas play that reporter Chuck Tatum. He’s one of the most terrible persons I’ve seen Douglas portray. Chuck take a job as a reporter at a small newspaper in New Mexico. He stumbles across a situation of a man trapped in a cave and uses this situation to create a huge news event that snowballs into a huge story that grips the nation. He uses the corrupt sheriff to control the media and make themselves the ringleaders. They convince the local construction contractor to take the harder path of getting the trapped man out of the cave by drilling a hole from above. But the construction contractor knows it’s faster and easier to just shore up the cave from inside and get to the trapped man in shorter time. But they all fall under Chuck’s spell to do it the hard way as this will be great publicity for them.

Chuck also convinces the trapped man’s wife who no longer loves her husband and decided to leave him, leave to stay and profit from the huge attention the story has gotten. She has to play the role of grieving wife hoping to get her husband out. They eventually have a falling out with a dramatic sequence. After this incident, and when it looks like the trapped man is not going to be able to hold out much longer, Chuck at the last moment gets a priest to go into the cave and give him last rites.

Like Sunset Boulevard and Joe Gillis, Douglas’s Chuck Tatum’s efforts to struggle and claw his way back to the glory days ends badly for him.

It seems to me the film class instructor chose these two titles because they both show what people will do to get to the top of their professions. These are not happy or uplifting films. These are looks at the darker sides of humanity.

My friend said he felt Ace in the Hole was similar in structure to The Postman Rings Twice. I’ve not seen that film but I know of it. I’ve heard the title mentioned many times. I’ll have to watch that film soon.

I also plan to revisit more Wilder titles, I’ve not seen Stalag 17 and Sabrina in ages, so I have little to no recollection of them. And I plan to watch several other Wilder titles that I’ve not seen in a long time. My recollection is there are titles that are not as dark as the two films in the class. Maybe there’re more to The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot then I realized. I do remember the last line in Some Like It Hot.

 

[Nelson Au]

This week, I learned that the instructor has replaced Kazan’s East of Eden with Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Don Siegel. He made that change as it deals with a different aspect of troubled American society.

I also learned these changes are made in order to make it easier for students so they can stream them for free via links the instructor provides.

 

[Nelson Au]

I jumped out ahead of the film class film sequence and watched Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd per the instructor’s desire for students to see that film before the election.

Per Pike Bishop’s post above, yes, of course the film has nothing to do with the current election and is more about the power of propaganda.

I’ve seen Andy Griffith in a later film called Prey for the Wildcats and so I knew he could play a really nasty character. But in this film, he’s a real piece of work as Lonesome Rhodes. I mainly know Patrica Neal from The Day The Earth Stood Still, but in this film, she’s really dynamic.

I also made a connection to the Peter Seller’s film, Being There. It’s been a while since I’ve watched Being There, so my memory may be incorrect. In both films, the main character becomes nationally famous through happenstance and through their own natural way, are able to influence a large number of people through eventual politics. While Peter Sellers as Chance the Gardener is totally naive and as pure as a child, Rhodes is a self serving rogue who only thinks of himself and his own gain and satisfying his own needs.

Marcia was interesting to watch as well as the person who made Lonesome Rhodes by discovering him and nurturing his start as a media personality, first radio, then TV. She eventually falls for his charm, partly to keep him around for the sake of the TV show, as well as falling for him. Rhodes betrays her by marrying another girl, but she still has feelings for him, but they are very conflicting. From this one viewing, I wasn’t clear who the character Walter Matthau plays, but he seems to be attracted to Marcia as well and manages to give her the strength to walk away.

This is quite a surprising film for what I’d think is as unconventional as they come for the late 1950’s. I don’t know if I wanted to watch this film again too soon as Lonesome Rhodes is such a terrible person, but I think it needs to be seen again to gain more insights.

The second film for the week was changed at the last minute to Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Don Siegel. Initially the film was to be East of Eden. I’ve known of this film and who stars in it, but I’ve never seen it. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a film I’ve seen quite often though! And the 1978 remake. I recently watched the new 4K release of this film, so it was fresh in mind. During this period in the 1950’s Red Scare, the spores or alien pods were used to depict communism in allegory. (Thats what the scholars say) Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an effective depiction of showing how your neighbors could suddenly change overnight. They are the same, but different. The focus is losing individuality and becoming banal through conformity. I wasn’t around during the time this film premiered, so I’ve only read about the paranoia of communism. So my interpretation has always been about losing individuality and to conform to the accepted norms. Being a science fiction fan, I really enjoy this film at that level too. The paranoia is there underlying the take over of the town.

This film is famous for having an intro and ending scene imposed that bookends the film to reduce the bleakness of the original ending. I think either version works but I can see the original version is scarier. You’re next!

I suppose both these films depict a way a country can be taken over, one by a charming rogue who gets people to align to his narrative with through his lies and sales tactics. The other film shows the same thing in a much more subtle way. The aliens take over your body and mind into another way of life and philosophy in a much more subtle way without you even knowing it.

 

[mskaye]

The second week of film study is on two Billy Wilder films. I’ve seen Sunset Boulevard once or twice before many years ago. But not recently, so it wasn’t fresh in mind. The second film is Ace in the Hole and one I’ve not heard of or seen before.

William Holden is Joe Gillis, a Hollywood screen writer who is struggling as he’s not sold any work for sometime. He’s also running from debt collectors who have orders to re-possess his car. On his run, he stumbles onto a mansion on Sunset Boulevard that appears derelict and unkept. He hides his car in the garage and finds the house is inhabited by Norma Desmond portrayed by Gloria Swanson. Norma is a former silent film star who’s been living for years re-living her last glories and has the idea that she can make a comeback.

After a misunderstanding by Norma of who Joe is, she invites Joe to help her with a screenplay for her comeback. Because Joe is in need of a job, he accepts, but doesn’t expect that Norma wants Joe to stay and be her romantic partner. Because he is such need, he decides to go along with Norma until he can finish the screenplay. He becomes a kept man.

I’m not very good at satire. It doesn’t always work for me. I have to make an effort to figure it out because I usually take it as a straightforward story, literally. So on the surface for me, Sunset Boulevard is a film about the tragic path that Joe Gillis takes with Norma that leads to his undoing. Norma is plain stark raving. But I get it now that it’s a sharp and biting look at Hollywood.

There is a dark side that Wilder explored as what a man will do to rise up in his industry. And I imagine that many film actors and actresses have periods where they want to recapture past glories. This film takes both Joe and Norma to extremes. This is a dark film and neither Joe or Norma are very sympathetic. Though I thought Joe had a moment where he could have pulled out of Norma’s grip when he starts sneaking out at night to work on a screenplay with Betty, an attractive young screen writer at Paramount. They are falling for each other, they seem made for each other. My interpretation was that he didn’t feel it could work as he was too far down the road under Norma’s grip and needs her. Betty is saved, but heartbroken as she learns the truth.

This is another strong film that I’ll likely need to take time away from and then revisit and absorb it more. It was dark and was a sad ending.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I am aware that Sunset Boulevard is very much a satire on Hollywood. So it was interesting that Wilder was able to get away with some of what he did. It almost felts like biting the hand, but he never made any criticisms of Paramount Studios. It was cool that he was able to shoot the film at the Paramount gate and on the studio grounds. And Wilder got onto the shooting set of a DeMille film actually in production. So it was very much an insider film with looks at the real studio. And the film is a look at the madness that can happen to those in the industry.

The next film is Ace in the Hole. This is not a film I’ve ever heard of and this was my first time viewing it. For some reason, I was able to see what was going on in this film, what message Wilder was trying to send. Probably because it was so over the top. Like Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole is about a down and out newspaper reporter who was at the top of his game and is not on his downward spiral and would take a job at any lower tier small newspaper to find a story that will bring him back to the top and to New York. Kirk Douglas play that reporter Chuck Tatum. He’s one of the most terrible persons I’ve seen Douglas portray. Chuck take a job as a reporter at a small newspaper in New Mexico. He stumbles across a situation of a man trapped in a cave and uses this situation to create a huge news event that snowballs into a huge story that grips the nation. He uses the corrupt sheriff to control the media and make themselves the ringleaders. They convince the local construction contractor to take the harder path of getting the trapped man out of the cave by drilling a hole from above. But the construction contractor knows it’s faster and easier to just shore up the cave from inside and get to the trapped man in shorter time. But they all fall under Chuck’s spell to do it the hard way as this will be great publicity for them.

Chuck also convinces the trapped man’s wife who no longer loves her husband and decided to leave him, leave to stay and profit from the huge attention the story has gotten. She has to play the role of grieving wife hoping to get her husband out. They eventually have a falling out with a dramatic sequence. After this incident, and when it looks like the trapped man is not going to be able to hold out much longer, Chuck at the last moment gets a priest to go into the cave and give him last rites.

Like Sunset Boulevard and Joe Gillis, Douglas’s Chuck Tatum’s efforts to struggle and claw his way back to the glory days ends badly for him.

It seems to me the film class instructor chose these two titles because they both show what people will do to get to the top of their professions. These are not happy or uplifting films. These are looks at the darker sides of humanity.

My friend said he felt Ace in the Hole was similar in structure to The Postman Rings Twice. I’ve not seen that film but I know of it. I’ve heard the title mentioned many times. I’ll have to watch that film soon.

I also plan to revisit more Wilder titles, I’ve not seen Stalag 17 and Sabrina in ages, so I have little to no recollection of them. And I plan to watch several other Wilder titles that I’ve not seen in a long time. My recollection is there are titles that are not as dark as the two films in the class. Maybe there’re more to The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot then I realized. I do remember the last line in Some Like It Hot.

Ace in the Hole is the cinematic equivalent of a punch in the face. It's powerful, visually inventive and a descent into the abyss of post war America (and it might, just might, be a wee bit relevant today. Ha.) I think it's one Wilder's top three films.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The second week of film study is on two Billy Wilder films. I’ve seen Sunset Boulevard once or twice before many years ago. But not recently, so it wasn’t fresh in mind. The second film is Ace in the Hole and one I’ve not heard of or seen before.

William Holden is Joe Gillis, a Hollywood screen writer who is struggling as he’s not sold any work for sometime. He’s also running from debt collectors who have orders to re-possess his car. On his run, he stumbles onto a mansion on Sunset Boulevard that appears derelict and unkept. He hides his car in the garage and finds the house is inhabited by Norma Desmond portrayed by Gloria Swanson. Norma is a former silent film star who’s been living for years re-living her last glories and has the idea that she can make a comeback.

After a misunderstanding by Norma of who Joe is, she invites Joe to help her with a screenplay for her comeback. Because Joe is in need of a job, he accepts, but doesn’t expect that Norma wants Joe to stay and be her romantic partner. Because he is such need, he decides to go along with Norma until he can finish the screenplay. He becomes a kept man.

I’m not very good at satire. It doesn’t always work for me. I have to make an effort to figure it out because I usually take it as a straightforward story, literally. So on the surface for me, Sunset Boulevard is a film about the tragic path that Joe Gillis takes with Norma that leads to his undoing. Norma is plain stark raving. But I get it now that it’s a sharp and biting look at Hollywood.

There is a dark side that Wilder explored as what a man will do to rise up in his industry. And I imagine that many film actors and actresses have periods where they want to recapture past glories. This film takes both Joe and Norma to extremes. This is a dark film and neither Joe or Norma are very sympathetic. Though I thought Joe had a moment where he could have pulled out of Norma’s grip when he starts sneaking out at night to work on a screenplay with Betty, an attractive young screen writer at Paramount. They are falling for each other, they seem made for each other. My interpretation was that he didn’t feel it could work as he was too far down the road under Norma’s grip and needs her. Betty is saved, but heartbroken as she learns the truth.

This is another strong film that I’ll likely need to take time away from and then revisit and absorb it more. It was dark and was a sad ending.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I am aware that Sunset Boulevard is very much a satire on Hollywood. So it was interesting that Wilder was able to get away with some of what he did. It almost felts like biting the hand, but he never made any criticisms of Paramount Studios. It was cool that he was able to shoot the film at the Paramount gate and on the studio grounds. And Wilder got onto the shooting set of a DeMille film actually in production. So it was very much an insider film with looks at the real studio. And the film is a look at the madness that can happen to those in the industry.

The next film is Ace in the Hole. This is not a film I’ve ever heard of and this was my first time viewing it. For some reason, I was able to see what was going on in this film, what message Wilder was trying to send. Probably because it was so over the top. Like Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole is about a down and out newspaper reporter who was at the top of his game and is not on his downward spiral and would take a job at any lower tier small newspaper to find a story that will bring him back to the top and to New York. Kirk Douglas play that reporter Chuck Tatum. He’s one of the most terrible persons I’ve seen Douglas portray. Chuck take a job as a reporter at a small newspaper in New Mexico. He stumbles across a situation of a man trapped in a cave and uses this situation to create a huge news event that snowballs into a huge story that grips the nation. He uses the corrupt sheriff to control the media and make themselves the ringleaders. They convince the local construction contractor to take the harder path of getting the trapped man out of the cave by drilling a hole from above. But the construction contractor knows it’s faster and easier to just shore up the cave from inside and get to the trapped man in shorter time. But they all fall under Chuck’s spell to do it the hard way as this will be great publicity for them.

Chuck also convinces the trapped man’s wife who no longer loves her husband and decided to leave him, leave to stay and profit from the huge attention the story has gotten. She has to play the role of grieving wife hoping to get her husband out. They eventually have a falling out with a dramatic sequence. After this incident, and when it looks like the trapped man is not going to be able to hold out much longer, Chuck at the last moment gets a priest to go into the cave and give him last rites.

Like Sunset Boulevard and Joe Gillis, Douglas’s Chuck Tatum’s efforts to struggle and claw his way back to the glory days ends badly for him.

It seems to me the film class instructor chose these two titles because they both show what people will do to get to the top of their professions. These are not happy or uplifting films. These are looks at the darker sides of humanity.

My friend said he felt Ace in the Hole was similar in structure to The Postman Rings Twice. I’ve not seen that film but I know of it. I’ve heard the title mentioned many times. I’ll have to watch that film soon.

I also plan to revisit more Wilder titles, I’ve not seen Stalag 17 and Sabrina in ages, so I have little to no recollection of them. And I plan to watch several other Wilder titles that I’ve not seen in a long time. My recollection is there are titles that are not as dark as the two films in the class. Maybe there’re more to The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot then I realized. I do remember the last line in Some Like It Hot.

For most of my life, Ace in the Hole's film title was The Big Carnival. I first watched it on TV back in the day under that title. Simply a great film in my opinion.