Billy Wilder DVD Poll (1 Viewer)

[Bob Graham]

One, Two Three
Ace in the Hole
The Apartment SE
The Front Page
Fortune Cookie Se

 

[george kaplan]

1. The Apartment (because it's his best)

2. Kiss, Me Stupid (cause it's not even released yet).

3. Double Indemnity

4. Some Like It Hot

5. Stalag 17

 

[Philip Brandes]

Full support for all the other suggestions as well, but "Ace in the Hole" is at the top of my list.

Cheers,
Philip Brandes

 

[Dave S.G.]

At LEAST barebones, but preferrably SEs (commentaries are my favorite feature; maybe some wonky academic and/or Mr. Crowe but any extras are VERY welcome)...
Ace in the Hole
Double Indemnity
Ninotchka (I know, he wrote the screenplay and Lubitsch directed, but I HAD to ask)
And PLEASE an SE of The Apartment. I'm about to buy it anyway but I'll gladly re-buy it for supplements and a better transfer.

 

[Jay E]

My 5 picks:

Ace in the Hole
Double Indemnity
One, Two, Three
Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - Restored
Five Graves to Cairo

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Well, I don't think I would ask for any of the UA titles already owned by MGM, as I think they seem to know the value of what they have, and would likely initiate SE's on their own as they did with SOME LIKE IT HOT. And I think my vote is best served on material yet to be released in any proper form. So I vote for:

1. ACE IN THE HOLE (Paramount)
2. THE FRONT PAGE (Universal)
3. FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO (Universal)
4. FEDORA (WB)
5. BUDDY BUDDY (WB)

Granted, some of my choices are what would be his lesser work, but face it, Wilder on his worst day is better than most guys on their best day.

 

[TimJS]

My choices for SE’s:

Double Indemnity
Stalag 17 – Wd like to hear Wilder’s comments on Preminger & Ruman
Five Graves To Cairo – never seen it sounds interesting
Ace In The Hole - again
Ninotchka – Note to self: promote Garbo on DVD no matter how tangential the connection.

Possible specs for Double Indemnity:

Feature on Stanwyck – great noir kitten
Feature on John F. Seitz – Major DP working for Sturges & Wilder (Five Graves to Cairo, Lost Weekend, & Sunset Blvd.), Something like 11 noirs to his credit (This Gun for Hire ’42 to Cry In The Night ’56).
Feature on Pulp writers in Hollywood. JM Cain, Chandler, involved in story. Interview candidates for this feature (dunno if all alive)…David Madden, Paul Skenazy, Richard Fine, Roy Hoopes, William Marling.
Interview with Kasdan on the, um, influence of DI on Body Heat.

Random thought: Hard to believe you could do a second SE of Some Like It Hot, but I wish there had been more ‘Wilder’ content in the current release.

Tim

 

[george kaplan]

As far as actual features, it's hard to know what actually exists, but my top two choices would be:

- the death chamber ending to Double Indemnity

- any scenes of Peter Sellers in Kiss, Me Stupid

 

[MattThiel]

I would buy "Witness For The Prosecution" if Criterion re-released the film. (The R1 bare-bones DVD has one of the worst covers I have ever seen.)

 

[Eric Peterson]

Bump!

I edited my post from above. I somehow forgot "Kiss Me Stupid" and had to bump Avanti! to my secondary list.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

1. Double Indemnity
2. Lost Weekend
3. Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Based on titles I would want to see with Wilder comments that have not already gotten the SE treatment:

One, Two, Three
Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (with lots of supplements laying out the editorial history if reconstructing the long version is not possible)
Ace in the Hole/Big Carnival
The Apartment
Double Indemnity

Not too different from many others, although I have to admit that I would welcome SEs of just about anything from Wilder.

Regards,

 

[Larry P]

AVANTI! Hayley's sister is really hot, kids.

Come on MGM. Who da man? MGM da man.

 

[Charles Ms]

If i could decide i would definitely go for:

. The Front Page
Commentary by Austin Pendleton (the man in the desk)
Commentary by Susan Sarandon (her first role?)

. Witness for the Prosecution
any archival footage on the great Sir Charles Laughton

. The Apartment
Commentary/Interview by Shirley MacLaine on working with Jack Lemmon under Billy Wilder

. Avanti !
behind the scenes, on location footage

. Buddy Buddy
footage on Klaus Kinski under the direction of Billy Wilder

. One, two, three
Commentary by Horst Bucholz (just did one for La vita é bella)


Definitely movies no one will get tired of viewing them.
I watch them once a year since almost 20 years and they become better and better (all standards for comedy )))

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

I'd be very happy to just have Avanti on DVD, extras or not.