Posts by feralmason

I’m honestly thrilled that NBC decided to include Wilder's Apartment in their holiday lineup this season. Most people probably don't even think of it as a Christmas movie, despite the setting being right in the middle of the holidays.

It’s ironic, cynical (seriously, if you're going out with a married man, don't bother with the mascara), yet somehow overflowing with love for the little guy—and that's easily my favorite Jack Lemmon role...

Watching it really makes me realize how rare it is to find a director who championed the underdog quite like Wilder did. Everything that unfolds after Ms. Kubelik gets that $100 from her boss is pure cinematic poetry. You have this Jack Lemmon character ready to do absolutely anything to climb the ladder, only to finally realize that family is the only thing that actually matters. It’s about that one person you wake up next to, the person you decorate the tree with, or someone to just sit and play a game of chess with...

One of my absolute favorite directors. I’ve sat through almost his entire filmography (except for his final outings, The Emperor Waltz and Buddy, Buddy).

Since Billy Wilder cut his teeth as a screenwriter, it’s no mystery why his films possess such incredible narrative backbone. Both he and I share a deep reverence for Ernst Lubitsch—a director the younger generation probably hasn't even heard of. They say Wilder actually kept a sign in his office that asked, "What would Lubitsch do?"

In my book, his best work falls before 1960. The Apartment stands as his last truly massive hit, though compared to other heavyweights, his other films still hold up as masterpieces. I have a soft spot for his version of Fedor, even if, objectively speaking, it isn't exactly a masterpiece; I just love that nostalgic look at an era of Hollywood that is gone forever. Speaking of his more obscure titles, does anyone else here actually enjoy Five Graves to Cairo as much as I do?

Hold Back the Dawn, Aris, My Love, Ninotchka, Midnight, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife—these are some of the films he penned but didn't direct, and any true fan should give them a shot. It's a glimpse of a younger Wilder, stripped of all that cynicism that started bleeding into his later scripts.