Ray Milland and Jane Wyman star in Billy Wilder’s “The Lost Weekend”

The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American drama directed by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. The screenplay was written by Wilder and Charles Brackett based on the novel by Charles R. Jackson. The cinematography is by John F. Seitz, and the music is by Miklos Rozsa.

New York writer Don Birnam (Milland) is packing for a weekend vacation with his brother Wick (Philip Terry). Don, who is an alcoholic, is desperately trying to get out of traveling out of town. When his girlfriend Helen St. James (Wyman) arrives with gifts and two tickets to an afternoon concert, Don suggests that Wick go to the concert instead of him. Don’s goal is to get drunk and forget about the weekend trip.

So begins a downward spiral into severe alcoholism, where Don will do anything for a drink.

Will Don be able to claw his way back to sobriety and a stable life with Helen?

 

Ray Milland and Jane Wyman

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

Ray Milland (1907 – 1986) was a Welsh-American movie star and film director. He won a Best Actor Oscar for portraying an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1945). Milland played bit parts at M-G-M and Paramount. While at Paramount, he was loaned to Universal to for a lead in the Deanna Durbin movie Three Smart Girls (1936). The success of the film led to him being cast in leading roles. He became one of Paramount’s biggest stars, remaining there for almost 20 years. Other films starring Milland include The Major and the Minor (1942), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), where he had top billing over John Wayne, the horror classic The Uninvited (1944), The Big Clock (1948), and Dial M for Murder (1954). Later in his career, he starred as Ryan O’Neal’s father in Love Story (1970).

Jane Wyman (1917 – 2007) was an American actress. Wyman starred in movies and television and won a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in Johnny Belinda (1948). She received four nominations for Best Actress between 1946 and 1954. She had a huge success with the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest (1981 – 1990), where she played the conniving family matriarch Angela Channing. Other Wyman films include The Lost Weekend (1945), The Yearling (1946), Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), and  Pollyanna (1960).

 

Ray Milland

The Lost Weekend trivia

• Billy Wilder claimed that the liquor industry offered Paramount $5 million not to release the film.
• Ray Milland checked himself into Bellevue Hospital with the medical staff’s approval so he could experience what a drunk ward was like.
• Ray Milland didn’t give an acceptance speech when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He acknowledged the applause and left the stage.
• Billy Wilder read The Lost Weekend on a train ride from New York to Los Angeles. He thought it would be the perfect material for his next film.
• Ray Milland was advised not to take the role, fearing it would damage his career. Many leading men of the day turned the role down.
• Jane Wyman was loaned to Paramount for her role as Helen St. James. Wyman called it a “miracle.” Her performance received good notices, and she went from supporting player to major movie star.

 

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Click HERE to watch the movie on the Internet Archive.

 

Discussion questions

1. How do you think audiences in 1945 reacted to this film?
2. Does the impact of this film hold up in 2025?
3. Was Ray Milland believable as an alcoholic?
4. Did he and Jane Wyman have good on-screen chemistry?
5. Was the film’s portrayal of alcoholism realistic?
6. Did anything about the film surprise you?
7. Did the film score add to the dramatic narrative?

Garbo and everyone laughs in Ernst Lubitsch's "Ninotchka"

Ninotchka (1939) was the movie that proclaimed, “Garbo laughs!” The great Great Garbo is Ninotchka is a sophisticated delight. The supporting cast includes, Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart, Alexander Granach, and Bela (Dracular) Lugosi. Ninotchka, a special Russian envoy tasked with completing a deal to sell some jewelry that once belonged to an exiled member of Russian royalty (Ina Claire) now living in Paris. Ninotchka is all business and refuses to be taken in by the luxury and romance of the city of lights until she meets Count Leon d’ Algout (Melvin Douglas). Leon flirts with Ninotchka and shows her what a wonderful city Paris is and what it’s like living in a free society. Does Ninotchka hold fast to the tenets of Stalin and the Soviet Union or does she give in to the lure of democracy and capitalism? Directed by the legendary Ernst Lubitsch and written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch,

Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas

Ninotchka was a radical departure for Garbo. It was her first full-blown comedy film and it remains one of her most popular. Her performance garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (she lost out, of course, to Vivian Leigh in Gone with the Wind). The film was also Oscar-nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Story, and Best Screenplay.

Backstory: By 1939, Great Garbo’s popularity was beginning to wane. Under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch, Garbo gives a wonderfully shaded performance as a woman whose life changes under the spell and romance of Paris. Garbo’s next film, Two-Faced Woman, also costarring Melvyn Douglas, was supposed to capitalize on Ninotchka’s success, but turned out to be a critical and commercial failure. It was Garbo’s last film. After the film was completed, she retired from the movies and acting altogether. Attempts to bring her out of retirement—and there were many—were unsuccessful.

The movie which pokes fun at Stalin and the Soviet Union was banned in that country, but was enormously popular in Europe.

 

Ernst Lubitsch (1892 – 1947) was a German-born film director who became famous for his sophisticated comedies during the pre-code era. Silent film star Mary Pickford lured Lubitsch to Hollywood in 1922. He directed Pickford in Rosita, which was a huge, hit and cemented his reputation in Hollywood. Lubitsch’s films were so unique that they were described as having the “Lubitsch touch.” Some of Lubitsch’s classic films include Trouble in Paradise (1932), Design for Living (1933), Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and Cluny Brown (1946). Lubitsch was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his work in film.

Ernst Lubitsch directs Garbo

Greta Garbo (1905 – 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Greta Garbo was a major star during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood. She was famous for playing tragic figures in films like Mata Hari (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Queen Christina (1933), and Anna Karenna (1935). With the beginning of World War II in Europe, Garbo’s career began to decline. Partly due to the fact that her films weren’t distributed in Europe during the war, where she was enormously popular. When she received terrible notices and poor box office with Two-Faced Woman, Garbo retired from acting and never looked back.

Melvyn Douglas (1901 – 1981) was an American actor. Douglas was a popular leading man during the 1930s working with some of Hollywood’s most famous leading ladies including Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Myrna Loy, and Merle Oberon. He won two Best Supporting Actor Academy Awards late in his career for Hud (1963) and Being There (1979). Douglas’s last film role was in Ghost Story (1981) co-starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Fred Astair.

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the discussion online on May 27, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of Greta Garbo in a comedic role?
2. Do you think there was some seriousness between the laughs?
3. Did Garbo and Melvyn Douglas have good chemistry?
4. A big part of the success of this movie is the character actors in the film. Did you have a favorite?
5. Garbo retired from acting in 1940 after the failure of Two-Faced Woman. Do you think she made a mistake in retiring so young?

 

 

Book Review: “From the Moment They Met It Was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir”

Title: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder: Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir

By: Alain Silver and James Ursini

Publisher: Running Press – Turner Classic Movies

ISBN: 978-07624-8493-5 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-0-7624-8495-9 (ebook)

 

The new book by Alain Silver and James Ursini is a detailed account of how the classic film noir Double Indemnity came to be. The authors take a look at the real-life crime that influenced James M. Cain’s novel on which the film is based. The thesis of the book is that Double Indemnity is the definitive film noir and its influence is still felt today.

Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about Double Indemnity and film noir, the authors begin their book with the case of Ruth May Snyder and Henry Judd Gray. Snyder and Gray came up with a plot to murder her husband. They tried to make it look like robbery and murder but weren’t as slick as Phyllis Dietrichson and Walter Neff.

Once the authors start talking about the development of Double Indemnity, the book really moves along. The consensus was that Cain’s dialogue in the novel sounded stilted and phony when read aloud. That’s where Raymond Chandler came in. Chandler’s novels were known for their snappy, realistic dialogue. Chandler worked with director Billy Wilder on the script. A contentious relationship at best but somehow it all worked out in the end.

The casting was interesting. Dick Powell campaigned hard to play Neff, but this was before his dramatic turn in Murder, My Sweet (1944). Powell was a musical comedy star during the 1930s at Warner Bros. and wasn’t seriously consider by Wilder. Fred MacMurray was known for light comedy and musicals as well, but Wilder saw something. Casting MacMurray against type turned out to be a brilliant move. He’s convincing and believable as Neff. For Phyllis Dietrichson, it doesn’t look like Wilder wanted anyone but Barbara Stanwyck.

Billy Wilder (right in front of policemen) directs Stanwyck and MacMurray
in the supermarket scene.

When Ball of Fire (1941) starring Gary Cooper and Stanwyck went into production, Wilder, still a screenwriter, decided he wanted to direct so he shadowed director Howard Hawks. Wilder and Charles Brackett wrote the screenplay for Ball of Fire. He was impressed with Stanwyck’s performance and the rest is history.

There has always been a fascination with why Wilder had Stanwyck wear that cheap blonde wig. The truth is the wig was the same one worn by Marlene Dietrich in Manpower (1941). Wilder wanted Stanwyck to look cheap but he ultimately admitted it was a mistake. He decided this after a few weeks of filming but he decided he couldn’t scrap what was already printed and start from scratch so he just kept going. Paramount file executive Buddy DeSylva said, “We paid for Barbara Stanwyck, and we got George Washington.”

One bit of information that I had never heard before was that Mona Freeman was originally cast as Lola Dietrichson. When Wilder saw her on film, she looked twelve years old. She was eventually replaced with Jean Heather. Heather also had a role in Going My Way, the film that beat Double Indemnity for Best Picture. Its director Leo McCarey also beat Wilder in the Best Director category.

The gas chamber scene that was filmed but cut from the final film

Dressing Stanwyck—done by the legendary Edith Head—to look cheap was expensive. Some of Stanwyck’s outfits cost $7000 in today’s dollars. Stanwyck’s bath towel and pair of slippers cost $40 in 1943 or $700 today.

The book delves into the films Double Indemnity has influenced during the peak noir era and more contemporary or neo-noir films like Body Heat (1981).

And you can’t ignore the foreboding score by Miklos Rozsa. The feeling of dread is apparent from the opening credits and is carried through to the very last frame.

If you’re a fan of Double Indemnity and/or film noir, this book is a must.

Some quick facts:

• Fred MacMurray worked 61 days
• Barbara Stanwyck worked 35 days
• Edward G. Robinson worked 37 days

William Holden and Gloria Swanson are prisoners of Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard (1950) is an American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, and Eric von Stroheim. The screenplay was written by Charles Brackett, Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr. The supporting cast includes Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, and Jack Webb. The cinematography was by John F. Seitz and the music was by Franz Waxman.

Holden stars as Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who by a set of strange circumstances is drawn into the orbit of Norma Desmond (Swanson) a retired silent film star set on a return (don’t you dare say comeback) to the screen.

Norma hires Joe to work on her screenplay of Salome, the picture she believes will put her back on top. For the money, Joe takes the work on but knows it’s not going to go anywhere. Norma is convinced that the picture is sure to be a hit and that Cecil B. DeMille will direct it. DeMille worked with Norma during her reign as the queen of the silent screen.

Joe still dreams of getting his screenplay ideas sold and finds himself involved with Betty Schaefer (Olson), a script reader working at the Paramount Studio. Joe keeps his relationship with Norma a secret and finds himself falling in love with Betty, who just so happens to be engaged to Artie Green (Webb), an assistant director who is working on location. All the while, Norma has fallen in love with Joe and becomes more and more dependent on him.

How will this all end? Will Norma make a successful return to the screen? Will Joe and Betty find happiness together? Or will Norma’s hold on Joe destroy everything?

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

William Holden (1918 - 1981) was an American actor and major movie star. He was one of the most bankable stars of the 1950s. Holden starred in some of the most popular and beloved films of all time including Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Stalag 17 for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Holden became a star with his very first role in Golden Boy (1939). He had lead roles in other popular films like Our Town (1940), and  I Wanted Wings (1941). World War II interrupted his career. Holden was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force. After the war, he made some popular but forgettable films. It wasn’t after he collaborated with director Wilder on Sunset Boulevard that Holden’s popularity and stature in Hollywood grew to superstar status.

Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983) was an American actress who was a major star during the silent era. Swanson, a Chicago native, got her start in film at Essanay Studios where silent film star Francis X Bushman was under contract. Also employed by Essanay were Charlie Chaplin and Wallace Beery. Swanson married Beery in 1916. He was the first of here six husbands. Swanson, Chaplin, and Beery eventually moved to Hollywood where their careers flourished. Swanson was nominated for three Best Actress Oscars. The first two were for silent films and the third was for Sunset Boulevard. Swanson made the transition to sound, but her career stalled and her star power faded.

Sunset Boulevard trivia

• Norma Desmond was based on the several stars from the silent era including Mary Pickford, Mae Murray, and Clara Bow.
• Montgomery Clift was originally cast as Joe Gillis but left the broke his contract two weeks before production.
• Gloria Swanson was asked to do a screen test which she didn’t want to do. Her friend the director George Cukor told her to do ten screen tests if necessary.
• After a private screening of the film, Barbara Stanwyck knelt in front of Swanson and kissed the hem of her dress.
• Willian Holden and Billy Wilder became close friends during the production of Sunset Boulevard.
• Nancy Olson wore her own clothes in the film because Wilder wanted her to be herself on film.

 

To watch the film on YouTube click here.

 

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Discussion question

1. Sunset Boulevard is considered one of the greatest films of all time. Do you think its reputation as such is well deserved?
2. The film lost the Best Picture Academy Award to All About Eve. Sunset Boulevard is about the film industry and All About Eve is about the theater. Which film holds up the best in 2023?
3. William Holden wasn’t even in Billy Wilder’s top five choices for the role of Joe Gillis. What do you think of his performance?
4. Gloria Swanson had hoped her performance and Oscar nomination would revive her movie career but it didn’t. What did you think of her performance?
5. Do you have a favorite scene or line of dialogue (the film is filled with great lines)?
6. Can you see any other actress from Swanson’s era in the role of Norma Desmond?
7. Is Hollywood the same today as it was in 1950? Does Hollywood treat women better today?
8. Bill Wilder was a director working in Hollywood. Was he exempting himself from the criticism? Was he any different than Cecil B. DeMille?

Tyrone Power heads the cast in “Witness for the Prosecution”

Witness for the Prosecution (1957) is an American mystery thriller directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, and Charles Laughton. The supporting cast includes Elsa Lanchester, John Williams, Henry Daniell, Ian Wolfe, Torin Thatcher, Norma Varen, Uno O’Connor, and Ruta Lee.

Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Laughton), a senior barrister, who is recovering from a heart attack, agrees to defend Leonard Vole against the objections of his nurse Miss Pimsoll (Lanchester). Vole has been accused of murdering Emily French, a wealthy widow with no family who had left him the bulk of her estate.

Robarts interviews Vole’s wife Christine (Dietrich) who provides her husband with an alibi. Robarts finds Christine’s testimony off somehow and is suspicious of her motives.

Will Robarts be able to defend Vole against the charge of murder or will circumstances beyond his control change everything?

Henry Daniell, Tyrone Power, and Charles Laughton

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

Tyrone Power (1914 – 1958) was a major movie star as well as a star on stage and radio. He was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s and 1940s. Power was under exclusive contract to 20th Century-Fox where his image and film choices were carefully selected by studio head Zanuck. After the war, Power wanted to stretch his acting past romantic comedies and swashbuckler roles. Nightmare Alley was Power’s personal favorite of all his films. Some of Power's films include Marie Antoinette (1938), The Rains Came (1939), Jesse James (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940), and  Blood and Sand (1941). Later in his career, he starred in Captain from Castile (1947), The Black Rose (1950), and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). Power’s favorite of all his films that he starred in was Nightmare Alley (1947) even though it was a commercial and a critical failure when first released. Its status as a classic film noir has been recently reevaluated.

Charles Laughton (1899 – 1962) had a long career on the stage and in Hollywood. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and was nominated for two other Best Actor Oscars for his performances in Mutiny on the Bounty (1933) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957). His performance in The Suspect is considered one of Laughton’s most natural screen performances, which is credited to director Siodmak, a close personal friend of the actor.

Marlene Dietrich (1901 – 1992) was a German and American actress. Dietrich got her start in silent films in her native Germany. She was directed by Josef von Sternberg in The Blue Angel (1930) which made Dietrich an international star. Its success also earned her a contract with Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. Dietrich had her biggest successes during the 1930s in films like Morocco (1930), Shanghai Express (1932), Blonde Venus (1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934), The Devil is a Woman (1935), and Destry Rides Again (1939). After World War II, Dietrich starred in A Foreign Affair (1948), Stage Fright (1950), and Judgment at Nuremberg (1960). 

Witness for the Prosecution trivia

• Marlene Dietrich was convinced she would receive an Academy Award nomination and was crushed when she did not.
• Agatha Christie was pleased with the film version of her novel.
• This was Tyrone Power’s last completed film. He died of a heart attack on the set of Solomon and Sheba in 1959.
• William Holden was the director’s first choice to play Vole but he was unavailable. Other actors considered include Gene Kelly, Kirk Douglas, Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, and Roger Moore.
• Actresses considered for the role of Christine include Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth.

To watch the movie on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on May 29, 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of the film's casting?
2. Some critics thought Tyrone Power looked too old to play Vole. Do you agree?
3. The cast is impressive. Did any one cast member stand out to you?
4. Was the ending a surprise to you?
5. How does this film stack up to other Billy Wilder films?

Bogart, Hepburn, and Holden star in Billy Wilder's "Sabrina"

Sabrina (1954) is an American romantic comedy directed by Billy Wilder and starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden. The screenplay was by Wilder, Ernest Lehman, and Samuel A. Taylor. The supporting cast includes John Williams, Martha Hyer, Francis X. Bushman, Ellen Corby, and Nancy Kulp.

Sabrina Fairchild (Hepburn), the daughter of the Larrabee family’s chauffeur (Williams) has been in love with David Larrabee for as long as she can remember. David has been married three times and is the handsome, non-working playboy younger brother of the hard-working Linus (Bogart). Sabrina has lived at the Larrabee estate on Long Island her entire life. To David, she is still a little girl.

As a way to help her forget David, her father has arranged for her to attend the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris. Before she is supposed to leave, she leaves her father a suicide note and proceeds to start all the cars in the garage in an effort to kill herself. Linus, who happens to walk by the garage and hearing all the car engines running, finds Sabrina about the pass out from the fumes. Linus saves Sabrina and brings her to her family’s apartment above the garage.

Sabrina goes to Paris and after completing her cooking course, she comes back to Long Island a sophisticated young woman who David doesn’t even recognize. David finds Sabrina enchanting but there’s one problem; he’s engaged to be married to socialite Elizabeth Tyson (Hyer).

What will happen to Sabrina? Will she find happiness with her childhood crush, David, or is there someone else who is a better match?

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

Humphrey Bogart (1899 – 1957) was an American film and stage actor. He is one of the most famous and popular movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Nicknamed Bogie, the actor toiled in supporting roles in both A and B pictures for a decade before his breakout role as Roy Earle in High Sierra (1941). Many more film roles followed including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), Key Largo (1948), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). His career continued with good roles in films like In a Lonely Place (1950), The Caine Mutiny (1954), and Sabrina (1954) co-starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn. Bogart died from cancer in 1957.

Audrey Hepburn and William Holden

Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) was a British actress. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her first starring role in Roman Holiday (1953), co-starring Gregory Peck. Peck predicted that Hepburn would be a big star during production and insisted that she receive equal screen building with him. Hepburn also starred on Broadway in Gigi and Ondine. Other film roles include Sabrina (1954), War and Peace (1955), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), How to Steal a Million (1966), Wait Until Dark (1966), Two for the Road (1967). Besides her acting career, Hepburn was a fashion icon and a humanitarian working as Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF.

William Holden (1918 - 1981) was an American actor and major movie star. He was one of the most bankable stars of the 1950s. Holden starred in some of the most popular and beloved films of all time including Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Stalag 17 for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Holden became a star with his very first role in Golden Boy (1939). He had lead roles in other popular films like Our Town (1940), and  I Wanted Wings (1941). World War II interrupted his career. Holden was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force. After the war, he made some popular but forgettable films. It wasn’t after he collaborated with director Wilder on Sunset Boulevard that Holden’s popularity and stature in Hollywood grew to superstar status.

Sabina trivia

• Cary Grant was Wyler's first choice to play Linus. 
• Humphrey Bogart wanted his wife (Lauren Bacall) to play Sabrina.
• Bogart did not enjoy working with Hepburn and Holden. Bogart thought Hepburn was inexperienced.
• The script was being worked on as they filmed. Reportedly, one scene was written in the morning and shot that afternoon. Writer Ernest Lehman had a nervous breakdown during production.
• Hepburn was 24, Holden was 35, and Bogart was 53 during the film's production.
• Bogart was paid $300,000, Holden $150,000, and Hepburn $15,00.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on November 21, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to the discussion on Zoom.

Bogart, Hepburn, and Holden

Discussion questions

1. Would you have rather seen Cary Grant in the role of Linus or did you think Humphrey Bogart was just right for the role? Joseph Cotten played Linus in Sabrina Fair, the play on which the movie is based. Can you see Cotten in the Bogart role?
2. Some critics think that William Holden was miscast as David; do you agree with the critics?
3. This was only Hepburn's second major film role. What did you make of her performance?
4. Do you think Lauren Bacall would have made a good Sabrina?
5. Did this film remind you of any other romantic comedies you've seen?

Billy Wilder's "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray

The Apartment (1960) is a romantic comedy directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. The cast also includes Ray Walston and Edie Adams. The screenplay was written by Wilder and his long-time writing partner I. A. L. Diamond. The black and white cinematography was by Academy Award winner Joseph LaShelle (Laura). 

C C. "Bud" Baxter (Lemon) is an office drone at a large insurance company. To climb the corporate ladder, he lets several executives use his Upper West Side apartment for their extramarital affairs. With a steady stream of women coming and going from his apartment, his neighbors think he's a player.

Due to his "generosity" with his apartment, Bud starts moving up the corporate ladder. Bud develops a crush on elevator operator, Fran Kubelik. Things go a bit crazy when Bud finds out that his boss Jeff Sheldrake (MacMurray) is having an affair with Fran and using his apartment for their trysts.

Will Bud look the other way and keep moving up the ladder, or will he decide the corporate world isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

Jack Lemmon (1925 - 2001) was an American actor who was successful in both comedic and dramatic roles. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Mr. Roberts (1955). He then went on to a very successful collaboration with director Billy Wilder. Some of the Wilder films that Lemmon starred in include Some Like it Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), and Irma la Douce (1963). Lemmon won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Save the Tiger (1973). Other Lemmon films include The Odd Couple (1968), The Out-of-Towners (1970), The China Syndrome (1979), Missing (1982), and Grumpy Old Men (1993).

Shirley MacLaine (1934 - ) is an American actress who made her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's production of The Trouble with Harry (1955) for which she won the Golden Globe award for New Star of the Year - Actress. Her movie career took off immediately and she had starring roles in Around the World in 80 Days (1956),  Hot Spell (1958), Some Came Running (1958), The Apartment (1960), The Children's Hour (1961), and Irma la Douce (1963). In 1983, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Terms of Endearment. MacLaine's younger brother is actor, director, and producer, Waren Beatty.

Fred MacMurray (1908 – 1991) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and had a successful career on television as well. MacMurray signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1934 and was a major leading man by 1935. He co-starred with the studio's top leading actresses including Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Madeleine Carroll. By 1943, MacMurray was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood and the fourth-highest-paid person in the United States. Probably his most famous role is as insurance agent Walter Neff in Double Indemnity (1944) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. During the late 1950s and 1960s, MacMurray gained new fame as the star of films produced by Walt Disney including The Shaggy Dog (1959), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Son of Flubber (1963), and Charley and the Angel (1973).

The Apartment  trivia

• To make the open office space seem bigger, they put adult actors in front, and children dressed as adults in the back. The last rows were cardboard cutouts.
• Wilder shot the Christmas office party scene on December 23, 1959, so everyone was in the holiday spirit. 
• The Apartment was the last black and white film to win Best Picture until The Artist (2011).
• Billy Wilder became the first person to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
• Paul Douglas was cast as Sheldrake but had a heart attack before he was to start filming. Fred MacMurray replaced him as a favor to Wilder.

To watch the movie on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion online on February 21, 2022, at 6:30 p.m Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you'll receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom. 

Discussion questions

1. How does the movie present Baxter?
2. How does the director illustrate the alienation of office life?
3. The film is considered a romantic comedy. Does that seem like the correct classification?
4. What is the symbolism of the $100 bill that Sheldrake gives to Fran?
5. Is the ending satisfying?

Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck are an unlikely pair in Howard Hawks’s “Ball of Fire”

Ball of Fire (1941) is an American romantic comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The screenplay was wirtten by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The cinematography was by Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane), the music by Alfred Newman.

The plot concerns a group of professors developing and writing an encyclopedia who encounter a nightclub entertainer who is an expert on American slang. Cooper plays Professor Bertram Potts who is an expert on English and grammar. Seven other professors are experts in science, geography, physiology, law, philosophy, botany, and history. All of the professors are bachelors, with the exception of Professor Oddley who is a widower. 

When Professor Potts realizes that their entry on slang is terribly out of date, he goes out into the world to do some research. He encourages nightclub singer Sugarpuss O’Shea to help him. She ignores him at first but when her boyfriend, gangster Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews) is under scrutiny for murder, she decides to hide out with the professors.

The seven professors and Mrs. Bragg

Howard Hawks (1896 - 1977) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the great directors from the classic Hollywood era. Hawks excelled in directing films in all genres. His films were famous for featuring strong women characters. These tough-talking “Hawksian women” helped to define the director’s work. Some of Hawks’ popular films include Scarface (1932) Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Gary Cooper won a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Sergeant York (1941) under Hawks’ direction.

Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) was an American film actor who was known for his down-to-earth, understated acting style. He was a major star for almost four decades until his untimely death at age 60. Cooper got his start in silent film but easily made the transition to sound. During the early 1930s, he became a major star in films like A Farewell to Arms (1932), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). Other popular Cooper films include Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant York (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1952). Cooper won two Best Actor Academy Awards: Sergeant York and High Noon (1952).

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 – 1990) was an American film star who got her acting start with a supporting role on Broadway in a play called The Noose (1926). The next year she had the lead in another Broadway production, Burlesque which was a huge hit. She eventually made it to Hollywood where her success was not immediate. Director Frank Capra saw something in Stanwyck and he educated her in filmmaking and film acting and the rest is history. Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Best Actress Oscar—Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)—and remains one of the most beloved movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage and film actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947) co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw.

Dana Andrews on “the Ameche”

The amazing supporting cast includes Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Leonid Kinskey, Richard Haydn, Aubrey Mather, Allen Jenkins, Dan Duryea, Kathleen Howard, Mary Field, and Charles Lane.

Ball of Fire trivia:

• Ginger Rogers turned down the role of Sugarpuss, something she regretted.
• Lucille Ball was going to play Sugarpuss but once producer Samuel Goldwyn found out that Gary Cooper had suggested Stanwyck and that she was available, he gave her the part instead.
• Leonid Kinskey (Professor Quintana) and Richard Haydn (Professor Oddley) were both under 40 years old and younger than Gary Cooper.
• Dana Andrews based his character (Joe Lilac) on real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel. Siegel owned the Formosa, a club across the street from Goldwyn Studios.
• Gary Cooper was paid $150,000 for his role, while Barbara Stanwyck earned the odd salary of $68,133.
• Don’t feel too sorry for Stanwyck though. By 1944, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States.
• Barbara Stanwyck received her second Best Actress (out of a total of four) for this film.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on August 30, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link for the discussion on Zoom.

Why watch this film?

• For the terrific script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
• The great performances and chemistry between Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
• The amazing group of character actors assembled for this film.
• To see Dana Andrews as Joe Lilac, three years before his star turn in Laura.
• This is a great example of director Howard Hawks’s versatility.
• To hear the great American 1940s slang that your parents and grandparents spoke.

Gary Cooper shares a laugh with Robert Taylor while he visits his wife, Barbara Stanwyck on the set of Ball of Fire.

Discussion questions:

1. What did you think of the pairing of Cooper and Stanwyck?
2. Billy Wilder said this was a modern version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Do you agree with that comparison?
3. Did you have a favorite professor/character actor?
4. What do you think changed Sugarpuss’s opinion of Bertram? Do they have a chance at happiness?
5. Did this film remind you of any other movies you have seen?
6. Do you think this fits the category of screwball comedy?

Backstory

1941 was a great year for both Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. 

Stanwyck films released in 1941:

The Lady Eve, directed by Preston Sturges

Meet John Doe, directed by Frank Capra

You Belong to Me, directed by Wesley Ruggles

Ball of Fire, directed by Howard Hawks**

Four films, two costars. Henry Fonda starred with Stany in The Lady Eve and You Belong to Me.

Cooper films released in 1941:

Meet John Doe, directed by Frank Capra

Sergeant York, directed by Howard Hawks*

Ball of Fire, directed by Howard Hawks

**Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she lost to Joan Fontaine (Suspicion).

*Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor. 

Henry Fonda, Preston Sturges, and Barbara (Stany) Stanwyck on 
the set of The Lady Eve