Billy Wilder discusses his life and films in interviews filmed by Volker Schlondorff over two weeks in 1988.Billy Wilder discusses his life and films in interviews filmed by Volker Schlondorff over two weeks in 1988.Billy Wilder discusses his life and films in interviews filmed by Volker Schlondorff over two weeks in 1988.
Photos
Jean Arthur
- Self
- (archive footage)
Humphrey Bogart
- Self
- (archive footage)
James Cagney
- Self
- (archive footage)
Gary Cooper
- Self
- (archive footage)
Tony Curtis
- Self
- (archive footage)
Marlene Dietrich
- Self
- (archive footage)
Melvyn Douglas
- Self
- (archive footage)
Arlene Francis
- Self
- (archive footage)
Greta Garbo
- Self
- (archive footage)
Audrey Hepburn
- Self
- (archive footage)
Alfred Hitchcock
- Self
- (archive footage)
William Holden
- Self
- (archive footage)
Jack Lemmon
- Self
- (archive footage)
Ernst Lubitsch
- Self
- (archive footage)
Shirley MacLaine
- Self
- (archive footage)
Fred MacMurray
- Self
- (archive footage)
Walter Matthau
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Directors
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- ConnectionsEdited from Billy Wilder, wie haben Sie's gemacht? (1991)
Featured review
A casual conversation turns into a great interview
The maker of this documentary and director Billy Wilder originally intended what was filmed here to just be a dry run of what would be the later actual interview portion of a documentary on Wilder's career. The two sit down in Wilder's crowded office and Wilder just starts talking about the various aspects of his long career. The one stipulation that Wilder made was that this footage not be released in his lifetime. Wilder and the interviewer go back and forth between German and English - depending upon what language best expresses the points they wish to make - with helpful subtitles for those of us who speak English when either speaks German.
Wilder says some things that don't surprise me - for example that Jack Lemmon was the definition of a professional. Wilder would not have used him so much and Lemmon would not have been such a great performer had that not been the case. However, Wilder's insights into Marilyn Monroe were new to me. He said while making "Some Like it Hot" that sometimes they would spend all day trying to get one take in which Marilyn had just one line, to the point where he wanted to pin the line to the wall so she could just read it. Other days she would come in and have pages of dialogue memorized. He also had some interesting things to say about making films on the Holocaust immediately after the war and the impact they had on German audiences at the time.
At any rate, this dry run turned out to be so good that it became the actual interview. I highly recommend it to people who are interested in Billy Wilder's career, since it is almost entirely Billy Wilder talking about the projects he worked on, his philosophies of filmmaking, and the people with which he worked. It's a fascinating documentary.
Wilder says some things that don't surprise me - for example that Jack Lemmon was the definition of a professional. Wilder would not have used him so much and Lemmon would not have been such a great performer had that not been the case. However, Wilder's insights into Marilyn Monroe were new to me. He said while making "Some Like it Hot" that sometimes they would spend all day trying to get one take in which Marilyn had just one line, to the point where he wanted to pin the line to the wall so she could just read it. Other days she would come in and have pages of dialogue memorized. He also had some interesting things to say about making films on the Holocaust immediately after the war and the impact they had on German audiences at the time.
At any rate, this dry run turned out to be so good that it became the actual interview. I highly recommend it to people who are interested in Billy Wilder's career, since it is almost entirely Billy Wilder talking about the projects he worked on, his philosophies of filmmaking, and the people with which he worked. It's a fascinating documentary.
helpful•70
- AlsExGal
- Jan 8, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Billy Wilder habla
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 11 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content