Product Details

• Actors: Jean Arthur, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Tony Curtis
• Directors: Gisela Grischow, Volker Schlöndorff
• Writers: Volker Schlöndorff
• Producers: Volker Schlöndorff, Bret Wood, Eberhard Junkersdorf, Tom Brown
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, German
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kino Video
• DVD Release Date: October 17, 2006
• Run Time: 71 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000HKDEL0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,347 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Billy Wilder Speaks" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

BILLY WILDER SPEAKS - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally out on DVD..., September 15, 2006

By 

Marina C. Watteck (St. Poelten, Austria) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Billy Wilder Speaks (DVD)

I have seen this documentary by director Volker Schlöndorff several years ago on Austrian Television and was very impressed by this nearly four hour long intimate interview with Billy Wilder. It is an absolut must for all Wilder afficionados. He is interviewed by the director and famous German literary critic Hellmuth Karasek. Absolutley wonderful!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An informal conversation turns into a great interview, July 10, 2009

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Billy Wilder Speaks (DVD)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rare interview with raw filmaking, May 19, 2008

By 

A. Pacheco Jr. (Sao Paulo, Brasil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Billy Wilder Speaks (DVD)

It's a priviledge to watch a master speak. The option to keep the filming simple as closeups with movie clips is a little too simple. Also the decision to provide Enlgish subtitles only to the german spoken segments is confusing.