Customer Reviews

Billy Wilder Speaks

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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!!!

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.

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.

Billy Wilder Speaks (Volker Schlöndorff and Gisela Grischow, 2006)

How can you possibly pass up a documentary about Billy Wilder, especially when he's telling stories? The man spent fifty years working in the German and American film industries, with the most powerful people in film. This could have been ten times as long and I doubt Wilder would have scratched the tip of the reservoir of anecdotes he's stored up. (Of course, as Wilder died in 2002, there is no more for him to say.) But man, if you're going to make a documentary of this stature, shouldn't you find yourself a documentary filmmaker? I weep to imagine what Errol Morris would have done with this footage. Volker Schlöndorff, best known in this country for the butchery job that was the film adaptation of The Tin Drum, spent two weeks talking with Wilder. And that's the key here; the director was talking. I prefer the Morris style, where the "interviewer" just sits there and let the subject hang him- or herself. With Wilder, who knows what stories would have come out? While we get some great material (Wilder's Marilyn Monroe anecdote? Classic!), there could have been so much more. And now we'll never know. ** ½

There was/is no greater film director than Billy Wilder. This DVD appears to be a cut down version of a three part TV documentary interview. Still, it is a "must have" for any film fan or anyone interested in cinema. Billy Wilder was simply the best.Bloody Ham

For Billy Wilder fans, this is just a terrific "interview" film. Because the filmakers are German, he will slip back into German at times and really open up a bit, which is apparently anathema to him. Outstanding!

My husband is studying German and Billy Wilder goes from English to German during the interview.

I also found it to be very entertaining.