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Special Features
- Includes:
- The Apartment
- Avanti!
- The Fortune Cookie
- Irma La Douce
- Kiss Me, Stupid
- One, Two, Three
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
- Some Like It Hot (Special Edition)
- Witness for the Prosecution
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Even if "nobody's perfect," Billy Wilder sometimes came close. This DVD box presents a strong cross-section of films by one of Hollywood's greatest directors, and although his early Paramount years are not covered (they're available in a different set), the box does include a couple of Wilder's woefully underappreciated autumnal gems. Chronologically speaking, 1957's Witness for the Prosecution is the earliest film in the set, a crackerjack courtroom drama derived from Agatha Christie. It gives especially tasty roles to Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich. With Some Like It Hot, Wilder merely created the film widely considered the best comedy of the sound era, with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon impersonating female musicians in the Roaring Twenties. Marilyn Monroe is the songbird tired of getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Wilder took home three Oscars® for The Apartment, his exquisitely bittersweet look at an organization man (Lemmon) who loans out his flat for his boss's liaisons.
One, Two, Three is a breathless Cold War comedy (and a time capsule of its era) with James Cagney as a Coca-Cola executive in Berlin. Irma La Douce teams Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in a racy Parisian love story that became a box-office smash. With Kiss Me, Stupid, Wilder suffered a rare flop, although the once-scandalous sex comedy looks better and sharper as it ages. The Fortune Cookie, which nabbed an Oscar for Walter Matthau, is one of Wilder's most cynical tales, but the last two films in the set represent Wilder's late-career romantic flowering. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes arranges slapstick around the melancholy, misogynistic figure of Holmes, who might just be a directorial self-portrait. Avanti! is a delightful, leisurely romance about a businessman (Lemmon again) who loosens up while in Italy settling his late father's business. It's a lovely end note for a snappy, often acerbic collection. --Robert Horton
Product Description
The Billy Wilder DVD Collection includes the following films: The Apartment, Avanti!, The Fortune Cookie, Irma la Douce, Kiss Me Stupid, One Two Three, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Some Like It Hot, and Witness for the Prosecution.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
For Billy Wilder fans, this is a must. Get this box set now before it is discontinued now that Sony distributes MGM's library.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Really, really, really enjoying the DVDs in this collection. I bought this because I wanted to own The Apartment and Irma la Douce, decided to splurge on the whole set. First movie I saw was Avanti! and it was very good. It is a Golden Globe winner. Have also enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes and the Dean Martin movie (good campy 1960s movie).
Format:DVD
No Thanks...
This is not a complete collection.
The 'April Fools' In Cinemascope 1969 is missing and Billy Wilder's last movie 'Buddy Buddy' with Jack and Walter in Cinemascope is also missing. Get these on PAL and Have them Tranferred for a complete collection or just wait and wait and wait for Sony or whoever to make up their mind.
This is not a complete collection.
The 'April Fools' In Cinemascope 1969 is missing and Billy Wilder's last movie 'Buddy Buddy' with Jack and Walter in Cinemascope is also missing. Get these on PAL and Have them Tranferred for a complete collection or just wait and wait and wait for Sony or whoever to make up their mind.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Get these nine films + The Seven Year Itch for 20 pounds at Amazon.UK
One hundred and seven US Dollars! No thanks Amazon.com. I went to Amazon.UK and got the PAL region 2 versions of The Billy Wilder Collection (Vol.'s 1 and 2) for 20 pounds. Read more
Published on May 17, 2010 by H. Hall
Great collection of films!
This is a great collection of films by the great director Billy Wilder. And a great price to boot!
Published on January 30, 2010 by Toby Martin II (aka R. Howe)
Nobody's Perfect. But Wilder is close to perfection when it comes to...
Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, Stalag 17, Double Indemnity. No, they're not here. But The Apartment and Avanti are. And even a few so-so ones here are worth your time. Read more
Published on March 16, 2009 by Jason
Magnificent!
Every single one of these films (excluding Irma la Douce) is worth seeing, and more than a few of them are masterpieces. Read more
Published on April 6, 2008 by Mogulmeister
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