Product Details

• Actors: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, James Cagney, Horst Buchholz
• Directors: Billy Wilder
• Writers: Billy Wilder, Agatha Christie, Alexandre Breffort, Anna Bonacci, Arthur Conan Doyle
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Unknown)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 9
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: July 15, 2003
• Run Time: 1136 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008ZZ9T
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,654 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #16 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Classic Stars > Cagney, James
  #23 in	Movies & TV > Comedy > Comedy Directors > Billy Wilder
  #24 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Classic Directors > Wilder, Billy

• For more information about "The Billy Wilder DVD Collection (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 / Witness for the Prosecution)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

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

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars classic Wilder collection, February 24, 2006

By	baggani (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

For Billy Wilder fans, this is a must. Get this box set now before it is discontinued now that Sony distributes MGM's library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nobody's Perfect. But Wilder is close to perfection when it comes to storytelling., March 16, 2009

By	Jason "J" (Nevada) - See all my reviews

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. Plus, look at that cute Mr Magoo-like graphic of Billy Wilder on the box's cover. Complete opposite of the tough, hard-working little genius the guy was.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent!, April 6, 2008

By	Mogulmeister "mogulmeister" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

Every single one of these films (excluding Irma la Douce) is worth seeing, and more than a few of them are masterpieces. The masterpieces: The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, Kiss Me Stupid, One Two Three. The very good: Witness for the Prosecution, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The merely "good": Avanti. The average: The Fortune Cookie. The embarrassment: Irma la Douce. If you are a fan of Billy Wilder, this is a must.