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Billy Wilder was the six-time Oscar winner who left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended comedy and pathos in equal measure. Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.

After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter, earning Oscar nominations for penning 1939’s “Ninotchka” and 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn” and “Ball of Fire.” He...

Five filmmakers have been selected for the inaugural lab from Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Seafic (Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab) has launched a new script and development lab, Seed Lab, which aims to help promising short filmmakers from Southeast Asia prior to the development of their first features.

The first edition will be held in two sessions – the first taking pace online December 4-10 and the second in person in Phuket, Thailand, in early April 2022.

Five filmmakers have been selected for the inaugural lab from Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. All five have had short...

The Festival opens the doors as the first film event in Austria which is held live again, and with an extensive, albeit naturally limited, offering. Of the total of 310 films and more than 60 planned program items, around a third can be experienced on the big screen in Vienna.

The entire program is published and can be streamed online on the festival’s film portal from May 27. On site, all competition programs will be shown locally at Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus—except for the Austrian Music Video Award, which will take place on May 30 at the jazz club Porgy & Bess, including a live concert by the Viennese hip-hop band EsRAP.

Dancer, choreographer and filmmaker Paul Wenninger will be guest of honor with his extraordinary films and a Carte Blanche at the Austrian Film Museum. At Filmhauskino am Spittelberg, there will be a Director’s Talk with three up-and-coming Austrian directors in cooperation with the directors’ association Ada.

The name talent attached makes this late- Weimar thriller a must-see proposition: Billy Wilder, Robert & Curt Siodmak, Franz Waxman. Their dark murder farce resembles what would later become the self-aware Black Comedy. The trouble begins when a suicidal nice guy can’t pull the trigger, and hires a crook to do the job for him. The satire is clever but the execution is awkward — the filmmakers set up big laughs that the heavy German filming style doesn’t deliver. Just the same, the situations seem extremely progressive, ahead of their time.

The Man in Search of his Murderer

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber Kino Classics Kino Repertory

1931 / B&w / 1:33 flat / 97 min. / Der Mann, der seinen Mörder sucht; Jim, der Mann mit der Narbe, Looking for his Murderer / Street Date April 6, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Heinz Rühmann, Lien Deyers, Raimund Janitschek, Hans Leibelt, Hermann Speelmans, Friedrich Hollaender, Gerhard Bienert, Roland Varno.

“Attention!” bawls an onscreen title, or rather its subtitle, given that the original is written in Georgia’s lovely curly alphabet. “Dear Audience, please close your eyes at the first signal.” Alexandre Koberidze, writer-director-narrator of the marvellous, mischievous “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?” probably doesn’t expect anyone to obey as he effects his story’s central switcheroo, like a kid not great at magic asking mom to look away from the handkerchiefs he’s stuffing up his sleeve. But that’s not the point.

Instead, the command, along with other self-conscious flourishes like the direct-address voiceover, the creaky, obviously manual zooms and the sudden, interruptive digressions about global catastrophe and far-off forest fires, reminds us of ourselves in relation to the film, that we are active participants in the creation of this (or any) work of cinema. And given how much this movie loves the movies,...

Billy Wilder would’ve celebrated his 113th birthday on June 22, 2019. The six-time Oscar winner left behind a series of classically quotable features from Hollywood’s Golden Age, crafting sharp witted and darkly cynical stories that blended comedy and pathos in equal measure. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Wilder was born to a family of Austrian Jews in 1906. After working as a journalist, he developed an interest in filmmaking and collaborated on the silent feature “People on Sunday” (1929) with fellow rookies Fred Zinnemann, Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. With the rise of Adolph Hitler, Wilder fled to Paris, where he co-directed the feature “Mauvaise Graine” (1934). Tragically, his mother, stepfather and grandmother all died in the Holocaust.

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

After moving to Hollywood, Wilder enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter,...

Portraits of boundless humanity are increasingly rare these days, both in the real world and the fictional ones creatives form. As the world becomes more and more polarized, borders get tighter and tighter and people in positions of power fight tooth and nail to keep that for fear of “the other” getting an inch more respect than they previously had, it’s hard to think that one should turn to a pair of films nearly a century old for inspiration. However, that’s exactly the case with regards to a pair of new DVDs and Blu-rays released by The Criterion Collection.

Not often talked about in the conversation of great humanist (or maybe more so moralist) filmmakers, German auteur G. W. Pabst made a name for himself with films like Pandora’s Box and Three Penny Opera, but a pair of lesser known masterworks are the subject of Criterion’s admiration,...

Theresa Caputo didn’t foresee fans’ outpouring of positive messages after announcing her split from Larry, her husband of 28 years.

“I’m overwhelmed by the love and support for me and my family while we’re going through this difficult time,” she tweeted Tuesday. “One thing will never change and that is that we will always love and support each other, and be the best parents we can be to our children. Love you guys.”

Theresa, 51, and Larry, 61, announced their separation in a joint statement to People on Sunday.

The couple shares two adult children: Larry Jr., and Victoria.

I'm...

Matthew Morrison is championing his former Glee castmate Naya Rivera‘s parenting skills in the wake of her dramatic Nov. 25 arrest.

“She’s a great mom,” Morrison, 39, told People exclusively at the Sherpapa X CampGOOP event on Sunday when asked about his reaction to Rivera’s misdemeanor domestic battery charge.

Two days after Thanksgiving, police confirmed to People that the mother of one, 30, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery after an alleged altercation with her husband Ryan Dorsey in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

She and Dorsey are parents to 2-year-old son Josey Hollis.

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements,...

It's over for Long Island Medium's Theresa Caputo and her husband of 28 years Larry Caputo. On the reality show last month, she had said the two, who share adult son and daughter Larry Jr. and Victoria, were going through "not such great times" and that there was a "strain" on their marriage. Theresa and Larry have not appeared on each other's social media pages in almost a year. "After 28 years of marriage, we have decided to legally separate," the two said in a joint statement posted by People on Sunday. "We will always love each other and our two wonderful children. We are united in supporting each other and our...

David Cassidy has died, his family tells People in an exclusive statement.

“On behalf of the entire Cassidy family, it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, our uncle, and our dear brother, David Cassidy,” his family said in a statement Tuesday. “David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long. Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years.”

The actor, widely known for his starring role as Keith Partridge on the 1970s series The Partridge Family,...

Lindsay Arnold was back in the Dancing with the Stars ballroom after injuring her knee during rehearsals this weekend.

The season 25 pro, 23, performed with celebrity partner Jordan Fisher on Monday’s semifinals show, wearing a tan knee brace. Their first dance, an Argentine Tango, was to “Brother” by Needtobreathe, inspired by Fisher’s role as an older sibling to his brother Cory and sister Trinity.

Fellow pro Sharna Burgess, who was eliminated alongside her partner Derek Fisher earlier this season, was on standby in case Arnold was unable to dance.

“I was practicing the pro number and I literally just...

Priscilla Presley is still a member of the Church of Scientology, despite reports to the contrary.

A rep for the 72-year-old ex-wife of Elvis confirmed to People on Sunday that Presley has not left the church, which she has been a member of for decades.

Over the weekend, The Mail on Sunday reported that Presley had told friends she’d walked away from the religion. A source claimed to the Mail that Presley’s decision was inspired by daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s own long-rumored exit from Scientology. (Lisa Marie has never commented on the subject.)

Presley is just one...

Robert Siodmak’s superb noir classic pits two graduates of Little Italy against one other: a crook who can deceive relatives and seduce strangers into helping him, and the cop who wants to put him out of business. Starring the great Richard Conte, with Victor Mature in what might be his best role.

Cry of the City

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.

Cinematography Lloyd Ahern

Original Music Alfred Newman

Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth

Produced by Sol C. Siegel

Directed by Robert Siodmak

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...

Exclusive: Copenhagen’s festival, in new autumn dates, will show a record 226 features kicking off with Doctor Strange.

Copenhagen’s Cph Pix festival, now in its new autumn dates, has revealed a record 226 feature films in its lineup.

The 14-day festival (Oct 27 - Nov 9), which now also includes kids and family festival Buster, will show 46 features for young people in its daytime programmes and 180 films for teenagers and adults in the evenings.

As previously reported, the eighth edition of festival will open with a gala premiere of Marvel’s Doctor Strange (Mads Mikkelsen will attend).

There will be four main awards at Pix: the New Talent Grand Pix for a debut feature (with $11,200 (€10,000)); the Politiken Audience Award that comes with Danish distribution support, and the Nordisk Film Fond prizes for best children’s feature and best children’s short.

Terence Davies [pictured] will be given a full retrospective as well as showing his latest film A Quiet Passion and participating...

Adieu au langage - Goodbye to Language

A Works Cited

Introduction

From its bluntly political opening (Alfredo Bandelli's 'La caccia alle streghe': "Always united we win, long live the revolution!") to its hilarious fecal humor and word play—with 3D staging that happily puts to shame James Cameron and every other hack who's tried their hand at it these past several years—Adieu au langage overwhelms us with a deluge of recited texts, music and images, hardly ever bothering to slow down to let us catch our breath. Exhilarating and certainly not surprising—this is the guy who made Puissance de la parole after all!

The release of a new Godard film or video means a new encounter with texts, films and music often familiar from the filmmaker's earlier work—reworked and re-contextualized—as well as new discoveries to be sorted through and identified. This life-long interest in quotation...

Berlin has been the backdrop – and even the star – in movies from cold war spy thrillers to dramas about the collapse of East Germany. Andrew Pulver picks the top 10 films set in the city

• As featured in our Berlin city guide

People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag), Curt and Robert Siodmak, 1930

Silent cinema flourished in Germany during the Weimar years, and Berlin was immortalised in two particularly brilliant impressionist tributes: Walter Ruttmann's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, and People on Sunday, which aimed to create a patchwork of ordinary Berliners' lives. This film, with its cast of non-professional actors and hidden camera, gets the pick – partly because of its extraordinary writing and directing credit roll. Virtually everyone – including Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann and Robert Siodmak – went on to make a name for themselves in Hollywood, after being forced out of Germany during the Nazi era.

• Bahnhof Zoo; Nikolassee

The Bourne Supremacy,...

Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Black Moon: The Criterion Collection (1975)

Directed by: Louis Malle

Starring: Cathryn Harrison, Therese Giehse

Criterion.com Synopsis: Louis Malle meets Lewis Carroll in this bizarre and bewitching trip down the rabbit hole. After skirting the horrors of a mysterious war being waged in the countryside, beautiful young Lily (Cathryn Harrison) takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic life of an extremely unconventional family. Evocatively shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Black Moon is a Freudian tale of adolescent sexuality set in a post-apocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other.

Camille 2000: Extended Version (1969)

Directed by: Radley Metzger

Starring: Daniel Gaubert, Nino Castelnuovo

IMDb.com Synopsis: Marguerite, a beautiful woman of affairs, falls for the young and promising Armand,...

It always manages to amaze me how fast the months fly by, it seems like only yesterday we were announcing the May 2011 Criterion Collection titles, and here we are with June’s. This month continues Criterion’s recent trend of increasing the new titles selection, and bringing an amazing director to the Eclipse Series.

Let’s go through all of the new titles first this time. Earlier this year, Criterion released their “wacky new years” drawing, hinting at a couple of titles that we are finally getting to see made official this June. In that drawing we had an image of Marilyn Monroe with Albert Einstein’s head, hinting at Nicolas Roeg’s film, Insignificance. This will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 14. In that drawing, we also had the infamous glowing briefcase, hinting at Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (which also screened last year at the...