posted by NotAnyRon on September 20, 2007; screened on September 19, 2007
Billy Wilder
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1951
It's very exciting that the Criterion Collection has released this wonderful film. It has been previously unavailable on DVD in the U.S., so I didn't watch it in my recent Billy Wilder phase. Now that I've seen it, I'm happy to say that it is one of his best films. Like some directors today who make one for the studio and then one for themselves, Wilder felt that he could push the boundary after the huge success of Sunset Boulevard. While Sunset was hardly "one for the studio" in its content, it was a gigantic box office success, allowing Wilder to self produce Ace. Starring Kirk Douglas, this film is a hard hitting, dark drama about a bloodthirsty reporter on the lookout for a big story that will get him back in good graces in New York. He finds his ace in the hole and ensures that the whole situation works to his advantage, morality and humanity be damned. There are plenty of beautiful Wilder touches, such as Douglas' crack that he's lied to plenty of men wearing a belt and plenty of men wearing suspenders, but he'd never think of lying to his boss who is wearing both a belt and suspenders. Later in the film, you can tell plenty about Douglas' current state of mind at any given point the film simply by watching his own method of keeping his pants up. Thanks to Criterion for giving this great film the release it deserves.