Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Witness for the Prosecution combines a fascinating character study with a brilliantly unpredictable plot to produce a practically flawless Agatha Christie adaptation.

Synopsis: The affable Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) is being tried for the murder of a wealthy woman, and legendary lawyer Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) has... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Arguably the greatest movie about Hollywood, Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is a tremendously entertaining combination of noir, black comedy, and character study.

Synopsis: An aging silent film queen refuses to accept that her stardom has ended. She hires a young screenwriter to help set up her movie comeback.... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: A dark, tautly constructed adaptation of James M. Cain's novel -- penned by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler -- Double Indemnity continues to set the standard for the best in Hollywood film noir.

Synopsis: In this classic film noir, insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets roped into a murderous scheme when he falls for the sensual Phyllis Dietrichson... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film.

Synopsis: Writer Don Birnam (Ray Milland) is on the wagon. Sober for only a few days, Don is supposed to be spending the weekend with his... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Howard Da Silva, Phillip Terry

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Some Like It Hot: A spry, quick-witted farce that never drags.

Synopsis: After witnessing a Mafia murder, slick saxophone player Joe (Tony Curtis) and his long-suffering buddy, Jerry (Jack Lemmon), improvise a quick plan to escape from... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Director Billy Wilder's customary cynicism is leavened here by tender humor, romance, and genuine pathos.

Synopsis: Insurance worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his Upper West Side apartment to company bosses to use for extramarital affairs. When his manager Mr. Sheldrake... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Stalag 17 survives the jump from stage to screen with flying colors, thanks to Billy Wilder's typically sterling direction and a darkly funny script.

Synopsis: One night in 1944 in a German POW camp housing American airmen, two prisoners try to escape the compound and are quickly discovered and shot... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Holden, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Don Taylor

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Spearheaded by an excellent Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole is an incisive and sardonic satire that, much like its opportunistic hero, never lets moral compunction get in the way of a good story.

Synopsis: With flaws that outweigh his talent, reporter Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) has bounced across the country from job to job. Winding up in New Mexico,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Porter Hall, Robert Arthur

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: With its humorous script and its stars' immense charm, Sabrina remains a resonant romantic gem.

Synopsis: Chauffeur's daughter Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) returns home from two years in Paris a beautiful young woman, and immediately catches the attention of David (William Holden),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Walter Hampden

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) decides to leave New York City and take a train back to Iowa, but she has only enough money for a... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Robert Benchley

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: It's World War II, and British soldier John Bramble (Franchot Tone) is the lone survivor of a brutal battle in Egypt. After wandering through the... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Erich von Stroheim, Akim Tamiroff

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Idealistic Iowa congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur) touches down in postwar Berlin on a fact-finding mission about legendary cabaret singer Erika von Schlütow (Marlene Dietrich),... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Uniting Jack Lemmon and a never-better Walter Matthau on the screen for the first time, The Fortune Cookie continues director Billy Wilder's winning streak of sweet comedies with a nice snap.

Synopsis: While taping a football game, cameraman Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) ends up slightly injured after a collision with star player "Boom Boom" Jackson (Ron Rich).... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Ron Rich, Cliff Osmond

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three is an uproarious Cold War satire, offering devastating critiques of both factions with an effortless touch and a powerhouse performance from James Cagney.

Synopsis: C.R. MacNamara (James Cagney) will do anything to get a promotion within the Coca-Cola company, including looking after boss W.P. Hazeltine's (Howard St. John) rebellious... View Full Synopsis

Starring: James Cagney, Pamela Tiffin, Horst Bucholz, Arlene Francis

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A bored Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) meets Madame Petrova (Tamara Toumanova), a famed ballerina, who tries to seduce him, hoping that their child will have... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Geneviève Page, Irene Handl

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In the midst of a summer heat wave, New Yorker Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) ships his wife, Helen (Evelyn Keyes), and their son off to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This lauded biopic follows legendary pilot Charles Lindbergh (James Stewart) as he makes his historic solo transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. The film... View Full Synopsis

Starring: James Stewart, Patricia Smith, Murray Hamilton, Bartlett Robinson

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: French private investigator Claude Chavasse discovers his client's wife has been having an affair with an American playboy, Frank Flannagan. When the client decides to... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, Van Doude

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Based on the play by Samuel Taylor, this comedy finds Wendell Armbruster Jr. journeying to the Italian island of Ischia to claim the body of... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills, Clive Revill, Edward Andrews

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This entertaining comedy finds disgraced former police officer Nestor Patou falling for beautiful Parisian prostitute Irma La Douce. Though Nestor becomes Irma's pimp, he can't... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon, Lou Jacobi, Herschel Bernardi

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When popular singer Dino (Dean Martin) stops for gas in a small town near Las Vegas, mechanic Barney (Cliff Osmond) disables his car. Barney, who... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Dean Martin, Kim Novak, Ray Walston, Felicia Farr

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Salesman Virgil Smith (Bing Crosby) is making his next big move in Austria, pushing the gramophone. He believes that if he can persuade Emperor Franz... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Bing Crosby, Joan Fontaine, Roland Culver, Richard Haydn

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: When movie legend Fedora (Marthe Keller) commits suicide, the world grieves, and no one more so than writer and old flame Barry "Dutch" Detweiler (William... View Full Synopsis

Starring: William Holden, Marthe Keller, José Ferrer, Hildegard Knef

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A suicidal businessman (Jack Lemmon) and a mob hit man (Walter Matthau) thwart each other through adjoining hotel rooms.

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Paula Prentiss, Klaus Kinski

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Successful Chicago newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson (Jack Lemmon) is hanging up his journalist's hat to marry Peggy Grant (Susan Sarandon). When his editor, the arrogant,... View Full Synopsis

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, Susan Sarandon

Directed By: Billy Wilder