Billy Wilder

Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano both really love the legendary film director Billy Wilder, and so it is not surprising that Marie and Mike have included some of his films in their courses at Howard Community College. This episode starts with Mike summarizing the early life of a filmmaker who went from Vienna to Berlin and then to Hollywood in 1934. It's remarkable that the German-speaking Wilder did not speak any English when he started working as a screenwriter in the American film industry, because he and his writing partners crafted smart dialogue that was attuned to American speech patterns and pop culture. Nudging each other to discuss their favorite films within Wilder's ample filmography, Marie singles out films including "The Lost Weekend"(1945), "Some Like It Hot" (1959) and "The Apartment" (1961); and Mike has plenty of praise for "Double Indemnity" (1944) and "Sunset Boulevard" (1950).