Billy Wilder | the m0vie blog

267. Some Like It Hot – Christmas 2021 (#136)

Posted on December 25, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guests Charlene Lydon and Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.

This time, Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot.

In late 1920s Chicago, band members Joe and Jerry witness a brutal mob hit. Forced to flee for their lives, the pair disguise themselves as women and join an all-female band taking a trip down to Florida for the winter. However, things very quickly become complicated when the duo encounter a blonde bombshell Sugar Kowalczyk and attract the romantic attentions of a lonely millionaire named Osgood Fielding III. Hilarity ensues.

At time of recording, it was ranked 136th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: Billy Wilder, christmas, gender, Jack Lemmon, marilyn monroe, some like it hot, The 250, tony curtis, transgender | Leave a comment »

238. To Be Or Not To Be – w/ The Movie Palace (#199)

Posted on June 12, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guest Carl Sweeney, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.

This time, a crossover with The Movie Palace, Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be Or Not To Be.

War rages across Europe. Hitler is on the march. In Poland, a troupe of actors find themselves cast as the most unlikely heroes in a daring mission to prevent vital intelligence from making its way to the Nazi authorities. Saving the day will require courage, guile and the ability to hit their marks.

At time of recording, it was ranked 199th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: american cinema, Billy Wilder, carl sweeney, carole lombard, comedy, ernst lubitsch, europe, fascism, film, genre, history, holocaust, imdb, jack benny, jewish, jewishness, Mel Brooks, Movies, Nazism, podcast, Poland, spoof, the movie palace, to be or not to be, tragedy, world war ii | Leave a comment »

191. Sunset Boulevard (#64)

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Charlene Lydon and Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard.

Screenwriter Joe Gillis is found floating upside down in the pool of silent era film star Norma Desmond. As the authorities begin to piece together exactly what happened, Gillis’ corpse narrates a sordid tale of desperation, resentment, lust – and Hollywood haunted by its own past.

At time of recording, it was ranked 64th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: Billy Wilder, charlene lydon, hollyweird, hollywood, hollywood gothic, horror, mulholland drive, norma desmond, Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, sunset boulevard | Leave a comment »

162. The Apartment – Christmas 2019/New Year’s 2020 (#113)

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, a Christmas (and New Year’s) treat. Billy Wilder’s The Apartment.

As the fifties give way to the roaring sixties, C.C. Baxter finds himself slowly climbing the corporate ladder by loaning out his apartment to other executives so they can conduct illicit affairs. However, things quickly become complicated when Baxter finds himself falling for the elevator operator Fran Kubelik.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 113th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: Billy Wilder, christmas, comedy, eisenhower, holiday, Jack Lemmon, kennedy, new year's, Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair, Shirley MacLaine, sixties, The 250, the apartment, x-mas | Leave a comment »

104. Double Indemnity – w/ The Movie Palace (#88)

Posted on November 10, 2018 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

This week, a special crossover episode with The Movie Palace Podcast, a film podcast hosted by Carl Sweeney taking a look at the classics of Hollywood’s golden age. Carl suggested a crossover episode taking a look at the list, and particularly some of the classic movies listed on it.

So this week, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity.

Regarded as one of the earliest codifiers of film noir and one of the strongest examples of the form, Double Indemnity is the tale of door-to-door insurance salesman Walter Neff. Through chance, Neff wanders into the life of a young wife by the name of Phyllis Dietrichson. When they get together, it’s murder.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 88th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: Billy Wilder, carl sweeney, double indemnity, Film noir, imdb, podcast, The 250, the movie palace podcast | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Apartment

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Darren

The Apartment is a classic romantic comedy, and deservedly so. Reuniting director Billy Wilder with actor Jack Lemmon, it’s a wonderfully dysfunctional look at life in the big city, and the compromises the people find themselves forced into. While I think the movie probably works better as a romantic drama than as a comedy – with some outstanding moments of bleakness, including a serious suicide attempt and another false alarm towards the end – Wilder and Lemmon do an exceptional job keeping the movie just light enough that the darker elements don’t overwhelm the film. It is a piece of cinematic history, and one that holds up as well today as it ever did.