DVD Reviews

The Billy Wlder Collection

He is an intelligent filmmaker that is a great influence on many filmmakers today. He can write sharp dialogue, produce memorable performances, and can tell wonderful stores. He never allowed himself to get sucked in by the Hollywood system, and he always did what he wanted with fabulous results. He is Billy Wilder, and he is without a doubt one of the greatest directors who ever lived. Before his death in 2002, Billy Wilder directed twenty-seven films and wrote more than seventy. His films have been on lists of the greatest films of all time, such as Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, and probably his greatest film Some Like It Hot. He is an excellent storyteller and an excellent filmmaker, and is now being honoured in a brand new DVD box set featuring eight of his films.
This box set is the second Billy Wilder DVD collection to be released; the first was released by Paramount and contained three of his films. This new DVD box set represents his MGM years, where he produced films for the studio between 1957 and 1972. The films offered in this set are The Apartment; Avanit!; The Fortune Cookie; Irma La Douce; Kiss Me, Stupid; One, Two, Three; The Private Life of Sherlock Homes, and a special edition of Some Like It Hot. Each disc is presented in a widescreen format, wither black and white or colour, and was sufficiently transferred to the DVD format. All films have a mono soundtrack, with the Some Like It Hot disc offering a slightly better 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. Features are pretty scarce in this collection; there is a deleted scene on the Kiss Me, Stupid disc, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes disc contains a featurette, and interview, and a deleted scene, and the Some Like It Hot disc contains an interview, a featurette, behind-the-scenes images, and a pressbook gallery. All films have their trailer as a feature. Some extra features or even an extra disc chronicling Wilder’s life and career would have been a nice addition to this set. But the films themselves are what make this set a great collection.

While Canada gets this eight disc box set, the US gets a nine disc box set that features the same films plus another great Wilder film Witness For The Prosecution. It is unclear why that film was not included in the Canadian release of the box set, but it is unfortunate that is was omitted***. Despite that this is a great collection of Billy Wilder films that fans of the director will enjoy. Yet, many fans will argue that this collection is not quite complete without the inclusion of some of his other great films. Where’s The Seven Year Itch? Double Indemnity? Sabrina? Hopefully we will get to see those and some of his other great films in another box set. In the meantime, fans of Billy Wilder will be happy with this DVD collection that fittingly celebrates a great director.

Review By Corey Brown