"In proportion to the insanity and repressiveness of the age you live in, play the age as comedy if you want to get away with it": James Agee's classic comment about Preston Sturges applies equally to Billy Wilder. Like Sturges, Wilder was a writer who turned to directing to protect his material. And it was material that needed protecting; as Philip Kemp wrote in Sight and Sound, "At their best, his films are fuelled by an acerbic wit and an impish delight in prodding at the accepted boundaries of good taste." We have selected four of his sharpest, darkest, wildest comedies for a small farewell salute to Wilder, who died in March.
