Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole

Boy, Ace in the Hole's unavailability has inflated its reputation. Really stupid in a rancid way, as if he wanted the audience to applaud his "nasty" premise and rub its nose in it too. Kirk Douglas' loud, unmodulated performance doesn't help.

And, as usual, he doesn't have the courage to accept the consequences of his rancidness -- the last 30 minutes are just awful.

i love billy wilder, but i really didn't enjoy this movie.

same here

yes, I think it's overrated, but youse are all nuts.

(did Wilder ever say if Douglas growing a conscience was self-censorship or studio-imposed? after all, evil had to be punished under the Code)

I thought it was klunky and preachy, and was frustrated at first by the slow pacing, but once the crowds showed up and the film's narrative curve became clear I thought it was pretty brilliant -- the film stays sleepy and slow for the first half while you adjust to just how modest the story is, and when people slowly (and then rapidly) begin showing up in response to the newspaper coverage of the story, when the crowd starts really growing out of control at the end it's actually scary. it's weird to see a film save all of it's production value & big shots for the last fourth of the running time -- the hyperbolic pacing illustrated the problem perfectly.

and deployment of pointless human interest stories has only gotten more out of control, so I definitely have interest and time for a movie dissecting the mechanics of such situations circa 1951, two decades before the term "Media Circus" became a pejorative this film visualized the metaphor literally, maybe that's why you're groaning but I liked it

not as canny as 'a face in the crowd' or anything & not his best film, but absolutely still worth seeing

I will admit that it's got the most eloquent shot of Wilder's career: that great slow dolly of the open train disgorging all these scurrying curiosity seekrs.

Alfred, what do you think of Kiss Me, Stupid?

Also, AitH has the best imaginable use of the Hut Sut Song.

Alfred, what do you think of Kiss Me, Stupid?

Pretty gross. I didn't finish watching it, actually. The post-Apartment films are very problematic, although Morbs has recommended the Sherlock Holmes thing many times.