Programmed June 2022

Billy Wilder’s 1940s

Although, or perhaps because, he was born in Austria, writer, director, and Hollywood legend Billy Wilder saw America more clearly than most, probing its absurdities, hypocrisies, and self-delusions with a witty and often devastatingly cynical eye. This selection from his 1940s prime brings together two frequently overlooked World War II gems (the dynamic espionage thriller Five Graves to Cairo and the sophisticated romantic comedy A Foreign Affair ) and two of his undisputed masterpieces: the definitive film noir Double Indemnity and the intense, groundbreaking study of alcoholic self-destruction The Lost Weekend .

No longer streaming