Ace in the Hole: Noir in Broad Daylight
By July 16, 2007
Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole almost requires an honorary expansion of the term film noir. There are no private eyes in seedy offices or femmes fatales Read more »
- United States
- 1951
- 111 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- English
- Spine #396
SYNOPSIS: One of the most scathing indictments of American culture ever produced by a Hollywood filmmaker, Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole is legendary for both its cutting social critique and its status as a hard-to-find cult classic. Kirk Douglas gives the fiercest performance of his career as Chuck Tatum, an amoral newspaper reporter caught in dead-end Albuquerque who happens upon the story of a lifetime—and will do anything to ensure he gets the scoop. Wilder’s follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is an even darker vision, a no-holds-barred exposé that anticipated the rise of the American media circus.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Chuck Tatum | Kirk Douglas |
| Lorraine Minosa | Jan Sterling |
| Herbie Cook | Bob Arthur |
| Jacob Q. Boot | Porter Hall |
| Mr. Federber | Frank Cady |
| Leo Minosa | Richard Benedict |
| Sheriff Kretzer | Ray Teal |
| Smollett | Frank Jaquet |
Credits
| Director | Billy Wilder |
| Screenplay | Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman |
| Associate producer | William Schorr |
| Cinematography | Charles B. Lang and Jr. |
| Editorial supervision | Doane Harrison |
| Music | Hugo Friedhofer |
| Art direction | Hal Pereira and Earl Hedrick |
| Editing | Arthur Schmidt |
| Costumes | Edith Head |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary by film scholar Neil Sinyard
- Portrait of a “60% Perfect Man”: Billy Wilder, a 1980 documentary featuring in-depth interviews with Wilder by film critic Michel Ciment
- A 1984 interview with Kirk Douglas by filmmaker and film scholar Michael Thomas
- Excerpts from a 1986 appearance by Wilder at the American Film Institute
- Excerpts from an audio interview with coscreenwriter Walter Newman
- New video afterword by filmmaker Spike Lee
- Stills gallery
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by film critic Molly Haskell and filmmaker Guy Maddin
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
Ace in the Hole: Chin Up for Mother
By July 16, 2007
The celebrated divot points manfully toward the crest of the next hill, and the next, and the next, and to the horizon after that. Always forward! Into the Read more »
Clippings
Good News for Bad News
May 11, 2009
“It’s taken more than fifty years, but the world has finally caught up with [the] dark and cynical vision” of Billy Wilder’s chillingly black satire of the fourth estate Read more »
