KL Studio Lorber have just released a pair of Hollywood comedy classics on Blu-ray that are a must for your home video library. Both of these pictures are helmed by the legendary Billy Wilder, and if you somehow haven’t seem them, this is your chance to rectify that! Here’s the scoop:
Billy Wilder’s reworking of the lightning-quick Hecht-MacArthur newspaper satire features Jack Lemmon as Hildy Johnson, the Chicago reporter whose impending nuptials and retirement will end his partnership with gruff editor Walter Burns (Walter Matthau). That is, until they become embroiled in getting the scoop on an escaped convict on the eve of his execution. Susan Sarandon, Charles Durning, Vincent Gardenia, and Carol Burnett as Mollie Malloy co-star.
This caustic comedy from Billy Wilder set in post-WWII Berlin, where dignified congresswoman Phoebe Frost’s (Jean Arthur) investigation into black-market influence on occupying GIs brings her in close contact with handsome Captain John Pringle (John Lund). The problem is that Pringle is involved with nightclub singer Erika von Schlütow (Marlene Dietrich), whom Phoebe learns has ties to former Nazi officials.
Both titles are available now, and are each a perfect example of Wilder’s masterful direction.