Ace in the hole

Author

Billy Wilder

Call Number

• BLU-RAY DRAMA (CEN)

Edition

Blu-ray special edition.

Languages

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Performers

Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Bob Arthur, Porter Hall, Frank Cady, Richard Benedict, Ray Teal, Frank Jaquet.

Publication Information

[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2018]

Physical Description

1 videodisc (111 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (illustrations ; folded to 16 x 12 cm.)

Audience

Not rated.

Summary

"Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole is one of the most scathing indictments of American culture ever produced by a Hollywood filmmaker. Kirk Douglas gives the fiercest performance of his career as Chuck Tatum, an amoral newspaper reporter who washes up in dead-end Albuquerque, happens upon the scoop of a lifetime, and will do anything to keep getting the lurid headlines. Wilder's follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is an even darker vision, a no-holds-barred expose of the American media's appetite for sensation that has gotten only more relevant with time."--Container.

Notes

Originally released as a motion picture in 1951.

Special features: New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack ; audio commentary by film scholar Neil Sinyard ; Portrait of a "60% perfect man": Billy Wilder, a 1980 documentary featuring interviews with Wilder by film critic Michel Ciment ; interview with actor Kirk Douglas from 1984 ; excerpts from a 1986 appearance by Wilder at the American Film Institute ; audio excerpts from an interview with Wilder's coscreenwriter Walter Newman ; video afterword by filmmaker Spike Lee ; stills gallery ; trailer.