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Re-visited a favorite with some friends last night:
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Like many of Wilder's best films, this one involves bad intentions gone worse. Hard-boiled and uncompromising, this story of greed and corruption paints a brutally accurate portrait of the power of the press, and the things it can do to humanity. Kirk Douglas was perfectly cast for this film; he is cocky but unstable, cartoonish but human, tough and weak simultaneously. His tough guy persona lends a helping hand to the already devilishly crafted Chuck Tatem. Molly Haskell poetically described this film as "noir in broad daylight", and I think that description paints a nice picture of the kind of strange genre hybrid Wilder constructs here. The ever sing-songy presence of the big daytime circus comes to a screeching clash with the story's dark themes, and the result is a fierce commentary on the human race still as funny, sad and relevant today as it was in 1951.
I still highly recommend this one to everyone on this site- it's got a little something for everybody. Fort, Return, Geddy, V, Roshiq and Pap Noir, I look at you especially!
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