Turner Classic Movies host Eddie Muller once said, “I am often asked, ‘What is the definitive film noir?’ and there are only two possible answers: Double Indemnity and Out of the Past.” He’s right, of course. They don’t call him “The Czar of Noir” for nothing, you mugs. Double Indemnity scorched movie screens first, released nationwide on July 6, 1944, followed by Out of the Past three years later. Pushing the Production Code to the limit, Double Indemnity delivered a gut-pun

“Billy Wilder has a mind full of razor blades.” That’s William Holden’s assessment of writer-director Billy Wilder -- and few pictures illustrate Holden’s point better than Ace in the Hole (1951). Way ahead of its time and eerily prescient about ours, Wilder’s film casts Kirk Douglas as a ruthless reporter who milks a story about a man caught in a mine cave-in to advance his career. The film was inspired by a real-life 1925 incident in which spelunker Floyd Collins became tra

I once got an email from an 88-year-old man named George, praising an essay I’d written for The Washington Post . Coincidentally, I had...

...and by “some,” I mean “me.” I know, I know. I should be crazy about any film that tops most critics’ lists of classic comedies. Trust...

“Billy Wilder has a mind full of razor blades.” That’s William Holden’s mic-drop take on Wilder’s creative genius. Holden should know....

Winston Churchill called Russia “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Same goes for Greta Garbo: an introvert who sought...