billy wilder's ACE IN THE HOLE (1951)

not long before the end of "Portrait Of A 60% Perfect Man", the centerpiece special feature on Criterion's spectacular new DVD release of Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole, film critic Michel Ciment is unfortunate enough to voice an observation about the warming romanticism of Wilder's later work, at least in comparison with the good-natured acerbicism of his best-known films. the 74-year old Wilder, ambling around the patio of his California home, immediately perks up in his own defense. "Don't say that," he fumes playfully. "I want to be known as a cynic, as somebody with a vitriolic tongue, I like that much better. I don't want to be known as a softie." Wilder is obviously amused, but there's little to suggest that he's not perfectly serious.

among Hollywood's all-time greats, Billy Wilder has the filmography to back up his claims to such cynicism, however sweet. responsible for films like Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, and The Apartment (to name only the most classic of the classic), the writer-director always sought to push the envelope as he entertained, and took obvious pleasure from highlighting the unsavory corners of the mundane. and it's this aspect of Wilder's creative personality that makes Ace In The Hole, released in 1951 but previously unavailable on home video, such an essential piece: this is Wilder at his most forceful, uncharacteristically disinterested in anything but illuminating society's basest tendencies. it starts mean and it ends sad, and 56 years later it strikes a deeper chord than ever.

the film follows disgraced big-city reporter Chuck Tatum (a fiery Kirk Douglas) as he joins the staff of an Albuquerque daily in an effort to work his way back up the ladder. such an opportunity eventually reveals itself at a pit stop on the way to cover a rattlesnake hunt, where Tatum and his young photographer learn that the filling station's proprietor, in search of Indian relics, has been trapped in an underground shaft. Tatum sees his in and seizes it, deftly tipping the national spotlight to a roadside cliff dwelling and the tasty "human interest story" trapped within, and before long the local sheriff, an excavation contractor, and even the man's own wife are on board to milk power, money, and fame out of the would-be tragedy...even if it means protracting his rescue.

Ace In The Hole was an abject failure upon its release, both commercially and critically, and it's not hard to see why: it's a nasty, bleak portrait of America at its worst, and offputtingly bereft of the witty humor that marks nearly all of Wilder's other work. but it's also fearless in its misanthropy, and uncomfortably prescient, as our news media has done little but slouch toward Tatum's ethically desolate sensationalism in the ensuing years. it’s the subtext to Wilder's ruthless indictment of the burgeoning Media Circus phenomenon, though, that contains Ace In The Hole’s most scathing, and important, lesson: the blame lays as much with the consumer as the producer.

true to form, the Criterion Collection has bestowed Ace In The Hole with an impressive restoration and a collection of supplementary material befitting an American master’s lost opus, from a fine commentary to a handful of lengthy interview pieces, including the aforementioned hour-long 1980 bull session with Ciment. (there’s even a video afterword by Spike Lee, speaking of how the film’s social outrage influenced his own work and proudly showing off a poster signed by Wilder and Douglas.) given both the film’s bottomless relevance and own compelling history (before being essentially buried for half a century, for instance, it was briefly re-released with the “more cheerful” title The Big Carnival), it’s a bit of a shame that the producers of the two-disc set weren’t able to present a bit more about the film itself, but the focus on Wilder is a welcome tribute. and though it’d be unfair to say that Ace In The Hole is one of his very best films, its merits extend beyond its notoriety, and its teeth are as sharp as anything Hollywood has dared to make since.

(from the KNOXVILLE VOICE)