“Idle Valley was having a perfect summer. Somebody had planned it that way. Paradise Incorporated and also Highly Restricted. Only the nicest people. Absolutely no Central Europeans. Just the cream, the top-drawer crowd, the lovely, lovely people. Like the Lorings and the Wades. Pure gold.”
I was intrigued: Why this specific mention of central Europeans by the son of Anglo-Irish Quakers? I didn’t know then that Chandler and Billy Wilder had been working together for the script of Double Indemnity. Billy Wilder identified himself frequently as a central European. It’s no secret that Chandler and Wilder didn’t get on well, yet in the passage above, Chandler seems to criticize Hollywood society rather than people like Wilder.
I was reminded of Chandler’s encounter with Wilder, because of a book reading by an English author I attended here in Munich recently. His book is a fictional account of the making of one of Wilder’s films. The reading was the first at the Literaturhaus after the lockdown and had been lovingly and carefully prepared by the local staff. The reading was very enjoyable, but I really struggled with the book. The more I read on Wilder, the more I am convinced that this book has everything to do with the author and writing for an English audience and little to do with Wilder. The positive effect was that it has made me read all that was available on Wilder in the library (1) and watch his films with renewed interest.
The most dreaded of all topics – German humour or the supposed lack of it – naturally comes up in the book. Wilder had already made films and comedies in Berlin before he went to the US. One might well wonder how Wilder could have been so successful in Germany if nobody ever got his jokes.
(1) So much has been published on Wilder in English that I can happily focus on the books I found by German/Austrian authors.
Hutter, Andreas and Kamolz, Klaus, Billie Wilder, eine europäische Karriere, Böhlau Verlag, Vienna, 1998.
This very detailed (and readable) study focusses on Wilder early years, family history and background as well as the beginnings of his career in Europe.
Karasek, Hellmuth, Billy Wilder, Hoffmann und Campe, 1992.
Karasek and Volker Schlöndorff made a long interview with Wilder called "Herr Wilder, wie haben Sie's gemacht?" (How did you do it? in English). Karasek's tome on Wilder's life and films is also based on interviews and a huge source of information but rather rambling.
Seidl, Claudius, Billy Wilder, Seine Filme, sein Leben, Heyne, 1988.
A good source of information on Wilder's work.
Wilder, Billy, Der Prinz of Wales geht auf Urlaub, Berliner Reportagen, Feuilletons und Kritiken der zwanziger Jahre, Fannei & Walz Verlag, 1996.
This volume is a collection of Wilder's early work as a journalist: Articles, film reviews, columns. Still worth reading!! Few writers can match Wilder's immediacy, poignancy and wit.