Chandler (Hello, I Must Be Going: Groucho and His Friends; I, Fellini) here adds the late Billy Wilder to her list of celebrity subjects. Best known as one of Hollywood's most prolific writers, producers, and directors, Wilder grew up in Vienna and later moved to Berlin, where he became involved with German cinema. When the Nazis rose to power, he escaped to Hollywood. After covering Wilder's early years, Chandler devotes a chapter each to Wilder's best-known movies (e.g., Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard). These chapters consist of transcribed interviews with Wilder and many of the stars he directed, which results in an unfortunate lack of technical information and context. Film students, then, won't find much to glean here. Chandler also skimps on Wilder's personal life (he was divorced and later remarried), rendering it uninteresting to general readers. This biography is similar in format to Kevin Lally's Wilder Times, discussing many of the same films. Chandler fails to unearth new details on Wilder, and her filmography is not as informative as Lally's. With other biographies on Wilder available, this is not an essential purchase.

Rosalind Dayen, South Regional Lib., Pembroke Pines, FL

Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Everyone knows Wilder's reputation as a consummate storyteller who had one true or not for every occasion. Upon his death in March of this year, homages to the great director were filled with well-known anecdotes, passed along like great jokes. They were always funny and showed the filmmaker at his sharpest, but they also helped obscure the man behind a wall of wit and showmanship. This new biography from Groucho Marx and Federico Fellini biographer Chandler, which takes its title from the last line of Some Like It Hot, avoids this trap by simply letting Wilder talk at length. Unlike Cameron Crowe in his 1999 book of conversations with Wilder, Chandler keeps herself mostly in the background, popping up only occasionally to point out which actor had led her to interview which director, and so on. As a result, the book is a rich compendium of primary source material, containing interviews with Wilder himself, Kirk Douglas, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Stewart, Gloria Swanson and others. The book doesn't offer lengthy discussions of Wilder as a cinematic genius; readers will not find critical appraisals of Ace in the Hole or Sunset Boulevard. However, the author does richly document the making of some of Wilder's masterpieces and open the sluice gates for the voluble Wilder as well as the recondite storytellers mentioned above. Altogether, it makes for a comprehensive portrait of Wilder that goes beyond the witty stories. Photos.

Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.