Charlotte Chandler

Wilder’s wit came through in the book about his films and life. The book was organized in various sections, dealing with his early life in Vienna and early films in Germany, then in Hollywood, each individual film was discussed with comments from Wilder on the film and a brief synopsis of the film. I loved the brief synopsis because it gave us just enough info if we were not familiar with the film. The book contained interviews with Wilder as well as those who knew or worked in his films. show more There is a nice filmography in the back of the book and a decent number of photographs. Best of all, Wilder’s wit comes through which makes you laugh out loud. show less

I don't know of a better closing line to a movie than the one in Billy Wilder's "Some Like It Hot" when the Jack Lemmon character, who has been trying to escape gangsters by pretending to be a woman, finally reveals to a persistent suitor played by Joe E. Brown that he is actually a man. Brown just smiles and says, "Well, nobody's perfect."

If that is a perfect closing line for a great movie, it is also the perfect title for Charlotte Chandler's 2002 biography of Billy Wilder.

Wilder, a Jew show more who managed to get out of Germany before Hitler came to power, became one of the most important directors in Hollywood during the middle decades of the 20th century. In addition to "Some Like It Hot," he directed such classics as "The Lost Weekend," "Sunset Boulevard," "Stalag 17," "Sabrina," "The Seven Year Itch," "The Spirit of St. Louis," "Love in the Afternoon," "Witness for the Prosecution," "The Apartment" and "Irma la Douce."

Yet Wilder never really thought of himself as a director. He said he was a writer who just directed movies to protect his screenplays. Other directors always wanted to change his words, but as a director he could make sure that actors followed his scripts to the letter. There was no adlibbing in a Billy Wilder picture.

Wilder practically writes this biography of himself by himself. Chandler recorded her interviews with Wilder over the last years of his long life, and much of the book is just him talking. That works well because Wilder was, no surprise, an engaging wit and a terrific storyteller.

Chandler also interviewed numerous people who knew Wilder over the years -- Tony Curtis, Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Walter Matthau, Shirley MacLaine and many others -- letting each one talk at length. This makes Chandler seem more like an editor than a writer. Her other show business biographies, especially the one she did about Alfred Hitchcock, are terrific, however, suggesting that, as in so many other cases, it takes a lot of work to make one's work look effortless.

My main complaint about "Nobody's Perfect" is that some movies, especially the flops Wilder didn't want to talk about, are given little attention. "The Fortune Cookie," which I think is a terrific movie, gets just three pages, and "Avanti!," which is almost as good, gets only four. Yet "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes," hardly a classic, has 20 pages devoted to it. That's more than "Sabrina," "Witness for the Prosecution" and "Irma la Douce" combined.

Well, nobody's perfect. show less

A wonderful biography about one of my favorite actresses , Joan Crawford. Everyone is probably familiar with the Mommie Dearest movie starring Faye Dunaway with the infamous wire hanger scene. This book however, offers a different side of the relationship between Joan and her daughter Cristina as well as her infamous feuding with Bette Davis. Filled with intimate details of her family life, loves, and experiences, Not The Girl Next Door offers a refreshing perspective of one of the great show more actresses of Old Hollywood. show less

I recently watched a 1940 gem of a movie from Netflix DVD starring Mae West and W. C. Fields called My Little Chickadee. Shockingly, I had never seen either one of them in a movie even though I’m such a fan of old Hollywood.

Per Wikipedia: “West reportedly wrote the original screenplay, with Fields contributing one extended scene set in a bar. Universal decided to give the stars equal screenplay credit, perhaps to avoid the appearance of favoritism, but the move incensed West, who show more declined to team with Fields afterward. The stars spoofed themselves and the Western genre, with West providing a series of her trademark double entendres. ” I like the way she stood up for her work and didn’t want to share the credit with someone who only wrote one scene.

An interesting side note is that one of the main characters in this movie was an actress named Margaret Hamilton, who you know as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. My husband thinks she is the scariest character EVER.

The movie wasn’t that bad and it had some funny quips but to be honest Mae’s schtick got old kinda quick. W. C. wasn’t funny and obviously attempting to use his comedy to make up for something. Watching the movie got me thinking, who was Mae West? What was her deal? So, I checked this book out of the library.

Mae’s story is quite interesting. She didn’t put up with crap and really had the career she wanted and not what others wanted for her. I bet she was a helluva woman especially for her time. She knew what would sell and how her audiences reacted to her and she gave them what they wanted. She made her own money and was very wealthy.

She was also a very tiny woman and that doesn’t really come through on her films. That’s because she wore platform heels. And by platform, I mean huge platforms. Google it.

She wrote homosexuality and cross-dressing into her scripts. She didn’t appear in movies until she was 40! I think she is the bee’s knees. And PBS does too as there is a new documentary, Dirty Blonde, coming out on her that I learned about today! show less