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"Before Billy Wilder (1906-2002) left Europe for the United States in 1934 and became a filmmaker, he worked as a newspaper reporter, first in Vienna and then in Weimar Berlin. This book, edited and introduced by Noah Isenberg and translated by Shelley Frisch, collects about 65 articles Wilder published in Austrian and German newspapers in the 1920s. The collection includes reported pieces on urban life, from a first-person account of Wilder's stint as a taxi dancer to an article about street sweepers; profiles of writers, movie stars and poker players; and dispatches from the international film scene, from reviews to interviews with such figures as Charlie Chaplin and Erich von Stroheim. Isenberg provides an introduction that gives biographical details and places the writings in context, emphasizing their historical moment and their connections to Wilder's later career"--
About the author
Billy Wilder (1906-2002) wrote and directed
Double Indemnity,
The Lost Weekend,
Sunset Boulevard,
Some Like It Hot, and
The Apartment, among other films. Over the course of his career, he won seven Academy Awards.
Noah Isenberg is the George Christian Centennial Professor and Chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. His many books include
We'll Always Have "Casablanca" and
Weimar Cinema. Twitter @NoahIsenberg Instagram @noah.isenberg1967
Shelley Frisch is the award-winning translator of
Dietrich & Riefenstahl and the three-volume
Kafka (Princeton), among other books. Twitter @shelfrisch
Additional text
"“Billy Wilder on Assignment is a beautifully assembled collection of the early writings of a master storyteller whose body of work has entertained moviemakers and movie watchers for generations."---Leonora Cravotta, American Spectator
