MGM HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES FOUR BELOVED FILMS FROM ONE OF UNITED ARTISTS’ MOST CELEBRATED DIRECTORS

BILLY WILDER FILM COLLECTION

The Apartment Special Edition, The Fortune Cookie, Kiss Me Stupid! And
Some Like It Hot Collector’s Edition Arriving In One DVD Collection March 4

Featuring Hollywood Legends Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Walter Matthau, Kim Novak, Dean Martin, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe In Some Of Their Most Memorable Roles

LOS ANGELES, CA – Journey behind the lens of Billy Wilder and experience Hollywood’s favorite Silver Screen stars in one remarkable film compilation in the BILLY WILDER FILM COLLECTION, arriving on DVD March 4 from MGM Home Entertainment. Named one of the entertainment industry’s most revered filmmakers, Wilder directed 14 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances and is among an elite group of five directors who have won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original/Adapted) for the same film. He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1993 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C., and has had a career spanning more than 50 years with more than 60 films achieving both critical and public acclaim. The American Film Institute (AFI) has ranked four of Wilder’s films including Sunset Boulevard (no. 12), Some Like It Hot (14), Double Indemnity (38), and The Apartment (93) among their top 100 American films of the twentieth century.

Part of the esteemed United Artists library, the BILLY WILDER FILM COLLECTION is being released as part of an18-month global celebration leading up to the 90th anniversary of the studio in 2009 that honors the films, directors, actors and music that represent United Artists’ rich filmmaking heritage.

Complications ensue when a lowly but ambitious accountant tries to climb the corporate ladder in The Apartment Special Edition, winner of five Academy Awards* in 1961, including Best Picture and Best Director, Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot, Ocean’s Eleven). Starring Academy Award winners Jack Lemmon (The China Syndrome) and Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment), and co-starring Golden Globe nominee Fred MacMurray (The Absent Minded Professor), The Apartment Special Edition, features audio commentary from Bruce Block, film producer, historian, UCLA Professor and AFI Member, an “Inside The Apartment” documentary and a tribute to Jack Lemmon.

In their first screen pairing Walter Matthau (The Sunshine Boys) and Jack Lemmon portray a shyster lawyer and a cameraman in The Fortune Cookie; a madcap tale of greed and recouping lost love. This 1966 Wilder film garnered three Academy Award nominations and an Oscar for Matthau as Best Supporting Actor. In the lighthearted comedy, Kiss Me Stupid!, Dean Martin (Ocean’s Eleven) plays a famous singer targeted by two would-be songwriters who encourage a cocktail waitress, played by Kim Novak (Vertigo), to coerce him into a song-buying mood.

When two Chicago musicians played by Academy Award winner Tony Curtis (The Defiant Ones) and Jack Lemmon, accidentally witness a gangland shooting, they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the two newest and homeliest members of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfect…until a lovelorn singer played by Marilyn Monroe (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) falls for Josephine in Some Like It Hot Collector’s Edition. This revered Wilder classic received five Academy Award nominations in 1960 and won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. The Some Like It Hot Collector’s Edition features three documentaries, “A Nostalgic Look Back,” “The Making of Some Like it Hot” and “The Legacy of Some Like It Hot,” “Memories from the Sweet Sues” featurette, the original press book gallery, a “Virtual Hall of Memories” photo montage and audio commentary.

The BILLY WILDER FILM COLLECTION DVD set will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.98 U.S. / $54.98 Canada.

The Apartment Synopsis
Winner of five 1960 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, The Apartment is legendary writer/director Billy Wilder at his scathing, satirical best, and one of “the finest comedies Hollywood has turned out” (Newsweek). C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Jack Lemmon) knows the way to success in business… it’s through the door of his apartment! By providing a perfect hide away for philandering bosses, the ambitious young employee reaps a series of undeserved promotions. But when Bud lends the key to big boss J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), he not only advances his career, but his own love life as well. For Sheldrake’s mistress is the lovely Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), elevator girl and angel of Bud’s dreams. Convinced that he is the only man for Fran, Bud must make the most important executive decision of his career: lose the girl… or his job.

The Fortune Cookie Synopsis
Powered by Walter Matthau’s Oscar®-winning performance as the quintessential all-American chiseler, The Fortune Cookie is a hysterically funny comedy that showcases filmmaker BillyWilder at his uproarious best. Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) is one lucky guy! When he’s accidentally clobbered by a 220-pound halfback, all Harry suffers is a slight concussion. All, that is, until Whiplash Willie (Matthau)a legal scoundrel of the first orderarrives on the scene! For if Harry follows shyster Willie’s advice and feigns a crippling injury, the two charlatans can split a cool million in phony insurance claims. But can Willie’s world-class finagling dispel those ominous words that lie within the fortune cookie on Harry’s hospital plate: You can’t fool all of the people all of the time?

Kiss Me Stupid! Synopsis
Dean Martin is full of charm, wit and snappy one-liners in this ‘sly, irreverent, brash and daring comedy (The Film Daily) from the legendary team of Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond (Some Like It Hot, The Apartment)! When world-renowned singer Dino (Martin in a hilarious self-parody) passes through Climax, Nevada, he doesn’t count on meeting two would-be songwriters with a plan to trap him there and serenade him with their songs.

Some Like It Hot Synopsis
When Chicago musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) accidentally witness a gangland shooting, they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the two newest and homeliest members of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfect…until a lovelorn singer (Marilyn Monroe) falls for Josephine, an ancient playboy (Joe E. Brown) falls for Daphne, and a mob boss (George Raft) refuses to fall for their hoax! Nominated for 6 Academy Awards®, Some Like It Hot is the quintessential madcap farce and one of the greatest of all film comedies (The Motion Picture Guide).

Rich in history and devoted to creating powerful, quality films, United Artists (UA) was formed in 1919 by Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to encourage progressive filmmaking, giving each star the authority and autonomy to create the films about which they were most passionate. The studio responsible for creating some of the finest films of all time including iconic film franchises ROCKY, PINK PANTHER and JAMES BOND and critically-acclaimed and award-winning features RAGING BULL, SOME LIKE IT HOT, WEST SIDE STORY, ANNIE HALL, MIDNIGHT COWBOY and RAIN MAN, contains a library of nearly 1,000 feature films and boasts more than 80 Academy Award®-winning classics.

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