Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder, based on the novel by James M. Cain) I knew then what I had done. I had killed a man. I had killed a man to get a woman. I had put myself in her power, so there was one person in the world that could point a finger at me, and I would have to die. I had done all that for her, and I never wanted to see her again as long as I lived. That’s all it takes, one drop of fear, to curdle love into hate. - James M. Cain, Double Indemnity

Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder, based on the novel by James M. Cain)

I knew then what I had done. I had killed a man. I had killed a man to get a woman. I had put myself in her power, so there was one person in the world that could point a finger at me, and I would have to die. I had done all that for her, and I never wanted to see her again as long as I lived.

That’s all it takes, one drop of fear, to curdle love into hate.

- James M. Cain, Double Indemnity

Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot (1959, dir. Billy Wilder)

Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot (1959, dir. Billy Wilder)

Marilyn Monroe, photographed with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, & Billy Wilder on the set of Some Like It Hot (1959, dir. Billy Wilder) (via drmacro)

Marilyn Monroe, photographed with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, & Billy Wilder on the set of Some Like It Hot (1959, dir. Billy Wilder) (via drmacro)

Jan Sterling in publicity still for Ace in the Hole (1951, dir. Billy Wilder) “I don’t go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.” -Sterling as Lorraine Minosa in Ace in the Hole

Jan Sterling in publicity still for Ace in the Hole (1951, dir. Billy Wilder)

“I don’t go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons.”

-Sterling as Lorraine Minosa in Ace in the Hole

Doris Dowling in The Lost Weekend (1945, dir. Billy Wilder) “Pour it softly, pour it gently, and pour it to the brim.”

Doris Dowling in The Lost Weekend (1945, dir. Billy Wilder)

“Pour it softly, pour it gently, and pour it to the brim.”

Suggestions on how to hide your secret alcohol problem and/or workplace scotch stash via The Lost Weekend (1945, dir. Billy Wilder)

Suggestions on how to hide your secret alcohol problem and/or workplace scotch stash via The Lost Weekend (1945, dir. Billy Wilder)

Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder) “How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”

Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder)

“How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”

In homage: Florence Georgie in It Happened On 23rd Street, above (1901, dir. Edwin Porter); Marilyn Monroe in publicity still for Seven Year Itch, below (1955, dir. Billy Wilder)

In homage: Florence Georgie in It Happened On 23rd Street, above (1901, dir. Edwin Porter); Marilyn Monroe in publicity still for Seven Year Itch, below (1955, dir. Billy Wilder)

Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon on the set of Some Like It Hot (1959, dir. Billy Wilder) “We hung out a lot. After we made Some Like It Hot, we’d meet at parties, with movie people, dinner and dancing. And I’d always walk up to Jack’s table, tap him on the shoulder, and say, ‘Would you like to dance?’ And he’d get up and we’d waltz through the dance floor. It was too good.” -Tony Curtis, excerpted from Dallas News interview, July 2002

Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon on the set of Some Like It Hot (1959, dir. Billy Wilder)

“We hung out a lot. After we made Some Like It Hot, we’d meet at parties, with movie people, dinner and dancing. And I’d always walk up to Jack’s table, tap him on the shoulder, and say, ‘Would you like to dance?’ And he’d get up and we’d waltz through the dance floor. It was too good.”

-Tony Curtis, excerpted from Dallas News interview, July 2002