Billy Wilder has been called one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's Golden Age. Nominated for a total of 21 Academy Awards, he won 6, and became the first person to win Academy Awards as producer, director, and screenwriter for the same film (“The Apartment”). His credits as a writer are no less impressive. He co-wrote the screenplays for “Ninotchka,” “Double Indemnity,” “The Lost Weekend,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Stalag 17,” “Sabrina,” “Witness for the Prosecution,” “The Seven Year Itch,” “Some Like It Hot,” “The Apartment,” and “Irma La Douce,” among many other films. Equally adept at writing and directing dramas and comedies, Wilder took on subjects other filmmakers shied away from, creating a body of work that is timeless. In this course, we’ll examine five Wilder classics (“Double Indemnity,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Some Like It Hot,” “The Apartment,” “The Seven Year Itch”) and his lesser-known, searing drama “Ace in the Hole.”