Seeing Stalag 17 On the Big Screen:

Tonight I joined up with my cousin Liam (full of frenzy about War and Peace – he’s about 100 pages ahead of me and his book has MAPS and lists of characters and I am tremendously envious of that), his wife Lydia (pregnant – yippee!!), and my cousin Kerry (who, yes, can be seen in a crucial scene in M. Night’s The Happening, not to mention singing the National Anthem at Fenway in August, I mean – come ON) met up at The Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center this evening to see Stalag 17, part of the William Holden retrospective going on.

A couple of observations:

— I have never seen this film on the big screen. It was awesome. And it’s a terrific theatre.

— There was a deaf ancient woman sitting behind us who whispered at certain points in the loudest stage whisper ever known to man, “That’s William Holden” or “That’s Otto Preminger …” … in case any of us were unsure on those points.

— Seeing William Holden in action on the big screen (and Wilder, I have to say, is really stingy with the close-ups – he does NOT rely on them as shorthand, he holds back – most of the scenes are group scenes – so when he moves in close, boy oh boy, does it mean something) was a revelation. He is even more powerful than can possibly be imagined when you’re watching his movies on a small screen in your apartment. He is a true movie star. Marvelously entertaining.

— When watched alone, Stalag 17 can be rather unbalancing. And I suppose it was tonight as well, in a larger group. It’s a comedy but it has moments of true tragedy and bleakness. Long sections occur with no shenanigans or hijinx. It’s a “comedy” about filthy prisoners of war. It’s an odd mix. But it works. What was great watching it tonight – in that huge theatre – with a packed house – was realizing how funny it is, and how the movie still works so well as a comedy.

— I’ve seen the movie a bunch of times, and certain elements become clearer to me in different viewings – but this particular time – there’s an ongoing “bit” where William Holden lights his match off of another person. It’s one of his main adversaries – the wonderfully scruffy and modern anti-hero Duke (played by Neville Brand) – with the hair falling in his face, and the great beefy body. Yum. Duke spends the entire film suspicious of Sefton (Holden) and having to be held back from outright attacking him. Holden, at three separate points throughout the film, takes out his cigar, and a match – and – with the utmost contempt – lights the match off of Duke. It’s such classic Billy Wilder – and in this he is imitating Lubitsch as well: those tiny details, recurring, that make a movie make sense, even when it is totally improbable. You can rely on them. They ground the action. And so the last time when Sefton lights his match off of Duke, he reaches out – and does it against Duke’s cheek – hahahaha – and just the dead pan way Holden does it, and you feel like you SHOULD have seen it coming a mile away, but it still has a beautiful and inevitable surprise about it (Wilder/Lubitsch in a nutshell) … the audience roared with laughter. I guess I had missed that “bit” the last couple of times I saw the film. I hadn’t remembered it. So this go-around, watching it on the big-screen, the lighting-the-match bit was my favorite part.

— The guy who plays Colonel Schulz – the bumbling laughing IDIOT in charge of their barracks – who wants to be the prisoners’ best friend, and yet who is also filled with treachery – is the wonderful actor who plays Dutchie in Only Angels Have Wings– I just located him tonight. I knew that voice was familiar but tonight I put it together. Marvelous character actor. – Sig Ruman Made a great living. He’s hilarious in Stalag 17, and yet somehow is also totally malevolent. The film walks that line – and it’s a difficult line. I know Wilder had great trouble with the studio, bringing this film to fruition … what’s funny or entertaining about prisoners of war, up to their necks in mud? What is funny about Schulz? Without being a total caricature, Sig Ruman manages to be a total boob, and also a worthy enemy. That is NOT easy.

— The dude who does imitations of actors struck me as SO MUCH MORE FUNNY on the big screen than he does on the small. I was HOWLING about it. Kerry and I were dying at the random Cagney and Gable imitations … such goofy delicious humor … and that guy was hilarious.

— But all praise to William Holden, the cynical anti-hero of the ages. The guy who would never dare be caught doing anything for the good of anything else. Like he says to the other barracks guys, “This isn’t the Salvation Army. This is every man for himself.” He’s even more magnificent on the big screen. And also: more funny.