Ace in the Hole ***** (1951, Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall) – Classic Movie Review 1861

Co-writer/director Billy Wilder delivers one of his scintillating classic film noir thrillers in 1951. Kirk Douglas stars in one of his most unforgettable roles as the archetypal all-time ruthless reporter Chuck Tatum.

Tatum is a bitter, frustrated, down-on-his-luck former big-city reporter who now finds himself demoted in the world and stuck taking a job working for a lowly, small New Mexico newspaper in Albuquerque. He sees a way to re-boot his career by exploiting the story of a man (Richard Benedict) he finds trapped underground in a cave in an old Indian dwelling. 

He’s so desperate to get his great story that he deliberately holds up the rescue so that it will run and run as a nail-biting saga that makes careers and sells newspapers. Clever though he is, what he didn’t foresee is that the situation he’s overheated becomes a media circus that quickly escalates out of control.

Ace in the Hole is a searing, still timely and current assault on gutter journalism and the excesses of the tabloid press by Wilder at his most ebulliently punchy and cynical. It’s led by the charismatic performances from Douglas, stretching his acting muscles on his finest form and Porter Hall, outstanding in support as his newspaper’s editor, Jacob Q. Boot.

The movie got bad reviews and lost money. It was a rare case of a Wilder box-office failure at the time since contemporary audiences rejected its serious nature and the bitter taste it puts in viewers’ mouths. But it has long since established its reputation as a classic and hopefully today we know better than to reject it because it’s serious minded and recognise its quality. Wilder’s next film Stalag 17 (1953) was a hit and the studio told him they’d take the money Ace in the Hole lost from Stalag 17’s profits before paying him.

The female lead is Jan Sterling (as Lorraine Minosa). She won a Golden Globe and was Oscar nominated for The High and the Mighty (1954), which starred John Wayne. Also in the cast are Bob (Robert) Arthur (as Herbie Cook), Ray Teal (as Sheriff Gus Kretzer), Frank Cady (as Al Federber), Gene Evans, Richard Gaines, Geraldine Hall, Harry Harvey, Frances Dominguez, John Berks and Lewis Martin.

Ray Teal as the Sheriff. which he also played in TV’s Bonanza.

Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman worked on the adroit Oscar-nominated screenplay with Wilder. Charles B Lang Jnr’s black and white cinematography is appropriately tabloid nourish.

The witty title was obviously thought too clever for British audiences and it was known, lamely, as The Big Carnival in the UK, as well as in America where the studio vainly tried to boost box office by changing the title.

Kirk Douglas (aka Issur Danielovitch Demsky) is 98 on December 9 2014.

Actor Victor Desny sued the makers of the film, claiming it was an unauthorised version of the story of Floyd Collins, who was stuck in a cave years earlier. Desny owned the rights and claimed copyright infringement. Desny won, Wilder appealed, but the California Supreme Court ruled in Desny’s favour. So we can say that Ace in the Hole is based on a true story, even if the film-makers didn’t.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1861

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Frank Cady (as Al Federber) was general store owner Sam Drucker in both Green Acres (1965) and Petticoat Junction (1963). He died on June 8 2012, aged 96.