Ace in the Hole, also known as The Big Carnival, is a 1951 American satirical drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Billy Wilder. The film stars Kirk Douglas as a cynical, disgraced reporter who creates a media circus surrounding a man trapped in a cave in rural New Mexico to try to regain a job on a major newspaper. The film co-stars Jan Sterling and features Robert Arthur and Porter Hall.

The film marked a series of firsts for Wilder: it was the first time he was involved in a project as a writer, producer, and director; his first film after parting ways with his long-time writing partner Charles Brackett; and his first film to be a critical and commercial failure, though it has since been reappraised as one of his major works.

Without consulting Wilder, Paramount Pictures executive Y. Frank Freeman changed the title to The Big Carnival just prior to its release. Early television broadcasts retained that title, but when aired by Turner Classic Movies – and when released on DVD by The Criterion Collection in July 2007 – it reverted to Ace in the Hole.

In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film is sometimes referred to as a film noir, though author Eddie Muller disputes this. More than 1,000 extras and 400 cars were utilized in the crowd scenes. After the film was completed, Paramount charged admission to the set.

Frank Cady's character identifies himself as a salesman for Pacific All-Risk Insurance, a fictitious company featured in Wilder's 1944 film Double Indemnity.

Soundtrack

Jay Livingston and Ray Evans wrote the song "We're Coming, Leo" performed by a vocalist and band at the carnival.

Reception

thumb|upright=1.2|Alternate poster with the title The Big Carnival

Contemporary

Contemporary critics found little to admire. In his review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther called it "a masterly film", but added: "Mr. Wilder has let imagination so fully take command of his yarn that it presents not only a distortion of journalistic practice but something of a dramatic grotesque... [it] is badly weakened by a poorly constructed plot, which depends for its strength upon assumptions that are not only naïve but absurd. There isn't any denying that there are vicious newspaper men and that one might conceivably take advantage of a disaster for his own private gain. But to reckon that one could so tie up and maneuver a story of any size, while other reporters chew their fingers, is simply incredible".

The Hollywood Reporter called it "ruthless and cynical... a distorted study of corruption and mob psychology that... is nothing more than a brazen, uncalled-for slap in the face of two respected and frequently effective American institutions – democratic government and the free press". Variety was more positive, noting that "the performances are fine. Douglas enacts the heel reporter ably, giving it color to balance its unsympathetic character. Jan Sterling also is good in a role that has no softening touches, and Benedict's victim portrayal is first-rate. Billy Wilder's direction captures the feel of morbid expectancy that always comes out in the curious that flock to scenes of tragedy".

Film critic Manny Farber in The Nation, July 14, 1951, wrote:

Retrospective

The film later found respect among critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote in 2007: "Although the film is 56 years old, I found while watching it again that it still has all its power. It hasn't aged because Wilder and his co-writers, Walter Newman and Lesser Samuels, were so lean and mean [with their dialogue]... [Kirk Douglas'] focus and energy... is almost scary. There is nothing dated about [his] performance. It's as right-now as a sharpened knife".

Dave Kehr in the Chicago Reader called it "cold, lurid, and fascinating". Nathan Lee of The Village Voice wrote: "Here is, half a century out of the past, a movie so acidly au courant it stings".

Time Out wrote: "As a diatribe against all that is worst in human nature, it has moments dipped in pure vitriol". TV Guide called it "a searing example of writer-director Billy Wilder at his most brilliantly misanthropic" and "an uncompromising portrait of human nature at its worst", concluding that it was "one of the great American films of the 1950s".

Ed Gonzalez of Slant wrote that the film "allowed Wilder to question the very nature of human interest stories and the twisted relationship between the American media and its public. More than 50 years after the film's release, when magazines compete to come up with the cattiest buzz terms and giddily celebrate the demise of celebrity relationships for buffo bucks, Ace in the Hole feels more relevant than ever".

The film was included in Roger Ebert's list of "The Great Movies" in 2007. In 2008, Empire ranked it at number 385 in its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. In 2015, the film ranked last on BBC's "100 Greatest American Films" list.

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Genre

In his Slate review, Jack Shafer wrote in 2007: "If film noir illustrates the crackup of the American dream... Ace in the Hole is an exemplar of the form".

Awards and nominations

Wins

  • National Board of Review Award: Best Actress – Jan Sterling; 1951.
  • Venice Film Festival: International Award for Best Director – Billy Wilder; 1951.
  • Venice Film Festival: Best Music – Hugo Friedhofer; 1951.

Nomination

  • Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay – Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman; 1952.
  • Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion – Billy Wilder; 1951.

Legacy

The 1992 The Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" largely parallels the storyline of Ace in the Hole, with Bart Simpson convincing the public that a boy named "Timmy O'Toole" had fallen into a well, prompting news coverage and charity campaigns. Writer Jon Vitti noted that series creator Matt Groening "came in out of nowhere and just gave me, start to finish, the whole story."

See also

  • Media circus

References

Sources

  • Farber, Manny. 2009. Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. Edited by Robert Polito. Library of America.

Further reading

  • Freely accessible essay by Richard Armstrong, who published a biography of Wilder in 2000.
  • Maddin is a filmmaker; publication of this essay accompanied the 2007 DVD release of Ace in the Hole by The Criterion Collection.
  • Ace in the Hole: Noir in Broad Daylight an essay by Molly Haskell at the Criterion Collection