Editing Billy Wilder (section)

=== 1940s ===
[[File:Double-Indemnity-LIFE-1944-2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Fred MacMurray]] and [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''Double Indemnity'']]
Wilder continued his screenwriting career with a series of box office hits in the early 1940s, including the romantic drama ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]'' and the screwball comedy ''[[Ball of Fire]]''. Both films earned him nominations for the 1941 Academy Awards in the categories of [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]] and [[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]] respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942 |title=The 14th Academy Awards |date=October 3, 2014 |access-date=December 31, 2024 |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> Wilder made his Hollywood directorial debut in 1942 with ''[[The Major and the Minor]]'', a comedy starring [[Ginger Rogers]] and [[Ray Milland]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE1DE1339E33BBC4F52DFBF668389659EDE |title=The Screen; ' The Major and the Minor,' a Charming Comedy-Romance, With Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland, at the Paramount |work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 17, 1942 |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425122545/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0DE1DE1339E33BBC4F52DFBF668389659EDE |archive-date=April 25, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

His third Hollywood film as director, the [[film noir]] ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' (1944), starring [[Fred MacMurray]], [[Barbara Stanwyck]] and [[Edward G. Robinson]], was a major hit. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Actress; Wilder co-wrote it with [[Raymond Chandler]]. The film not only set conventions for the noir genre (such as "venetian blind" lighting and voice-over narration), but is a landmark in the battle against Hollywood censorship. Based on [[James M. Cain]]'s novel, it featured two love triangles and a murder plotted for insurance money. While the book was popular with the reading public, it had been considered unfilmable under the [[Hays Code]] because adultery was central to the plot.

In 1945, the [[Psychological Warfare Department]] of the United States Department of War produced an American documentary film directed by Wilder. The film known as ''[[Death Mills]]'', or [[:de:Die Todesmühlen|''Die Todesmühlen'']], was intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. For the German version, ''Die Todesmühlen'', [[Hanuš Burger]] is credited as the writer and director, while Wilder supervised the editing. Wilder is credited with the English-language version.

Two years later, Wilder adapted from [[Charles R. Jackson]]'s novel [[The Lost Weekend (novel)|''The Lost Weekend'']] into [[The Lost Weekend (film)|a film of the same name]]. It was the first major American film with a serious examination of alcoholism, another difficult theme under the [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]]. It follows an alcoholic writer ([[Ray Milland]]) opposing the protestations of his girlfriend ([[Jane Wyman]]). The film earned critical acclaim after it premiered at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] and competed in the main competition, where it received the Festival's top prize, the [[Palme d'Or]], and four Academy Awards including for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]. Wilder earned the Oscars for [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay]] and Milland won [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]. The film is one of four to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d' Or, alongside ''[[Marty (film)|Marty]]'', ''[[Parasite (2019 film)|Parasite]]'' and ''[[Anora]]''.