Extremely rare TLS signed “Charlie,” one page, 8.25 x 11, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures letterhead, May 10, 1944. Letter to Billy Wilder. In part: “Since I came to Hollywood, I’ve become awful picture conscious. By which I mean that I’m unable to see a picture now (and I’ve seen one almost everyday since I arrived) without being conscious of the mechanics behind it. Double Indemnity is the first that has carried me away, making me forget camera, actors, lights, techniques, writers, yes, even the director himself. I completely believed it, which is all one can ask of any art, ever…I’m so impressed by so many things about it—and encouraged for the entire industry. The whole picture has a great integrity…the whole wonderful cheap atmosphere and background of the story, so commonplace as to be almost poetic (like the great American cheapness of von Stroheim’s Greed)…Often I was reminded—right in my breast—of the intimate quarrel scenes in Macbeth: the ambitious ruthless woman, the pitiable weak likable and highly imaginative man, caught together. Damn it, this is difficult to write about, simply because I felt it all so keenly, and talked and thought about it for hours afterward. I’m filled with admiration for the job you’ve all done (Paramount should be very proud of you).” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, and a few staple holes to top left corner. Paramount acquired the rights to adapt The Lost Weekend into a film version for a tidy sum of $35,000. Wilder would win the Academy Award for Best Director, with the film garnering three other Oscars. A letter of glowing praise from Jackson shortly before Wilder sets his sights on The Lost Weekend, Jackson’s well-reviewed best selling novel. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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