In this critical study, Joseph McBride offers new ways to understand Wilder's work, stretching from his days as a reporter and screenwriter in Europe to his distinguished as well as forgotten films as a Hollywood writer and his celebrated work as a writer-director.

The Phantoms of the Past
1. Ausländisch
2. "A Keen Observer"
3. "Film, That's No Profession for Adults"
"Write Some Good Ones"
4. "I Was Not in the Right Country"
5. Brackettandwilder . . . and Lubitsch
"Isn't It Romantic?"
6. Dancing on the Edge
7. "Not a Funnyman but a Moralist"
8. "I Am No Longer Afraid"
9. "Tap-Dancing on the Grave of Hollywood"
Filmography
Notes on Sources
Acknowledgments and Influences
Index

Joseph McBride is a film historian and professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. His many books include the critical study How Did Lubitsch Do It? (Columbia, 2018) as well as acclaimed biographies of Frank Capra, John Ford, and Steven Spielberg and three books on Orson Welles.