Second Takes -- Billy Wilder

July 5, 1953: The ads for "Stalag 17" emphasized that it was a comedy.

July 3, 1951: Rumors surface that Wilder will direct "Stalag 17," less than a month after the disastrous opening of "Ace in the Hole."  "Stalag 17" opens almost precisely two years later.

Oct. 11, 1951: Hedda Hopper, who panned "Ace in the Hole," reports that Wilder will make a film of the hit Broadway play "Stalag 17" with Charlton Heston.

Oct. 14, 1951: A plot summary of "Stalag 17" emphasizing that it's a comedy. Local audiences wouldn't necessarily be familiar with the play, which didn't premiere in Los Angeles until June 1952.

Oct. 24, 1951: Casting continues for "Stalag 17." For some reason,  Hopper ardently used her column to plug Cy Howard, who left the  film after two weeks of shooting.

Dec. 4, 1951: Cast change. William Holden will co-star with Heston.

Dec. 19, 1951: Casting continues.

Jan. 5, 1952: Otto Preminger joins the cast.

Jan. 15, 1952: Now Holden is the lead in the film.

Jan. 24, 1952: "Stalag" playwright Edmund Trzcinski joins the cast ... and another plug for Cy Howard.

Jan. 31, 1952: Peter Graves joins the cast in the critical role of Price.

Feb. 9, 1952: Holden's brother Richard Beedle gets a small role.

Feb. 13, 1952: The stage version of "Stalag 17" has an all-male cast, but this blurb makes it sound like Paramount is writing women in the film. According to imdb, "Stalag 17" is Audrey Strauss' only film role.

Feb. 15, 1952: Another role is cast. Feb. 16, 1952: Cy Howard drops out of the picture and gets a lengthy blurb from Hedda Hopper. In fact, Hopper has given more space to Howard than she has to Holden! July 16, 1953: "Stalag 17" opens in Los Angeles after a premiere in Beverly Hills. Perhaps in response to the disaster of "Ace in the Hole," the ad campaign spins the movie as a comedy. "One of the funniest films of the year" ... "best of the war comedy pictures" ... "finest comedy drama out of Hollywood this year." Philip K. Scheuer's review says: "Billy Wilder, one of the most caustic-minded of Hollywood's writer-director-producers, has taken a stage hit by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski and preserved its essential humor and tragedy with no dulling of its corrosive edges, though he has cleaned it up in both language and situations."