Comedy, Romance, Cross-Dressing, and Mafia in Miami

One of the my favorite romantic comedies about music, love, cross-dressing, and the mafia definitely has to be Billy Wilder's 1959 film Some Like It Hot. With the stellar cast of Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe, it is easy to see why this steamy film is on top of so many film lists and continues to delight and entertain nearly fifty years after it was made.

After being witness to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, saxophonist Joe (Curtis) and bass violin player Jerry (Lemmon) try to hide from the mob by disguising themselves as Josephine and Daphne and joining an all-girl band headed by vocalist and ukulele player Sugar Kane (Monroe) headed for a rich resort in Miami filled with millionaires. Joe falls in love with Sugar and pretends to be a rich millionaire (when he's not in drag as Josephine). Meanwhile "Daphne" is being chased around by real millionaire Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown), who's yacht Joe conveniently uses to keep up his charade with Sugar. When the mob comes for a convention in Miami to deal with the two missing witnesses from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, a whole new dimension of comedy ensues.

For a more detailed synopsis and review, you can click here, thanks to filmsite.org. Legendary costume designer Orry-Kelly designed the dresses worn not only by Monroe but also by Curtis and Lemmon when they were dressed up as their female alter-egos. The cast in this film is not the original cast Wilder and the studio intended at all. Danny Kaye and Bob Hope were considered for the roles that went to Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Mitizi Gaynor was wanted for Monroe's role of Sugar Kane and director Billy Wilder originally wanted Frank Sinatra as Jerry/Daphne. Of course, the roles being assigned as they were have made the film that much more memorable.

In fact, this film is #81 on IMDB's list of 250 Greatest Movies, made Time's list of 100 Greatest Movies, and AFI voted it #14 on its list of top movies and #1 on it's list of top comedies. Premiere Magazine also voted it as the #1 comedy on its list of 50 Greatest Comedies of All time and Entertainment Weekly voted it 9th on its list of Greatest Comedies of All Time. For more info and reviews on the film, you can check out this article at Frank's Movie Log. For a more in depth look at the filmography, you can check out this site, thanks to film.u-net.com. Screensavour.net has this site, which focuses on both the history and the humor of the film. Finally, a brief overview can be found here, thanks to 1001flicks blogspot. As a special treat, here is the original trailer for the film:

Murder Trials Agatha Christie Style

With an all-star cast, based on a play written by legendary Queen of Crime Agatha Christie, and directed by the famed Billy Wilder, the 1957 film Witness for the Prosecution is a film you know is going to be good before you even watch scene one. This is a film so filled with suspense, drama, and surprise after surprise that it even tells you at the film not to spoil the ending for others. Even the Royal Family was sworn to secrecy not to reveal the plot after being screened the film.

After being kicked out of the hospital for bad behavior, barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) returns to London after suffering a heart attack, pestering, badgering nurse Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester) in tow. A fellow lawyer convinces the ailing Sir Wilfrid to take on the case of Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power), a hapless inventor who is accused of murdering wealthy widow Emily French (Norma Varden), who he befriended and may have sent mixed signals to. After French was brutally murdered, it was revealed that she left the majority of her money to Vole, making him look even more suspicious. Vole hopes that his wife Christine (Marlene Dietrich), a German immigrant who he met and married during WWII will help him out of his jam and places all of the hope he has on evading the charges on her. Sir Wilfrid doesn't trust Christine or her testimony. The trial begins and everything you think you knew about the case goes out the window as one shock after another are revealed, leading to a resolution that will have you on the edge of your seat.

It is often mistakenly assumed that Alfred Hitchcock directed the film, since it seems to be just the right plot for the Master of Supsense. Hitch commented on this mix-up, saying that Billy Wilder was often given credit for Hitch's film The Paradine Case. The on-screen camaraderie between Laughton and Lancaster was easy for them to create because they were husband and wife. This was Tyrone Powers' last feature film as he died of a heart attack the following year. Una O'Connor is the only cast member from the original Broadway play to reprise her role in the film. She played Janet McKenzie and also had starred in Bride of Frankenstein with Elsa Lancaster. This was O'Connor's last film as well.

You can watch the film yourself as it is divided into segments on YouTube and can be found here. Afterward, there are some reviews you can check out of the film. I wouldn't do so before because some of them give away spoilers. This review comes from crazy4cinema.com and is a good, brief review. Another review comes from classic film at about.com and is a good overview of the film. The review from apolloguide.com focuses a lot on the directorial side of the film, whereas this review from Marquette University of Law comes at the film from a legal aspect. Finally, this all encompassing review comes from allwatchers.com. So, have fun with all of the twists and turns in this rollercoaster ride of a film.

Here's to New Years

I apologize for the hiatus over the past month, but everyone knows that the beginning of the year always gets a little hectic. I would like to start out this year of blogging with a film about New Years, resolutions, and new beginnings. Part black comedy, part drama, part romantic comedy, Billy Wilder's 1960 film The Apartment has it all. It includes slick corporate businessmen in the Madison Avenue heydays, honest guys working their way up through not so honest means, adultery, divorce, deception, rowdy holiday parties, love triangles, the beautiful backdrop of New York City in the winter, and the quest to find true love.

The film stars Jack Lemmon, who would later be working under Wilder again in the steamy Marilyn Monroe film Some Like It Hot and female rat-packer Shirley MacLaine. Lemmon is C.C. Baxter, an honest guy who can't get ahead in corporate America no matter how hard or good he works. Baxter finds himself loaning out his apartment to the major company players (pun intended) who use his apartment as a place to take their mistresses so the wives don't find out. Baxter finds himself being chased out of his apartment at all hours of the night, sleeping on park benches, and catching colds while the high-powered bosses have their fun, messing up his apartment, drinking all his booze, and giving him a bad playboy reputation with all of his nice neighbors. Baxter almost decides to quit entirely when he is given a promotion, on the basis that he loans his apartment out to and only out to big boss Jeff Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) so Sheldrake can have his affair unbeknown to his wife and two kids.

Baxter realizes that Sheldrake's mistress is none other than elevator girl Fran Kubelik (MacLaine), who Baxter has been crushing on for quite some time. In a parallel plot, Fran wants Sheldrake to leave his family and marry her, though he said their relationship was only a summer fling. He rekindles the romance until Christmastime, when Fran hears at the part about all the past women Sheldrake has made a similar promise to. She tries to commit suicide and C.C. Baxter comes home in time to save her with the help of Dr. and Mrs. Dreyfuss (Jack Kruschen and Naomi Stevens). Fran slowly starts to realize that C.C. Baxter might be the good guy she was always looking for while Baxter starts to think there is no such thing as a good woman. The entire film is centered around the holidays with Fran's suicide at Christmas. The last part of the movie has a great climax on New Years Eve and keeps you guessing if Sheldrake ever gets caught and if C.C. and Fran end up together.

For more information on the film, you can access the reviews, synopsis, and various information provided here, thanks to Filmsite.org. To read the entire script, if you would like to for whatever reason, you can do so here, thanks to DailyScript.com, which provides tons of movie scripts for free. Shirley MacLaine also did and interview/article about what it was like filming and working on The Apartment, which can be read here at the Cinebeats blog.

The film also has tons of acclaim. Premiere Magazine voted it as one of the 50 greatest comedies of all time and it made #80 on AFI's list of Greatest Films of All Time. Total Film ranked Jack Lemmon's performance as C.C. Baxter as #12 in its list of Greatest Performances of All Time. Oscar-wise, the film won for Best Picture, Art Direction, Editing, Best Director, and Original Screenplay. Jack Lemmon was nominated for Best Actor, Shirley MacLaine for Best Actress, Jack Kruschen for Supporting Actor, as well as Cinematography and Sound. The Apartment was also the last black and white film to win an Academy Award for best picture until Spielberg's Schindler's List .

The critics aren't the only ones who adore this movie; it's a big hit with film fans both old and new. The blog Twenty-Four Frames does a great review, critique, and synopsis of the film which can be read here. Another great review can be read here at the Tea at Trianon blogspot. Another positive review can be read here at The Distracted Globe. However, the Film Jock offers a contradictory view on the movie, which I could encourage you to read here and then think about while or after watching the film. As always, I encourage you to watch the film for yourself before letting critics help you make up your mind.