Country: USA
Year: 1959
Duration: 121'
Chicago, 1929. Joe (Tony Curtis), a saxophonist, and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), a double bassist – two penniless, unemployed jazz musicians – witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. To save their own skins, they disguise themselves as women and, under the names Josephine and Daphne, set off for Florida with an all-female orchestra. The problem is that Joe falls in love with the stunning singer Sugar “Kane” Kowalczyk, (Marilyn, of course), and once they arrive at the beach, Jerry finds himself the object of a scoundrel billionaire’s interest. As if that weren’t enough, the annual convention of American criminals is being held right in the hotel where they’re staying… One of the greatest comedies in the history of cinema, which, by drawing on gags and situations from old-school comedies (disguises, escapes, misunderstandings), updates their subversive energy and universal appeal.
Biography
film director
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder (Sucha Beskidzka, Poland, 1906 - Los Angeles, USA, 2002) abandoned his university studies and worked as a journalist. At the end of the 1920s, he began to write screenplays with Siodmak and Ulmer. With Hitler’s rise to power, he was forced to move to the USA, where he started working for Paramount. He inherited Lubitsch’s ability to use comedy to strike at the heart of the American dream. Throughout his long career, alongside celebrated comedies such as The Major and the Minor (1942), and above all The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1960), in which he worked with Marilyn Monroe, he also explored film noir with Double Indemnity (1944), melodrama with The Lost Weekend (1945), and social cinema with Ace in the Hole (1951). In 1950, he directed Sunset Boulevard, which won three Academy Awards, and in 1960 he won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for The Apartment. Regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, he remained capable of making outstanding films late in his career, including the masterpiece Fedora (1978).
FILMOGRAFIA
Mauvaise Graine (Amore che redime, in co-regia con Alexander Esway, 1934), The Major and the Minor (Frutto proibito, 1942), Five Graves to Cairo (I cinque segreti del deserto, 1943), Double Indemnity (La fiamma del peccato, 1944), Death Mills (cm, I mulini della morte, 1945), The Lost Weekend (Giorni perduti, 1945), The Emperor Waltz (Il valzer dell’imperatore, 1948), A Foreign Affair (Scandalo internazionale, 1948), Sunset Boulevard (Viale del tramonto, 1950), Ace in the Hole (L’asso nella manica, 1951), Stalag 17 (Stalag 17 - L’inferno dei vivi, 1953), Sabrina (id., 1954), The Seven Year Itch (Quando la moglie è in vacanza, 1955), The Spirit of St. Louis (L’aquila solitaria, 1957), Love in the Afternoon (Arianna, 1957), Witness for the Prosecution (Testimone d’accusa, 1957), Some Like It Hot (A qualcuno piace caldo, 1959), The Apartment (L’appartamento, 1960), One, Two, Three (Uno, due, tre!, 1961), Irma la Douce (Irma la dolce, 1963), Kiss Me, Stupid (Baciami, stupido, 1964), The Fortune Cookie (Non per soldi... ma per denaro, 1966), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Vita privata di Sherlock Holmes, 1970), Avanti! (Che cosa è successo tra mio padre e tua madre?, 1972), The Front Page (Prima pagina, 1974), Fedora (id., 1978), Buddy Buddy (id., 1981).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Billy Wilder. STORY: Michael Logan, Robert Thoeren. SCREENPLAY: I. A. L. Diamond, Billy Wilder. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Charles Lang. EDITING: Arthur P. Schmidt. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Ted Haworth, Edward G. Boyle. COSTUMES: Orry-Kelly. MUSIC: Adolph Deutsch. SPECIAL EFFECTS: Milt Rice. MAKE-UP: Emile LaVigne. CAST: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Nehemiah Persoff, Joan Shawlee, Billy Gray, George E. Stone, Dave Barry. PRODUCTION: Billy Wilder for United Artists, The Mirisch Company. DISTRIBUTION: Dear Film. CONTACT: Park Circus www.parkcircus.com
