Billy Wilder SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), 121 Min
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December 5, 2017 (XXXV:15) Billy Wilder SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), 121 min. National Film Registry, 1989 Academy Awards, USA 1960 Won Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, Orry-Kelly Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role, Jack Lemmon Best Director, Billy Wilder Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Charles Lang Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Ted Haworth & Edward G. Boyle Directed by Billy Wilder Written by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond (screenplay), Robert Thoeren & Michael Logan (story by) Produced by I.A.L. Diamond, Doane Harrison, Billy Wilder Music Adolph Deutsch Cinematography Charles Lang Film Editing Arthur P. Schmidt Art Direction Ted Haworth Cast Marilyn Monroe…Sugar Kane Kowalczyk Tony Curtis…Joe / Josephine / Shell Oil Junior Jack Lemmon…Jerry / Daphne George Raft…Spats Colombo Pat O’Brien…Detective Mulligan Joe E. Brown…Osgood Fielding III Nehemiah Persoff…Little Bonaparte Mike Mazurki…Spats’ Henchman Joan Shawlee…Sweet Sue Harry Wilson…Spats’ Henchman Billy Gray…Sig Poliakoff Beverly Wills…Dolores George E. Stone…Toothpick Charlie Barbara Drew…Nellie Dave Barry…Beinstock Edward G. Robinson Jr….Johnny Paradise Wilder—SOME LIKE IT HOT—2 Billy Wilder (b. June 22, 1906 in Sucha, Galicia, Austria- he worked. On the other hand, many of the partners complained Hungary [now Sucha Beskidzka, Malopolskie, Poland]—d. that if he heard an idea he did not like, he could be cruel and March 27, 2002, age 95, in West Los Angeles, CA) is one of insulting. Many writers quit on him because they could not take Hollywood’s most versatile writer-directors known for his his abuse. The seed that bloomed into Some Like It Hot was slashing wit and stinging social satire. Almost no other major planted by an obscure 1951 German film, Fanfaren der Liebe filmmaker slipped so easily into so many genres. As a youth he (Fanfares of Love), which was a remake of an older French was obsessed with everything comedy, Fanfares d’Amour (1935). Both American. He passed the entrance pictures are episodic, focusing on a pair of exam for the University of desperate male characters doing what they Vienna, but, disappointing his can to earn a buck. One of those schemes parents, he refused to go. Wilder involves dressing like women and became a journalist, which performing in an all-female band. Wilder although poorly paid, gave him a and Diamond both liked that particular great interviewing experience with device—and not much else. “The humor in such subjects as Richard Strauss the German movie was rather heavy-handed and Sigmund Freud. In 1926 he and Teutonic,” Diamond said. “There was a worked as an interpreter for jazz lot of shaving of chests and trying on wigs.” band leader Paul Whiteman on a Wilder officially retired in 1981, though for European tour which ended in a decade after he was known for itching to Berlin. He remained in the city want to return. He showed particular becoming a freelance journalist interest in directing Schindler’s List (1993), and becoming friendly with saying it would have become his most Marlene Dietrich, then a small personal film. He collaborated closely with part actress. A fast and prolific Steven Spielberg on the script and was one writer, Wilder ingratiated himself in the growing German film of several directors considered to direct it (Roman Polanski and industry as a ghost scriptwriter for established writers who didn't Martin Scorsese both turned down the project). Wilder was also have time to meet their contractual obligations. Wilder continued famous for the modern-art collection which he put together over to write scripts for German films until Adolf Hitler came to his lifetime (he sold only a portion of it in 1989 for $32.6 power in 1933. Immediately realizing his Jewish ancestry would million). cause problems, he emigrated to Paris, then the US. Although he spoke no English when he arrived in Hollywood, Wilder was a Charles Lang (b. March 27, 1902 in Bluff, Utah—d. April 3, fast learner, and thanks to contacts such as Peter Lorre (with 1998, age 96, in Santa Monica, CA) moved to Los Angeles with whom he shared an apartment), he was able to break into his family when he was 3, attended Lincoln High School and American films. His partnership with Charles Brackett started in began pre-law studies at USC. Forced to drop out of college due 1938 and the team was responsible for writing some of to the illness of his father, Lang began working in an East Los Hollywood’s classic comedies, including Ninotchka (1939) and Angeles film laboratory. He was quickly promoted and soon was Ball of Fire (1941). The partnership expanded into a producer- working for director Cecil B. DeMille’s brother, William. Lang director one in 1942, with Brackett producing, and the two turned went with DeMille to Paramount and stayed for more than two out such classics as Five Graves to Cairo (1943), The Lost decades, and is credited with giving the studio’s films their Weekend (1945), which won Oscars for Best Picture, Director softer, romanticized look in the 1930s and 1940s. Lang excelled and Screenplay, and Sunset Boulevard (1950) which won an in the use of chiaroscuro, light and shade, and was adept at Oscars for Best Screenplay. After this final film the partnership creating the mood for every genre and style, from the somber dissolved. [Wilder had already made one film, Double Indemnity Peter Ibbetson (1935) to the glamour of Desire (1936) and the (1944) without Brackett, as the latter had refused to work on a Parisian Chic of Midnight (1939). Lang was an innovator in the film he felt dealt with such disreputable characters.] Wilder then use of long tracking shots; Lang's cinematography of The worked with I.A.L. Diamond. Brackett, an older man who Magnificent Seven in 1960 with Yul Brynner and Steve frequently provided a strong argumentative counterpoint in the McQueen became the prototype for wide-screen westerns to writing room in contrast to Diamond, who possessed a cynical, come. He was also liked by many female stars, such as Helen humorous world view more in line with Wilder’s. As for Hayes and Marlene Dietrich (and, later, Audrey Hepburn) direction, Wilder’s idol and mentor was German director Ernst because of his uncanny ability to photograph them to their best Lubitsch. Wilder always kept a sign hanging in his office that advantage, often using subdued lighting and diffusion asked, "How would Lubitsch do it?" The look of the film was techniques. Though nominated eighteen times—more than any less important than the language for Wilder. Friends also say he other cinematographer—for Academy Awards, he won just once, was as witty in person as he was on paper. Because of his for A Farewell to Arms (1932). He is the youngest nominee for rounded face and non-stop elfin energy, people often pictured the Academy Award for Best Cinematography at age 28, as well him as short and wiry, but he was in fact near 6 feet tall (taller as the youngest winner at age 30. Among his many outstanding than his favorite star, Jack Lemmon). As a writer, he had odd films of the ‘30s and ‘40s, are the lavishly photographed Bob habits. On the one hand, he hated writing alone, so he almost Hope comedy/thriller The Cat and the Canary (1939) and the always used a partner, someone to be in the room with him while romantic, atmospheric The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947). Lang's Wilder—SOME LIKE IT HOT—3 work with chiaroscuro lighting adapted itself perfectly to the L. Mankiewicz saw her in a small part in The Asphalt Jungle expressionist neo-realism of films noir in the 1950's, most (1950) and put her in All About Eve (1950). She then saw bigger noteworthy examples being Ace in the Hole (1951) and The Big roles in Niagara (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Heat (1953). He was at his best working with the directors Billy which launched her as a sex symbol superstar. Monroe was now Wilder and Fritz Lang. The success of films like Sabrina (1954), a genuine box-office drawing card. Later, she appeared with Separate Tables (1958) and Some Like It Hot (1959) –all Oscar Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall in How to Marry a Millionaire nominees for Lang's cinematography—owed much to his (1953). That same year, Monroe wed famed baseball player Joe excellent camera work. Though he preferred the medium of black DiMaggio and starred in There's No Business Like Show & white, he became equally proficient in the use of color Business (1954). This was quickly followed with Wilder’s The photography on expansive, richly-textured and sweeping outdoor Seven Year Itch (1955), showcasing her considerable comedic westerns like The Magnificent Seven (1960) and How the West talent. While at the top of her celebrity popularity, rumors began Was Won (1962), as well as romantic thrillers like Charade to circulate that Monroe was difficult to work with. In 1955, Fox (1963) and How to Steal a Million (1966). He also earned the suspended her for not reporting for work on How to Be Very, American Society of Cinematographers' Lifetime Achievement Very Popular (1955). Due to her habit of being continually late Award in 1991. Outside of the lens, Lang was known as one of to the set, her illnesses (whether real or imagined) and generally the ‘best-dressed men’ in the industry.