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Marilyn Monroe had one of the biggest hits of her career with The Seven Year Itch, a delicious 1955 comic fantasy directed by Billy Wilder and written by Wilder and George Axelrod, which contains one scene that cemented Marilyn's position as a Hollywood icon forever.
The film stars Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman, an average guy in a dead end job in 1950's Manhattan, who is looking forward to his wife and son leaving town for the summer so that he can eat and drink what he wants and live the life of a carefree bachelor for a couple of months. Richard's plans change when a beautiful blonde (guess who) sublets the apartment directly above his and he keeps accidentally running into her, prompting Sherman's imagination to run wild as he imagines a passionate affair with the woman.
This comedy classic entertains from beginning to end and not just because of Monroe's sparkling presence, but because of an on-target performance from Ewell, who completely invests in this humorous and slightly pathetic character without ever letting Monroe blow him off the screen.
As for the bombshell herself, Monroe has rarely been more appealing onscreen and once again reveals her gift for light comedy, thanks, in part, to Wilder and Axelrod's screenplay, which establishes comic credentials so strong that Monroe's character doesn't even have a name...she doesn't need one. And, of course, this is the film that contains the scene where Marilyn walks over a subway grating in a certain white dress and created cinematic history (and was probably the beginning of the end of Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio).
Evelyn Keyes is charming as Richard's wife and Robert Strauss has some funny moments as the building handyman, but it is Wilder's sure-footed direction, Ewell's comic timing, and the magic that was Marilyn that made this one work. Despite this film being one of Monroe's biggest hits, she was still deeply unhappy with the direction of her career at this time and this was when she suddenly left Hollywood and moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio. 8/10
Marilyn Monroe had one of the biggest hits of her career with The Seven Year Itch, a delicious 1955 comic fantasy directed by Billy Wilder and written by Wilder and George Axelrod, which contains one scene that cemented Marilyn's position as a Hollywood icon forever.
The film stars Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman, an average guy in a dead end job in 1950's Manhattan, who is looking forward to his wife and son leaving town for the summer so that he can eat and drink what he wants and live the life of a carefree bachelor for a couple of months. Richard's plans change when a beautiful blonde (guess who) sublets the apartment directly above his and he keeps accidentally running into her, prompting Sherman's imagination to run wild as he imagines a passionate affair with the woman.
This comedy classic entertains from beginning to end and not just because of Monroe's sparkling presence, but because of an on-target performance from Ewell, who completely invests in this humorous and slightly pathetic character without ever letting Monroe blow him off the screen.
As for the bombshell herself, Monroe has rarely been more appealing onscreen and once again reveals her gift for light comedy, thanks, in part, to Wilder and Axelrod's screenplay, which establishes comic credentials so strong that Monroe's character doesn't even have a name...she doesn't need one. And, of course, this is the film that contains the scene where Marilyn walks over a subway grating in a certain white dress and created cinematic history (and was probably the beginning of the end of Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio).
Evelyn Keyes is charming as Richard's wife and Robert Strauss has some funny moments as the building handyman, but it is Wilder's sure-footed direction, Ewell's comic timing, and the magic that was Marilyn that made this one work. Despite this film being one of Monroe's biggest hits, she was still deeply unhappy with the direction of her career at this time and this was when she suddenly left Hollywood and moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio. 8/10