The Seven Year Itch at 70: a comedy about infidelity ruined by the Hays code

Marilyn Monroe is incandescent in Billy Wilder’s comedy about a tempted married man, but it’s a film hampered by restrictions of the timeOne of the patterns that emerges in Conversations With Wilder, a delightfully candid 1999 interview book that the director Cameron Crowe did with his film-making hero, Billy Wilder, is that Wilder tends to look more fondly on his hits than his misses. To him, commercial flops were rarely the result of audiences misunderstanding his work, but a regrettable failure on his part to connect with them. So it’s notable that Wilder didn’t have kind things to say about the Marilyn Monroe comedy The Seven Year Itch, a box-office sensation that’s rightfully settled a few tiers below classics like Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment and Some Like It Hot, his brilliant second go-around with Monroe.A work-for-hire job for Darryl Zanuck at 20th Century Fox, The Seven Year Itch didn’t originate with Wilder, but George Axelrod’s 1952 Broadway comedy about marital wanderlust, with its ping-pong between lustiness and guilt, seemed well-suited to his sensibility. But the real tension that undermines the film is the ping-pong between Monroe’s five-alarm sexuality and the wet-blanket prudishness that keeps putting out the fire. Wilder and Axelrod, who also scripted, were “straitjacketed” by the Hays code, which imposed strict limits on how far the film could go, and Wilder couldn’t work around it. He called it a “nothing picture” because censors neutered a comedy about infidelity. A comedy about mere temptation doesn’t have the same pop. Continue reading...

Comments

Culture

Billy Joel shares first message with fans since brain disorder diagnosis

Independent

Comments

Culture

Billy Joel shares first message with fans since brain disorder diagnosis

‘He threatened my career’: 22 actors who didn’t get along with their directors

Martin Scorsese supported after admitting he no longer goes to the cinema

Venue boss warns Edinburgh Festival Fringe may become a 'one-person show' event

BBC Radio host Bryan Burnett announces break from show after ‘incredibly rare’ cancer diagnosis

Loose Women cuts live studio audience amid ITV budget cuts

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter show is a bewildering bombardment of entertainment

It's quaint the things you find in some people's bathrooms...

The multi-million pound projects transforming Edinburgh's cultural landscape

Donald Trump and Elon Musk get bizarre reality TV offer after public spat

Is 'Ballerina' an en pointe entry in the John Wick universe?

The Pride month vibes are off, but there's still hope.

2025 Tony Awards Predictions: Best New Musical, Best Leading Actress and More

Musk threatens to decommission SpaceX capsule, a key space station link, after Trump attack

Jonathan Bailey reveals big way Wicked 2 differs from stage show

Wicked 2 director Jon M Chu confirms Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will each have a brand new song

Dakota Johnson blames Madame Web flop on people ‘who don’t have a creative bone in their body’

Disney composer Alan Menken: ‘I won my first Oscar, then Howard Ashman told me he was dying’

Beyonce rides into town for London leg of Cowboy Carter tour

Blue Plaque honour for Bradford theatre pioneer

BBC Radio presenter takes break for cancer treatment

'Belfast adopted me when making How to Train Your Dragon' - Gerard Butler

Robbie Williams: ‘My dad doesn’t look after himself – he should have had help long ago’

Why Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new queer love story inspired her to come out

Private Japanese lunar lander crashes into moon in failed mission

Judge halts Trump's order blocking foreign students from Harvard

Tom Cruise awarded Guinness World Record for death-defying scene in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Wicked: For Good trailer released with new songs and first glimpse of Dorothy

Beloved Summer House star announces exit ahead of season 10

Love Island USA: Meet the cast as one islander exits early after racist comments resurface

Fight like a girl? Ana de Armas on twisting phrase for a new meaning

The true story behind A Widow’s Game is even wilder than the Netflix film

Ryan Reynolds acquires a new sports team — this time with Hugh Jackman

‘Draco Malfoy is back’: Tom Felton to reprise Harry Potter role after 14 years

Olly Alexander lands West End role after leaving record deal

‘And Just Like That …’ Season 3, Episode 2 Recap: Textual Relations

Russia Launches Broad Assault on Kyiv and Other Cities in Ukraine

Beyonce enjoys the rain as she kicks off London stint of Cowboy Carter tour

Cowboy Beyoncé dazzles nearly sold-out stadium

Fans drive huge Nintendo Switch 2 launch; others play the waiting game

Harvey Weinstein jury deliberations begin in sex crimes retrial

Tom Cruise awarded Guinness World Record for death-defying Mission Impossible scene

Netflix is hours away from dropping all 6 episodes of ‘traumatic’ Australian thriller

Philippe Labro Dies at 88; Restless Chronicler of the French Condition

Belinda Carlisle announces release of new studio album

Rita Ora releases new single Heat with music video shot on Miami beach

Miley Cyrus’s Voice

Jonathan Joss’ murder investigation takes turn as police backtrack on statement

Former girlfriend tells Diddy trial of sex with male escorts - as rapper is warned by judge

Fans drive massive Nintendo Switch 2 launch; other consumers play the waiting game

Here to Help: A man's decades-long history with Habitat for Humanity

‘Màkari’ Is a Sun-Dappled Italian Mystery

Jimmy Buffett’s Widow Sues in Battle Over $275 Million Estate

Cheers star George Wendt’s cause of death revealed

Khadiyah ‘KD’ Lewis death: Former Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star dies aged 44

Jeffrey Epstein’s friendship with Donald Trump, explained

Saoirse Ronan stars in new Talking Heads music video

Primevera Sound 2025: How to watch Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan from home

“Ballerina” Leaps into John Wick’s Bloody World

Trump says Egypt avoids travel ban due to close U.S. ties