The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Just perfect...

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's weird when you grow up hearing a lot about a certain movie if only because of an iconic scene. All I knew was the famous scene where Marilyn Monroe's dress is uplifted by the air coming from below. I guess back then it was risqué, but nowadays it's fairly tame. It turns out this movie is actually about a guy whose wife and son go on a vacation without him and he ends up being tempted by a new neighbor. I thought that the title was just nonsensical. It turns out there actually is meaning behind it, as it refers to an actual psychological condition about men questioning their marital status after seven years.What I especially love about this movie is the two main leads. Now, there is something that really turns me off and that's how we only see the wife and son at the beginning of the movie. I really did want to see how they would react to seeing the husband again. Still, it's very entertaining. The funniest bit is easily when the guy says that the girl might be Marilyn Monroe. There are some really entertaining parts that take place in the guy's imagination and sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's not. Eventually, he does the right thing and neither of the characters are trying to corrupt each other. ***1/2

Associate producer: Doane Harrison. Producers: Charles K. Feldman, Billy Wilder. A Charles K. Feldman Group Production.Copyright 1955 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at Loew's State: 3 June 1955. U.S. release: June 1955. U.K. release: 29 July 1955. Australian release: 29 December 1955. Sydney opening at the Mayfair. 9,444 feet. 105 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) and his wife Helen (Evelyn Keyes) have been married for seven years. While he remains in New York on business, Helen and their son Ricky (Butch Bernard) go off to a resort for a summer vacation. In the meantime, their apartment is sublet to The Girl (Marilyn Monroe), a TV model.NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Fulton on 20 November 1952 and ran a colossal 1,141 performances. Tom Ewell starred opposite Vanessa Brown, Neva Patterson and Robert Emhardt. The director was John Gerstad, the producers Courtney Burr and Elliott Nugent, no less.Negative cost of the movie version: $2 million. Domestic rentals gross: $6 million, making it equal 11th at the U.S./Canadian box- office with "The Sea Chase". The movie did even better in Australia, coming in 5th at the ticket windows for 1956.COMMENT: I hate to say this, but I don't think "The Seven Year Itch" holds up terribly well. Relax! Marilyn is still great, her performance undimmed. But although Marilyn transcends her material, face it: "The Seven Year Itch" is a slight, one-joke farce of rather dated morality. It may have seemed the ultimate in spicy entertainment back in 1955 (I too thought it one of the best films of the year), but fifty years later, you can see the movie for what it really is — a filmed, small-budget stage play. It's true the script has been opened out a bit here and there, notably in the prologue sequence and the famous scene in which Marilyn stands over the subway vent, but basically it's the play. It even retains the original stage monologues. Mind you, the original material is funnier than Wilder's additions like the scene in the health food restaurant and the interview with MacBride. The aping of "From Here To Eternity" with Roxanne is equally clumsy and even more embarrassingly heavy-handed. Wilder's wit is about as sure as an elephant's.Another minus is Tom Ewell. His teaming with Marilyn here opened up a revived Hollywood career for him, though it didn't take Fox long to realize that MM had carried him, rather than vice versa. He singularly lacks charm. He's a schmuck all right, but with absolutely no leavening charisma. The rest of the players walk all over him. Led by MM, of course. As said, she's marvelous, perfectly cast, giving a stand-out comedy performance as to the manner born. And she's fabulously costumed and presented to boot. Robert Strauss is also particularly enjoyable. He wipes the floor with Ewell. As does Oscar Homolka, even though he has but the one scene. Further down the cast list, Carolyn Jones has little more than a walk-on as a sexy fantasy nurse, whilst Donald MacBride also proves something of a surprising disappointment. His role needed someone with more presence, like Edward Andrews for instance.Milton Krasner's sparkling cinematography is certainly an asset, but Newman overdoes "A Sentimental Journey" in his music scoring. (It's not an altogether appropriate number anyway)."The Seven Year Itch" is still an absolute must for Monroe fans. For Billy Wilder admirers there are compensations too. His love for the odd, the somewhat bizarre and the fantastic are exemplified by such things as the manner in which Ewell's day-dreams are presented, the credits, wrapping the paddle, the psychiatrist, etc.P.S. "The Seven Year Itch" opened on Broadway on 20 November 1952. Two years later, it was still running. The stars of the play were Tom Ewell and Vanessa Brown.

This movie is symbolized by the image of Marilyn Monroe having her skirt blown up by a draft from a sidewalk grate, but the actual film does not show that (censorship reasons presumably). But the actual story is a farce where the sensuality is mostly implied.Richard Sherman is a man living in New York City who, like many other husbands there in the 1950's, sends his wife and son out into the countryside for the summer while he has to stay behind and continue working in the stifling heat. Other men, such as the apartment janitor and Sherman's boss, go out and live the bachelor's life in their families' absence, but Sherman has stayed faithful for seven years, and even tries to give up smoking, alcohol, and unhealthy eating.But trouble comes when he meets a ditsy female temporary neighbor who works at making television commercials. She visits him because his apartment has air conditioning and hers doesn't, and Sherman imagines the possibilities. Will he be tempted to have an affair? What will happen if people, including his wife, find out about them? And is Sherman's wife unfaithful? Temptations and doubts plague Sherman throughout the movie, all in a comical way. Joyful farcical fun.

Notable for featuring one of 20th century's most iconic images, Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch is forever etched in the annals of cinema for that sequence alone rather than the film itself. And though by no means does it mean that it's not a good film because it's another fine comedy from Wilder that teases with the idea of infidelity but is still no match to his most acclaimed works.The story of The Seven Year Itch concerns a faithful & overly imaginative middle-aged man who after sending his family off during summer holidays tries to live a bachelor's life but finds himself tempted by a beautiful neighbour. The title refers to the declining interest in monogamous relationship after 7 years of marriage or so they say.Directed by Billy Wilder, the film has all the ingredients of a quality story but feels like it needed a push that never came. The imaginary sequences start off nicely but only become less interesting as the story progresses, camera-work is fluid, editing could've trimmed a few more moments and the performances by its cast is excellent as it benefits from Tom Ewell's impressive act & Marylin Monroe's unmatched screen presence.On an overall scale, The Seven Year Itch feels incomplete as there was a lot that could & should have been done with the story but it never comes to that moment. Also, the shot of Marylin Monroe standing on a subway grate as a white dress is blown by a passing train isn't exactly shown in the manner it has become a part of our pop culture. So there's a little disappointment in that as well. Yet, the screenplay packs enough energy & Wilder's direction is brilliant enough to keep the viewers interested for the majority of its runtime.