The Seven Year Itch (1955) - film review

Richard Sherman is a paperback publisher living in the Manhattan district of New York.  During the hot summer months, he stays alone at home whilst his wife and young son take a holiday in Maine.  Whereas most men in his position would be quick to profit from their new-found freedom, to indulge their appetites for tobacco, drink and girls, Richard is determined to behave himself.  No tobacco.  No drink.  And absolutely no girls.  Then he sees the beautiful young blonde bombshell who is renting the apartment above his.  For some reason, his noble resolutions suddenly decide to take a vacation...

The Seven Year Itch may not be Billy Wilder’s best film, but it certainly ranks as one of his most entertaining, even if its portrayal of marital infidelity now appears somewhat tame by today’s standards.   The film – one of Wilder’s most unbridled comedies – was based on a successful and highly risqué stage play by George Axelrod, which had been running on Broadway since 1952.

Marilyn Monroe was an obvious casting choice for the unnamed object of desire in the film.  Her appearances in films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Niagara (1953) had brought her stardom and the reputation of a sex goddess, and film producers were quick to capitalise on her charismatic persona and overt sexuality.  Walter Matthau was originally considered for the part of Richard Sherman, but was turned down on the grounds that he was insufficiently well known to take the male lead.  Instead, the part went to Tom Ewell, the star of the original stage play.

Right from the outset, Billy Wilder encountered fierce opposition from the Hays Office and representatives of the Catholic Church, who were determined to ensure the Hollywood production code was followed to the letter.  Since any explicit depiction of adultery was prohibited by the code, much of Axelrod’s play had to be re-written, which had the effect of weakening its ending and losing some of its best lines.  The film’s failings are largely a result of the interference from its overly conscientious censors.   In spite of this, the film proved to be a major box office success and is one of Billy Wilder’s most popular films.  

What the censors took out, in terms of requested changes to the screenplay, Wilder managed to put back in with subtle innuendo and Monroe’s flagrantly sensual performance, which is heightened by the sumptuous DeLuxe colour photography.  The gloriously uninhibited sexuality that Monroe brings makes the film even more raunchy than Axelrod’s play – all the more so because the actress plays her part with a child-like naivety, leaving her co-star Tom Ewell to show us the effect this coy sex kitten (who keeps her undies in the icebox) has on a repressed middle-aged male libido.   

The Seven Year Itch includes one of Monroe’s most memorable scenes - the sequence in which her skirt is blown up above her knees whilst she stands, legs apart, over a subway grating.  The scene was original shot in Lexington Avenue, New York, but noise from the 2000 or so on-lookers made the footage unusable and so the entire sequence had to remounted in the studio.

The making of this film proved traumatic for Marilyn Monroe, who had begun suffering from depression and was unable to remember her lines.  Worse, her marriage with baseball player Joe Di Maggio was crumbling and soon ended in divorce.   On a happier note, Monroe enjoyed a warm working relationship with Billy Wilder and would subsequently star in his later film, Some Like It Hot (1959).

© James Travers 2008

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