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Colorful levity and hijinks are promised on this poster for Billy Wilder's Irma la Douce
In Paris' sinful Rue Casanova, a new copper roams, indignant and active in upsetting the obvious prostitution going on there, but only until he falls head over heels for the charming Irma.
Irma la Douce is written by I.A.L. Diamond (One, Two, Three (1961)) and Austrian-Hungarian/American master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Billy Wilder (Bad Seed (1934)), whose 19th feature it was. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1956 French stage musical. The title is French and translates to 'Irma the sweet'.
This poorly aged Wilder adaptation beckons you to accept prostitution a an easy and comfortable life, one that is also natural and without any negative sides to it. That proposition is a hard one to swallow, and fatiguing as well. The same can be said of Jack Lemmon's (Some Like It Hot (1959)) policeman character's unexplained 180 turn in the story from a by-the-book stickler to a completely embracing participant in the monkey business goings on of the Rue Casanova. His plan involves him keeping Shirley MacLaine's (Around the World in 80 Days (1956)) Irma from her sidewalk 'career' by dressing up as an English professor with very deep pockets.
Jokes are repeated ad infinitum. Irma la Douce is overlong. Handsome sets and costumes weigh up; and Lemmon's caricature of an Englishman is funny. But Irma la Douce overall is taxing.
Related posts:
Billy Wilder: The Front Page (1974) - Wilder's hilarious Chicago newspaper comedy
Double Indemnity (1944) - Wilder's noir classic
Watch a trailer for the movie here
Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 31.5 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.3 times its cost)
[Irma la Douce premiered 5 June (New York) and runs 147 minutes. The film was envisioned as a repairing of Lemmon with Wilder and Marilyn Monroe as Irma, but the latter's overdose death in 1962 meant the hiring of MacLaine. It seems that Wilder, Lemmon and MacLaine negotiated the same pay deal of 350k $ plus 7.5 % of the profits, a very lucrative deal as it turned out, which reportedly also meant that United Artists only profited 440k $ from the film's stellar theatrical run. Shooting took place from October 1962 - February 1963 in California and Paris, France. The film was a huge hit in North America, where it was the year's 5th highest-grossing with rentals of 12 mil. $/25.2 mil. $ (80 % of the total gross). It also struck huge in Netherlands with 3.6 mil. admissions, becoming the biggest hit in the country for many years. The film was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning for Best Score - Adaptation/Treatment (André Previn (Dead Ringer (1963))). It lost Best Actress (MacLaine) to Patricia Neal in Hud and Cinematography - Color (Joseph LaShelle (A Child Is Waiting (1963))) to Leon Shamroy for Cleopatra. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, won a David di Donatello award and 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, among other honors. Wilder returned with Kiss Me, Stupid (1964). Lemmon returned in Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963); MacLaine in What a Way to Go! (1964). Irma la Douce is fresh at 75 % at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Irma la Douce?
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