Well, dear readers, I must hurry and write these here notes as I have to get to an early morning shoot here in the City of Studio. We had a simply divoon Unseemly Live Chat last evening, with a full and sparkling room full of Hainsies/Kimlets.
Last night I watched the new DVD of Mr. Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid. This was the first Wilder film since The Spirit of St. Louis that was a huge flop at the box-office. It was disowned by its distributor, United Artists (it was released by a subsidiary of same – Lopert Pictures), it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, and it was critically lambasted by just about everyone. Now, I happen to like Mr. Wilder in his cynical mode – in fact, one of my favorite Wilder films was also a huge flop – Ace in the Hole aka The Big Carnival. But auterists have, in recent years, staunchly defended Kiss Me, Stupid as one of Wilder’s best. If you read the “reviews” on the imdb you will see this line of thinking ad nauseum – all those “reviewers” just write that party line over and over (all the reviews sound like they were written by the same person, or cadged from the same critic). I wish I could agree with them, but I can’t. I will go to the mat over Hitchcock’s lambasted Marnie – which I think is a wonderful film. I will even defend poor Hitch’s Topaz, and I will certainly defend Mr. Wilder’s own The Spirit of St. Louis, which I love. But I cannot defend Kiss Me, Stupid. It’s not that it doesn’t have funny moments, and it’s not that it isn’t wonderfully directed in black-and-white scope. It’s just that it’s too long, and it is Wilder’s worst cast film ever. That is its downfall and that is what precludes it from ever being great – despite what these people would have you believe. The history of the film is well-noted. It was originally written for Marilyn Monroe, who died. Kim Novack was cast instead, and she’s straining here, but I like her anyway. Peter Sellers was cast in a role more suited to Jack Lemmon, but Mr. Sellers had a heart attack right after filming began, and he was replaced by Ray Walston. Walston is a fine actor, but he is not a star, and he cannot carry the film comedically otherwise. His second banana is Cliff Osmond. I will say flat out that I cannot stomach Mr. Osmond – I think he’s one of the worst actors ever, but in small doses I can at least get through a film in which he appears (Mr. Wilder’s The Fortune Cookie, for example). Here he is one of the leads, and his performance is a total embarrassment – one of the worst ever committed to celluloid and fatal to this film. Dean Martin basically plays himself, and I like him a lot. Felicia Farr isn’t wonderful, but some of the other character actors are fun, especially the divoon Alice Pearce in a small role. The film is smarmy and smirky, yet occasional flashes of the Wilder/Diamond magic shine through. The one totally successful element of the film is Andre Previn’s wonderful score (abetted by some lesser-known Gershwin songs). I much prefer two other Wilder flops, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and Fedora. It’s worth a look, though, if only to see what caused such an outcry in the mid-sixties. If the film had come out three years later it probably would have fared better. The most Wilderian line is Ray Walston’s – Kim Novack, playing a prostitute, or at least someone who has sex for money, is about to impersonate Walston’s wife – he shows her his house and says, “It’s small, but it’s clean.” Kim turns to him and says, “What is?” Very bold for the mid-sixties – and I do like the name of the small town Dean Martin gets stuck in -Climax, Nevada.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to get crackin’.
I do believe there’s a new entry in Juliana’s Journal today (if Mr. Craig Brockman has put it up) and we will be putting them up really regularly from now on. Also, Mr. Brockman did promise me that our Joe Allen and Ray Courts photos would be up by the end of the weekend. Perhaps Mr. Brockman can let us know if they are indeed up, or when they will be up. I know you are all anxious to see them, and I think you will be delighted by them.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go shoot in the City of Studio, I must eat lunch, and I must do other work. Today’s topic of discussion: What is your favorite Billy Wilder movie? I’ll start – I love Double Indemnity and Some Like it Hot equally, but I also love Witness for the Prosecution and Sunset Blvd., too. In fact, I love most of Mr. Wilder. I’ll leave the other films to you. Post away, my pretties and I shall check in as soon as I am able.