Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Jul 21, 2021 5:17:22 GMT
And about The Seven Year Itch: It would have had some laughs and far less discomfort if the studio had allowed Billy Wilder his preference to cast (the unknown) Walter Matthau in the lead. Wilder wanted him, and Matthau would have been perfect. His comic abilities and appeal would have improved the movie immeasurably (and made him a star eleven years sooner).
As you say, Matthau might have ended making the whole thing somewhat more bearable. But I had problem with the constant yakking-to-yourself nature of the dialogue which might have worked in the play but wasn't to my taste when filmed. Also I might be an iconoclast here but for the life of me I do not fathom Marilyn Monroe's hypnotic appeal over an entire generation. Were men of the western hemisphere this sex-starved for blonde buxom bimboes in the 50s that someone as vacuous as her could rise so high in their collective id?