| The Seven Year Itch | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Billy Wilder |
| Produced by | Charles K. Feldman Billy Wilder |
| Written by | George Axelrod Billy Wilder |
| Starring | Marilyn Monroe Tom Ewell |
| Cinematography | Milton R. Krasner |
| Editing by | Hugh S. Fowler |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | June 3, 1955 Premier June 1 |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,200,000 (est.) |
| Box office | $5,000,000 (US rentals)[1] |
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role. It contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th century – Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress[2] is blown above her knees by a passing train. The titular phrase, which refers to declining interest in a monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists.[3]
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Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell), a publishing executive with an overactive imagination, sends his wife Helen (Evelyn Keyes) and son Ricky (Butch Bernard) to Maine for the summer. When he returns home with the kayak paddle Ricky accidentally left behind, he meets The Girl (Marilyn Monroe), a model who is renting the apartment upstairs while she is in town to make television spots for a brand of toothpaste. That evening, while proofing a book in which psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker (Oskar Homolka) claims that a significant proportion of men have extra-marital affairs in the seventh year of marriage, he has an imaginary conversation with Helen, trying to "convince" her, in three fantasy sequences, that he is irresistible to women, but she laughs it off. A tomato plant then crashes into his lounge chair; The Girl apologizes for accidentally knocking it over, and Richard invites her to come down for a drink.
As he waits for her to get dressed, including underwear she keeps cool in the refrigerator, Richard has a fantasy that The Girl is a femme fatale overcome by his playing of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. In reality, The Girl prefers Chopsticks over Rachmaninoff, so they play it together. Richard, acting out his fantasy, grabs The Girl in a bear hug, causing them to fall off the piano bench. She shrugs it off, but he is immediately guilt-ridden and asks her to leave.
Over the next few days, they grow closer. Helen continuously calls Richard, asking him to send over the paddle so Ricky can use the kayak, but Richard is repeatedly distracted. His waning resolve to resist temptation in all of its many forms fuels his fear that he is succumbing to the 'Seven Year Itch'. He seeks out Dr. Brubaker for help, but to no avail. His imagination then runs wild: The Girl tells a plumber (Victor Moore) how Richard is "just like The Creature from the Black Lagoon"; the plumber repeats her story to the horrified patrons of the restaurant Richard frequents; Helen and Ricky watch The Girl on TV as she warns the women of New York City about "this monstrous man" named Richard Sherman; the Shermans' handsome neighbor, Tom McKenzie (Sonny Tufts), arranges for him and Helen to be alone on a hayride; a wronged Helen returns home to exact her revenge. Richard then reluctantly lets The Girl sleep in his air-conditioned apartment so she can get some sleep, compounding Richard's paranoia.
Now a nervous wreck, Richard has a crazed confrontation with McKenzie, whom Helen had asked to drop by to pick up Ricky's paddle. Eventually coming to his senses, Richard, paddle in hand, tells The Girl she can stay in his apartment, then runs off to catch the next train to Maine to be with Helen.
The Seven Year Itch was filmed between September 1 and November 4, 1954, and was the only Wilder film released by 20th Century Fox.
The characters of Elaine (Dolores Rosedale), Marie, and the inner voices of Sherman and The Girl were dropped; the characters of the Plumber, Miss Finch (Carolyn Jones), the Waitress (Doro Merande), and Kruhulik the janitor (Robert Strauss) were added. Many lines and scenes from the play were cut or re-written because they were deemed indecent by the Hays office. Axelrod and Wilder complained that the film was being made under straitjacketed conditions. This led to a major plot change: in the play, Sherman and The Girl had sex; in the movie, the romance is all in his head.
The footage of Monroe's dress billowing over a subway grate was shot twice: the first take was shot on location outside the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre, then located at 586 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, while the second take was on a sound stage. Both eventually made their way into the finished film, despite the long-time belief that the original on-location footage's sound had been rendered useless by the over excited crowd present during filming in New York.
Footage of Walter Matthau and Ewell's screen tests for Sherman is featured in the DVD of the film. Nicolas Roeg's film Insignificance features a character based on Monroe and a re-enactment of the subway/dress scene.
The exterior shooting location of Richard's apartment was 164 East 61st Street in Manhattan.[6]
Saul Bass created the opening animated title sequence for the film, his only title sequence for a Wilder movie.
The original 1955 review in Variety was largely positive. Though Hollywood production codes prohibited writer/director Billy Wilder from filming a comedy where adultery takes place, the review expressed disappointment that Sherman remains chaste.[7]
The film was listed at number 51 on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 American comedy films of the past 100 years. Ewell won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Wilder was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award.
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