Billy Wilder Films

Two of Billy Wilder's most successfully directed films are the classics Some Like It Hot and The Seven Year Itch. In the former film, we are treated the one of the most cynical and satirical comedies ever filmed, while in the latter we are taken inside the fantasies of an urban executive whose sexual urges toward his neighbor threaten the sanctity of his marriage of seven years. Both films deal with sexuality. In Some Like It Hot, the sexual allure of Sugar Kane Kowalczyk drives two musicians, Joe and Jerry, to risk life and limb for a chance to be with Sugar. In The Seven Year Itch, the sexual allure of Richard Sherman's neighbor threatens to derail his marriage of seven years while his wife and son are away for summer vacation. In both films, Marilyn Monroe provides the sexual allure. In Some Like It Hot, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis play the characters smitten by her charms, while in The Seven Year Itch it is Tom Ewell's character that cannot stop fantasizing about his neighbor's abundant charms.

Both Some Like It Hot and The Seven Year Itch are comedies. However, they are distinctly different in narrative approach. In Some Like It Hot, Joe and Jerry become involved in what is presumably the St. Valentine's Day massacre when they witness the murders. With the mob on their trail, Joe and Jerry are forced to dress in drag and become Josephine and Daphne, respectively, in order to escape town with an all-girl band. In The Sev

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out music. Instead, they play chopsticks as she exclaims at the end, "Don't stop. Don't stop" (Wilder 1955). Richard continues to fantasize both about the girl and about his actions being made public. He reads chapter six of the Brubaker book, a chapter that explores a phenomenon known as "the seven year itch" (Wilder 1955). Like Richard, the seven year itch occurs in married men who have a tendency to commit adultery after seven years of married life. When he goes to Dr. Brubaker to discuss his urges, the psychiatrist tells him, "If something itches, my dear sir, the natural tendency is to scratch" (Wilder 1955). Richard and his neighbor spend time drinking champagne, talking about her TV commercial career and they attend a movie, The Creature From The Black Lagoon. When the Girl wishes to spend the night, Richard starts explaining Freudian theory to her. However, his fantasies are not coming true. The Girl only wishes to spend the night to take advantage of his air-conditioning. He accepts that he is being controlled by his vivid sexual imagination, "I have this appalling imagination" (Wilder 1955). The Girl tells him he is just "making this all up" (Wilder 1955). When Tom McKenzie arrives to collect his son's kaya

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