The Seven Year Itch

• Directed by Billy Wilder
• June 3, 1955 (NYC) / June 17, 1955 (LA) / July 2, 1955 (Canada)
• Based on the 1952 play The Seven Year Itch by George Axelrod

After his family leaves the city for summer vacation, a husband with an overactive imagination is tempted by an attractive new neighbor.

At its core The Seven Year Itch is a simple story: left in the city by himself when his wife Helen (Evelyn Keyes) and son Ricky (Tom Nolan) leave the city to escape the heat, husband Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is left on his own to avoid temptations like drinking and smoking only to encounter the greater temptation of his attractive new neighbor (Marilyn Monroe).

Despite her breathless sexpot image, Marilyn Monroe was a gifted performer with excellent timing. Monroe’s never-named character is innocent to the point of naivete making her blind to Richard’s clumsy advances. She gives this commercial spokesmodel a sweetness not derived from stupidity but by a kind nature.

Monroe was certainly the bigger name in the film but Tom Ewell as Richard is the one who spends the most time in front of the camera. His performance of Richard is that of a bored husband. Not lecherous or philandering. He just daydreams vividly. He finds himself alone when in the days before the dominance of AC his family goes to Maine to escape the heat.

The film has a few supporting characters but it’s mainly Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. Monroe displays the talent which helped make her a star. Ewell’s Richard is moving in and out of daydreams. It is so much so that by the end you might not even be 100% sure which is which and that in and of itself is a little funny. Those daydreams are nothing particularly original. They serve to give some insight into the character of Richard hinting that he may desire this new comely neighbor, he has little faith he could get her.

One daydream bothered me. Not in what Richard did but in something the filmmakers did. Richard is imagining playing the piano and seducing Marilyn Monroe in a comedic fashion. He uses what could be described as a lover boy voice. It’s one that is educated and intellectual but is clearly dubbed over whatever Ewell originally did. I’m not even sure if it’s the actor’s actual voice. Later on down the road in the movie, there’s a scene where they’re playing chopsticks together in reality and he uses a similar voice but it’s not the same voice. Why did they do that?

A bit tame by today’s standards, some of the humor and images probably pushed the limits of the censors of the day. The subject matter alone was not the purview of sitcom writers that it would later become but was something risqué. A husband fantasizing about cheating with a neighbor or having bagged his secretary? Given that Monroe’s character is never named you could even believe this is one long fantasy that gets ruined by his guilt on thinking such things.

Some jokes mildly break the fourth wall by alluding to technical aspects of the film or that it is a film. A few even mention Marilyn Monroe! The pop culture references of the time are a weakness. You may understand the joke but may not find it funny. You could even miss a humorous reference like the one for From Here to Eternity.

There are witty lines throughout. They are double entendres that are uttered with the innocence of a child. Tom envisions scenarios that often end in his failure or with him cutting them off. Taken as a view into the character’s mind, Itch speaks of a guy who is all fantasy but with no drive to cheat. He gets his drives out in a fantasy world and leaves them there.

This is an adaptation of a play and it can often show in the script and film product. I would not doubt if this was nearly a one-to-one translation based on what I saw. Wilder’s touch helps to keep it from being boring. There is a light or innocent feel to it all. Even the dress scene which is perhaps one of the most famous moments in film history is strangely sweet as Richard is encountering more woman than he can handle.

The Seven Year Itch is perhaps not Billy Wilder’s most timeless movie, but the jokes that are not rooted in their era still land and if you know a little bit about the time, the rest work as well. Monroe as always is excellent with Ewell able to carry the rest of the film.