Seven Year Itch

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch is given the superb DVD treatment by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film's picture (anamorphic widescreen 2.55.1), with a new high-definition transfer, really shines throughout. Wilder's color palette is in full blossom here, and the remastered picture keeps things nicely balanced. Never before has the film looked this good on home video. To illustrate what a beautiful job 20th Century Fox did, the disc contains a comparison between the old video pan-and-scan transfer and the new digital one. The soundtrack has also been remastered and is offered in English 3.0, English stereo, and French mono. Also included on the DVD are the original American and Spanish theatrical trailers; a brief Movietone newsreel showing Monroe and her ex-husband, Joe DiMaggio attending the film's sneak preview; an interesting episode of AMC Backstory dealing with the making of the picture, which contains interviews with Wilder, and others; and best of all, two deleted scenes that hint at the ribald heights the film attempted before the censors had their way with it. The Seven Year Itch is available separately or as a part of Fox's Marilyn Monroe: Diamond Collection six-disc set. ~ Derek Hill, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Dolby Digital 3.0
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English, Spanish
• Features:
  • Anamorphic widescreen [aspect ratio 2.55:1]
  • English 3.0
  • English stereo
  • French mono
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Spanish theatrical trailer
  • Movietone newsreel: "The Seven Year Itch"
  • Two deleted scenes: Bathtub and Subway

AWARDS

• Directors Guild of America

•     Nominated Best Director - 1955 (Billy Wilder)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1955 (Tom Ewell)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Marilyn Monroe - The Girl
       Tom Ewell - Richard Sherman
       Evelyn Keyes - Helen Sherman
       Sonny Tufts - Tom MacKenzie
       Robert Strauss - Kruhulik

• Director:

  Billy Wilder

• Producer:

  Charles K. Feldman, Billy Wilder

• Play Author:

  George Axelrod

• Screenwriter:

  George Axelrod, Billy Wilder

• Cinematographer:

  Milton Krasner

• Composer (Music Score):

  Alfred Newman

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Alfred Newman

• Editor:

  Hugh S. Fowler

• Art Director:

  George W. Davis, Lyle Wheeler

REVIEW:

• A slick, stylized sex farce with echoes of 1947's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Seven Year Itch parodies images of conventional Hollywood romances. Writer-director Billy Wilder takes jabs at several popular films of the era, including From Here to Eternity (1953) and Brief Encounter (1945), as he plunders the absurdities of the male libido. Of course, there was no better epitome of 1950s male sexual fantasy than Marilyn Monroe, ideally cast as "The Girl." Itch is further proof of Monroe's underrated comic skills, particularly in parts which allowed her to poke fun at her own image. Best remembered for its skirt-blowing scene, the film was actually a toned-down version of an even bawdier stage play. Wilder still manages to retain some of the play's naughtier puns and innuendo. Monroe and Wilder would work together again, on 1959's classic Some Like It Hot. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

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