BILLY WILDER: The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Macintosh & Maud Haven't Seen What?!

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CONTENT WARNING: There is a discussion of manipulation and domestic abuse from 31:23-33:15. Please skip this section if you do not want to hear details. Also, discussion of misogyny, sexual harassment, unwanted advances, and sexism.

The Billy Wilder series continues with Billy’s first foray into color and broad comedy, adapting a massive Broadway success into…a messy film. Not that it’s bad; in fact, this week’s film is iconic for several reasons while also still being incredibly funny. But Billy and his collaborator, the original playwright, David Axelrod, couldn’t find the right ending and character resolution for this film. To be sure, this may have been a product of the time the movie was made, but there’s something missing in the depth and vulnerability of these characters. And of course, being the script doctors we are, you know we have some ideas of how to fix it. Drop some Rachmaninoff on the hi-fit as we discuss 1955’sThe Seven Year Itch on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!

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Intro and outro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpts taken from the film The Seven Year Itch is © 1955 Charles K. Feldman Group Productions. Renewed 1983 Charles K. Feldman Group Productions.

Excerpts taken from the score to the film Witness for the Prosecution, written and composed by Matty Malneck. © 1957 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.