Some Like It Hot - Special Edition

Produced in 1959, Some Like it Hot was born of the decline in the Hollywood production code – a set of self-imposed guidelines that strictly controlled what studios could portray on film. Building on his previous effort, The Seven Year Itch (1957) a biting exploration of sexual mores, director Billy Wilder created a liberal film that sat in clear contrast to the code - a gender-bending and risqué comedy filled with sexual innuendo, steamy seduction, spoofs of sexual stereotypes (including bisexuality, transvestism, homosexuality, and transsexuality), and sexy costuming for its buxom star Marilyn Monroe.

Set at the height of the roaring ‘20s, the plot of this raucous farce is rather simple. Two struggling jazz musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), are trying to make ends meet in Chicago at the height of prohibition. Bearing unfortunate witness to a gangland assassination, they are forced to flee Chicago or risk a pair of concrete shoes. Flat broke, their only option is to don a couple of frocks, rename themselves Josephine and Daphne, and join an all-women jazz band bound for a three week, all-expenses-paid gig in Florida.

No sooner have they joined the troupe and settled into their female personas, than they meet the stunning Sugar Kane (Monroe), the band’s vocalist and ukulele player with a soft-spot for saxophonists. Both Joe (as fate would have it - a saxophonist) and Jerry are instantly smitten. Surrounded by a bunch of beautiful girls, and competing for the affections of Sugar, the two must maintain their ruse until they reach the safety of Florida. However, little do they know that Miami is the venue for the annual Chicago mobster convention...

"I'm always getting the fuzzy end of the lollypop."

In some ways drag humour has become a little passé in recent years, but there are few comedies that have stood the test of time like Some Like it Hot. Recently named the number one comedy of all time by the American Film Institute, Wilder's highly amusing farce is a perfectly balanced comedy of romance and masquerade, delivered to comedic perfection by its three stars. The humour is a delightful mix of the obvious and the subtle and is primarily driven by the interplay between Curtis and Lemmon, who slip effortlessly into their female personas. In particular Lemmon is in fine form, outshining his co-stars and receiving an Oscar nomination (Best Actor) for his troubles. Monroe too is at her best as Sugar Kane, at the same time both totally alluring and slightly sad. Almost unnaturally upbeat, Sugar gives the distinct impression she is hiding some great hurt - a mirror on Monroe’s own fragile emotional state at the time.

In addition to Lemmon’s Oscar nomination, the film picked up five other nominations including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best B&W Cinematography and Best B&W Art Direction/Set Decoration. Unfortunately, it was competing against one of the biggest winners in Oscar history – Ben Hur and its sole Oscar was awarded for Best B&W Costume Design.

After watching this movie many times on VHS, all I can say about the movie's new look on our beloved format is – wow! Presented with an anamorphic image at the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, we are treated to black and white cinema looking its very best. The image sports fantastic contrast and deep impenetrable blacks. Sharp as a tack, there’s a great amount of detail on offer; shadow detail likewise.

Either the print used for the transfer was very, very clean or the film has undergone a digital remaster. Either way the image displays none of the film artefacts you might expect from a film of its age, with only one or two specks popping up throughout the entire presentation. Likewise, there are no compression artefacts to be seen.

Of the few negatives that I could find, there is a small amount of film grain evident throughout the entire length of the movie – a by-product of the 1950s film stock. Additionally, there is the odd instance of aliasing due to the sharpness of the image; on one occasion forming a moire pattern on some brickwork. The layer change occurs early on, around the 20 minute mark, and is a tad jarring.

All in all this is a superb effort from Fox, and worthy of this fine film.

Only one soundtrack is available (English), an impressive remaster of the original source material into Dolby Digital 5.1. Although not endowed with directional effects, the surrounds are well utilised, carrying a good proportion of the score and ambient sound effects to create a broad and immersive soundstage. The subwoofer is used continuously yet subtly to support the score and the one or two low frequency effects such as gun shots.

At all times the dialogue is clear and distinct. In general lip-sync is good, but falters on the odd occasion for Tony Curtis - for his scenes as a female impersonator, a combination of dubbing and modulation was used to increase the pitch of his voice.

Being a period piece, the jazzy score is evocative of the era, and hits its peak with Marilyn performing two of her most memorable movie tunes – Running Wild and I Wanna Be Loved By You.

As you might expect, this is not a soundtrack to tax your sound setup, but the remaster certainly is a great addition to what is surely the reference version of this classic film.

Some Like it Hot is provided on a dual-layer, single-sided disc from Fox. In keeping with the high standard of the video and audio production, the menus are anamorphic and very nicely animated indeed. A portion of the jazzy 1920s score plays in the background. The chapter list is also animated with a looped snippet from each of the scenes on display. In terms of extras we get a comprehensive selection here – enough to satisfy any fan of the movie:

�Nostalgic Look Back� Documentary: The incurably daggy Leonard Maltin interviews Tony Curtis about the production, the on-set dynamics, and his role in Some Like It Hot. Curtis provides some great anecdotes about the film, his co-stars (most notably Marilyn), and the director Billy Wilder. Sporting a great image, this 30 minute feature is presented in full-frame and includes chapter stops at appropriate points.

�Memories from the Sweet Sues� Featurette: Four of the original ‘Sweet Sues’ reminisce on their parts in the movie, Marilyn, Billy Wilder and the rest of the production. Like "Nostalgic Look Back" this 12-minute featurette is presented in full frame with appropriate chapter stops.

Virtual Hall of Memories: A novel way to present extra material on each of the stars and director of the film, we are provided with a CGI rendered hallway along which framed caricatures are placed. We visit each in turn, and are greeted with a great montage of colour and B&W stills from the movie, stills from on set, publicity shots, and snippets of memorable moments from Some Like it Hot. The last frame contains ‘behind-the-scenes’ images – stuff pertaining to the rest of the cast and crew.

Trailer: Standard stuff. Presented in full-frame and from a very, very dirty print.

Billy Wilder Trailers: More full-frame trailers for a selection of other films from Billy Wilder - Avanti, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Fortune Cookie, Kiss Me Stupid, Irma la Douce and The Apartment. The quality of the trailers varies but, like the trailer for Some Like It Hot, on average the quality is rather poor with an abundance of film artefacts displayed in each.

Original Pressbook Gallery: A vast selection of newspaper clippings, photos and articles about Some Like it Hot that appeared at the time of its cinema release. There are 44 pages of articles and photos in all – a great rounder for a comprehensive selection of extras.

When you watch a finely crafted film like Some Like It Hot you realise the benefits of pouring time and energy into pre-production (and most importantly into script development), rather than into post-production - as the Hollywood of today seems so eager to do at the expense of all else. Wilder’s script is so sharp and so tight that it is filled with more humour, both overt and subtle, than you could ever think possible. There is literally never a dull moment for the film’s entire length.

Widely and enthusiastically embraced by critics the world over, there is no doubt that this is one of cinema’s finest comedic moments. If you are a fan of the film, or of good cinema in general, then you will want to own this definitive version on DVD. If you have never seen Some Like It Hot, then rent or buy it – you will not be disappointed.