Irma la Douce (1963)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.3/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Escritores:

Alexandre Breffort (play)
Billy Wilder (writer) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

5 junio 1963 (USA)

Género:

Comedia | Romance

Frase comercial:

A story of passion, bloodshed, desire and death... everything, in fact, that makes life worth living

Plot:

In Paris, an ex-cop falls in love with a prostitute, and tries to get her out of that life by paying for all of her time. Not so easy...

Plot Keywords:

Pimp | Police | Love | Red Light District | Prostitute

Premios:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

More Wilder than Breffort

Reparto

Jack Lemmon	...	Nestor Patou / Lord X
Shirley MacLaine	...	Irma La Douce
Lou Jacobi	...	Moustache
Bruce Yarnell	...	Hippolyte
Herschel Bernardi	...	Insp. Lefevre
Hope Holiday	...	Lolita
Joan Shawlee	...	Amazon Annie
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Kiki the Cossack
Paul Dubov	...	Andre
Howard McNear	...	Concierge
Cliff Osmond	...	Police sergeant
Diki Lerner	...	Jojo
Herb Jones	...	Casablanca Charlie
Ruth Earl	...	One of the Zebra Twins
Jane Earl	...	One of the Zebra Twins

También conocida como:

Irma, la dulce (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

147 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Clasificación:

USA:Approved (PCA #20447) | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Canada:18A | Canada:G (Quebec) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Locaciones de Filmación:

Samuel Goldwyn/Warner Hollywood Studios - 1041 N. Formosa Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Compañía:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivialidades:

The pimps' union is called the "Mec's' (tough guy's) Paris Protective Association" (MPPA), which also stands for "Motion Picture Producers Association", an organization which had given director Billy Wilder some trouble.

Citas:

Moustache: Life is total war my friend... nobody has a right to be a conscientious objector.

Conexiones de Película:

Spoofed in Afrit merati (1968)

More Wilder than Breffort

This film is Billy Wilder's rewriting of Alexandre Breffort's French musical farce. In 1960, David Merrick brought an English version of the piece to the United States. This Brechtian play concerned penniless law student Nestor le Fripe and his jealous love for his prostitute girl friend, Irma. He disguises himself as Monsieur Oscar and becomes her only client. When he becomes jealous of Oscar, he pretends to murder the fake client. He is assisted in this scheme by Bob, a bartender who also serves as a narrator of sorts.

Wilder keeps the basic idea of the play, but turns le Fripe, now Nestor Patou, into a policeman who falls for Irma. Bob becomes known as Moustache and Monnot's songs are used only for background music. In the leading roles, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Hershel Bernardi and Bruce Yarnell are as French as French fries. Wilder injects the farce with his usual cynical romanticism. The shame is that all of the leading players had musical comedy backgrounds and could have put across the musical numbers with style. Wilder did not have to use all 14 musical numbers, but 2 or 3 would have made the point. There is no reason why Jacobi could not have opened the film with "Valse Milieu". The "Dis-donc" number is almost performed by Shirley MacLaine in the film; why wasn't it done? Jack Lemmon could have crooned "Our Language of Love" to Shirley in the early bedroom scene. Maybe Wilder felt that the music would take the bite out the his film. It would have, but it would have made the film warmer. Thank goodness Wilder decided to include some silly slapstick to lighten the piece a bit.

When I first saw this film, I was disappointed in it, but after a few more viewings, it stands up well against Wilder's other cynical-romantic comedies of this era. And it is the only one in color!