Some Like it Hot

Some Like it Hot 1959, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe

 

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The supporting cast includes George Raft, Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film was adapted by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond from the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan. Logan had already written the story – but without the gangsters – for a German film, Fanfaren der Liebe (directed by Kurt Hoffmann, 1951), so that Wilder's film is considered by some as a remake.

During 1981, after the worldwide success of the French comedy La Cage aux Folles, United Artists re-released Some Like It Hot to theatres. In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Some Like It Hot as the greatest American comedy film of all time.

Two versions in this post - One in English and the other in German.

English language version - Some Like it Hot



Two struggling musicians witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and try to find a way out of the city before they are found and killed by the mob. The only job that will pay their way is an all girl band so the two dress up as women. In addition to hiding, each has his own problems; One falls for another band member but can't tell her his gender, and the other has a rich suitor who will not take "No," for an answer.

Deutsche Version - Manche Lieben es Heiss

Cover of Some Like It Hot

Das American Film Institute wählte den Film 2000 auf Platz 1 der 100 besten amerikanischen Filmkomödien aller Zeiten
Marilyn Monroe singt in diesem Film ihren Klassiker I wanna be loved by you. Wilder entschied, dass Manche mögen’s heiß trotz der Errungenschaft des Farbfilmes in schwarz-weiß gedreht wurde. Der Grund hierfür war, dass in Farbe das Frauen-Make-up von Curtis und Lemmon neben dem Make-up von Monroe zu maskenhaft gewirkt hätte.
Die Handlung spielt während der Alkoholprohibition im Chicago der späten 1920er Jahre. Als der illegale Nachtclub, ein sogenannter „Speakeasy“, in dem sie bisher aufgetreten sind, nach einer Razzia geschlossen wird, haben die Musiker Joe und Jerry Probleme, eine neue Anstellung zu finden. Ihr Agent hat keine Verpflichtung für sie und nimmt sie auch noch mit der Anfrage einer Damenkapelle nach zwei Musikerinnen auf die Schippe.

Beide erhalten schließlich dennoch einen Tipp für eine mögliche, allerdings außerhalb Chicagos liegende Verpflichtung. Um sich dort vorstellen zu können, schwatzen sie Nellie, einer vernachlässigten Freundin von Joe, deren Wagen ab. Als sie diesen abholen wollen, werden sie beim Auftanken des Wagens in der Autowerkstatt unbeabsichtigt Zeugen eines Massenmordes.

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The Apartment

Starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine
On 1st November 1959, in New York, C.C. "Bud" Baxter is a popular clerk of "Consolidate Life", an insurance company with 31,259 employees. The secret of his success is a well located apartment where he lives that he sublets for his superiors, making him climb to the executive position of 2nd Administrative Assistant very early. He likes the elevator girl Fran Kubelik, a reserved woman considered a "jackpot" among the executives. Fran is the secret lover of the director Jeff D. Sheldrake, a married man that seduced her convincing that he will divorce his wife to stay with her. When Fran tries to commit suicide in Baxter's apartment after a meeting with Jeff, she stays with Baxter while recovering, and he falls in love for her. Later he has to come up to a decision between his excellent position in the company and his love. (IMDB)

Watch Movie Classic - The Apartment (1960)




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Plot Synopsis;

C. C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a lonely office drone for an insurance company in New York City. Four different company managers take turns commandeering Baxter's apartment, which is located on West 67th Street on the Upper West Side, for their various extramarital liaisons. Unhappy with the situation, but unwilling to challenge them directly, he juggles their conflicting demands while hoping to catch the eye of fetching elevator operator Miss Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Meanwhile the neighbors in the apartment building, a medical doctor and his wife, assume Baxter is a "good time Charlie" who brings different drunken women every night. Baxter accepts their criticism rather than reveal the truth.

The four managers write glowing reports about Baxter — a little too glowing, so personnel director Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) suspects something illicit behind the praise. Mr. Sheldrake lets Baxter's promotion go unchallenged on condition that Baxter offers his apartment to him as the sole customer. Still delighted about his promotion, Baxter asks Miss Kubelik to The Music Man after Sheldrake offers him tickets to the play when he has other plans. She agrees, then stands him up when Sheldrake takes her out for drinks. Later, on Christmas Eve, Baxter arrives home with a woman he has picked up in a local bar and is astounded to find Miss Kubelik in his bed, fully clothed and overdosed on sleeping pills. Mr. Sheldrake had borrowed Baxter's apartment for the evening and evidently left Miss Kubelik there.

Baxter sends his bar pickup home and he and his neighbour the doctor keep Miss Kubelik alive and safe without notifying the authorities. She explains that she had an affair with Mr. Sheldrake the previous summer, ended it when his wife returned from vacation then caved in to his appeals and promises later in the fall. When Sheldrake offered her money instead of a Christmas present she realized the ugliness of the situation and tried to commit suicide. The act shows a startling side of her usually sunny personality. Baxter tries to comfort her with assurances of Sheldrake's concern but she refuses to speak to him on the telephone.

Kubelik recuperates in Baxter's apartment for two days, long enough for her taxi driver brother-in-law to assume the worst of Baxter and come to blows. Sheldrake's catty secretary, one of his former mistresses, finally "educates" Mrs. Sheldrake about her husband's infidelities. Faced with divorce, Sheldrake moves into a room at his athletic club and continues to string Kubelik along while he enjoys his newfound bachelorhood. Baxter finally takes a stand when Sheldrake demands the apartment for New Year's Eve, which results in Baxter quitting the firm. Kubelik realizes that Baxter is the man who truly loves her and she leaves Sheldrake on New Year's Eve to be with Baxter that evening and runs to him. They end as two misfits, both out of a job, playing a game of gin rummy. When Baxter declares his love for Kubelik, her reply is the now-famous final line of the movie: "Shut up and deal."
(Wikipedia)

Jack Lemmon as C.C. "Bud" Baxter Shirley MacLaine as Fran Kubelik Fred MacMurray as Jeff D. Sheldrake Ray Walston as Joe Dobisch Jack Kruschen as Dr. Dreyfuss David Lewis as Al Kirkeby Hope Holiday as Mrs. Margie MacDougall Joan Shawlee as Sylvia Naomi Stevens as Mrs. Mildred Dreyfuss Johnny Seven as Karl Matuschka Joyce Jameson as the blonde in the bar Willard Waterman as Mr. Vanderhoff David White as Mr. Eichelberger Edie Adams as Miss Olsen

Link; Wallpaper Gallery Shirley MacLaine in "The Apartment"

Ben Hur

Charlton Heston stars as Ben Hur
Ben-Hur (or Benhur) is a 1959 epic film directed by William Wyler, the third film version of Lew Wallace's 1880 fictional novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Ben Hur was one of the Classic Old Movies i used to watch every Christmas; My Parents being from the era when this movie first was released, they always used to watch it over the Festive period when it was on TV. Charlton Heston was the Big Hunk in the time of my Mothers youth, and i was made to see this fact every time he was on the screen; be it as Ben Hur, Spartacus, or whatever.

Plot Synopsis - Ben Hur
The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Twenty-six years later, Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy merchant of noble blood in Jerusalem. Preceding the arrival of a new governor, Ben-Hur's childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), a military Tribune, returns as the new commanding officer of the Roman Empire garrison. At first Judah and Messala are happy to meet after years apart, but their differing political views separate them: Messala believes in the glory of Rome and worldly imperial power, while Ben-Hur is devoted to his faith and the Jewish people. Messala asks Ben-Hur to caution his countrymen about protests, uprisings, or criticism of the Roman government. Judah counsels his countrymen against rebellion but refuses to disclose dissidents' names, and the two part in anger.

Judah's family welcomes two of their slaves who arrive with a caravan from Antioch: Simonides (Sam Jaffe), their loyal steward, and Simonides's 24-year-old daughter Esther (Haya Harareet), who is preparing for an arranged marriage. Judah gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and the two realize they are attracted to each other.
Judaea, Valerius Gratus, Roman Prefect under Tiberius, 15 - 26 A.D.; Bronze Prutah
During the welcoming parade for Valerius Gratus, the new Roman governor, a tile falls from the roof of Ben-Hur's house and startles the governor's horse, which throws him off, nearly killing him. Although Messala knows that it was an accident, he condemns Judah to the galleys and imprisons Judah's mother Miriam (Martha Scott) and sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell), in an effort to intimidate the restive Jewish populace by punishing the family of a known friend. Ben-Hur swears to return and take revenge. En route to the sea, he is denied water when his slave gang arrives at Nazareth. He collapses in despair, but a then-unknown Jesus Christ gives him water and renews his will to survive.

After three years as a galley slave, Ben-Hur is assigned to the flagship of Roman Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), tasked by the Emperor to destroy a fleet of Macedonian pirates. The commander notices Ben-Hur's self-discipline and resolve, and offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer, but Ben-Hur declines, declaring that God will aid him. Arrius questions Ben-Hur's will to live, while Judah in response asks why Arrius lost his--unknown to Ben-Hur, Arrius' son and sole heir had recently died, leaving him alone and embittered.

As Arrius prepares the galley for battle, he orders the rowers chained but unaccountably orders 41 (Ben-Hur) to be left unchained. When the pirates attack the Romans, Arrius's galley is rammed and sunk, but Ben-Hur unchains other rowers, escapes and saves Arrius's life and, since Arrius believes the battle ended in defeat, also prevents him from committing suicide during their time afloat. Eventually, they are rescued by a Roman vessel and Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory, and in gratitude petitions Tiberius Julius Caesar (George Relph) to drop all charges against Judah, eventually adopting Judah as his son. To signify the event, Arrius gives Ben-Hur his family insignia ring, which was to have gone to his dead son. With regained freedom and wealth, Judah learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer. However, Ben-Hur's desire to seek the fate of his family overwhelms him, and Arrius gives Ben-Hur his blessing to return.

On his journey home to Judea, he happens to become acquainted with Balthasar (Finlay Currie) and his host, an Arab sheik named Ilderim (Hugh Griffith), who owns four magnificent white Arabian horses and wishes to have them trained for chariot racing. Discovering that Judah had been a winning charioteer in Rome, Ilderim introduces him to his "children" and requests that he drive his quadriga in the upcoming race before the new governor, Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). Ben-Hur begins to reconsider upon learning that Messala, considered the finest charioteer in Judea, will also compete in the race. (As Ben-Hur is leaving, Ilderim adds, "There is no law in the arena. Many are killed.")

Returning to Judea, Judah finds that Esther's arranged marriage did not occur and that she is still in love with him. He visits Messala and demands that he free his mother and sister; Messala sends Drusus (Terence Longdon) to the fortress to look for them. When the soldiers enter the cell, they discover that Miriam and Tirzah have contracted leprosy, and they turn them out of the city. Esther learns of their condition when she finds the two women after nightfall in the Hur house's courtyard; and they beseech her to conceal their condition from Judah and allow him to remember them as they were. Esther tells Judah that his mother and sister have died in prison.

Upon learning this, Juda decides to exact his revenge, and enters the chariot race in the local circus with Sheik Ilderim as his sponsor. Messala takes up the challenge, but arrives driving a "Greek chariot," with blades on the hubs, designed to chew up opposing chariots that get too close. In the violent and grueling chariot race, Messala removes several opponents by damaging their chariots with his beaked hubs. But, in a collision with Judah's chariot, he falls and is run over and trampled, sustaining severe injuries. Judah goes on to win the race. After receiving the victor's laurel wreath from Pilate, Judah visits Messala in the infirmary, where surgeons are amputating both legs in a futile attempt to save his life. Before dying, Messala bitterly tells Judah that the race is not over: he can find his mother and sister in the "Valley of the Lepers." Judah leaves in anguish to search for his family, and he is devastated when he finds them in their diseased and disfigured condition.

After all of this tragedy and pain, Pilate tells Ben-Hur news that he as been named a Citizen of Rome—a proclamation that is one of great honor; however it turns out to be an empty honor, as Ben-Hur tells Pilate how Rome's influence has destroyed his family and poisoned his friend Messala. Pilate responds that Ben-Hur, who is now a hero of the Judean people, is too dangerous and must leave the city. Instead, Ben-Hur gives Pilate Arrius's family ring, and tells Pilate he honors Arrius too much to wear it any longer. With this act, Ben-Hur abandons his Roman status and becomes an enemy of the state.

The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and it is at this point that Jesus reappears. Esther witnesses the Sermon on the Mount and is moved by Christ's words. She tells Ben-Hur about it, but he remains bitter and will not be consoled. Learning that Tirzah is dying, they take her and Miriam to see Jesus, but they cannot get near him, as his trial has begun. (We don't hear the testimony, verdict, or sentence; but we see Pilate famously washing his hands.) Recognizing Jesus from his encounter with him as he was being taken to the galleys, Judah attempts to give him water during his march to Calvary, echoing Jesus' kindness to him, but he is shoved away by the guards.

Eventually, Judah witnesses the Crucifixion. Immediately after Christ's death, Miriam and Tirzah are healed by a miracle, as are Judah's heart and soul. He returns to his home and tells Esther that as he heard Jesus talk of forgiveness while on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film, which had begun with the Magi visiting the infant Jesus, ends with the empty crosses of Calvary in the background and a shepherd and his flock (a prominent Christian symbol) in the foreground.

Casablanca

Immortal Silverscreen Movie Classic with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre.
Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, love and virtue. He must choose between his love for a woman and helping her and her Resistance leader husband escape from the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.

Humphrey Bogart - The Signature Collection, Vol. 1 (Casablanca Two-Disc Special Edition / The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Two-Disc Special Edition / They Drive by Night / High Sierra)

Although it was an A-list movie, with established stars and first-rate writers—Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch received credit for the screenplay—no one involved with its production expected Casablanca to be anything out of the ordinary; it was just one of dozens of pictures being churned out by Hollywood every year. The film was a solid, if unspectacular, success in its initial run, rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier.

Despite a changing assortment of screenwriters frantically adapting an unstaged play and barely keeping ahead of production, and Bogart attempting his first romantic lead role, Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its characters, dialogue, and music have become iconic, and Casablanca has grown in popularity to the point that it now consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films of all time.

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a bitter, cynical American expatriate living in Casablanca. He owns and runs "Rick's Café Américain", an upscale nightclub and gambling den that attracts a mixed clientele: Vichy French, Italian, and Nazi officials; refugees desperately seeking to reach the United States, as yet uninvolved in the war; and those who prey on them. Although Rick professes to be neutral in all matters, it is later revealed that he had run guns to Ethiopia to combat the 1935 Italian invasion, and fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War against Francisco Franco's Nationalists.

Ugarte (Peter Lorre), a petty criminal, arrives in Rick's club with "letters of transit" obtained through the murder of two German couriers. The papers allow the bearer to travel freely around German-controlled Europe and to neutral Portugal, and from there to America. The letters are almost priceless to any of the continual stream of refugees who end up stranded in Casablanca. Ugarte plans to make his fortune by selling them to the highest bidder, who is due to arrive at the club later that night. However, before the exchange can take place, Ugarte is arrested by the local police under the command of Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), a corrupt opportunist who later says of himself, "I have no convictions... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy." Unbeknownst to Renault and the Nazis, Ugarte had entrusted the letters to Rick because "... somehow, just because you despise me, you are the only one I trust." Ugarte dies in police custody without revealing the location of the letters.

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At this point, the reason for Rick's bitterness re-enters his life. His ex-lover, Norwegian Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) arrives with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a fugitive Czech Resistance leader long sought by the Nazis. The couple need the letters to leave for America to continue his work. German Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) arrives to see to it that Laszlo does not succeed.

When Laszlo speaks with Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet), a major figure in the criminal underworld and Rick's friendly business rival, Ferrari divulges his suspicion that Rick has the letters. Laszlo meets with Rick privately, but Rick refuses to part with the documents, telling Laszlo to ask his wife for the reason. They are interrupted when Strasser leads a group of officers in singing "Die Wacht am Rhein", a patriotic German song. In response, Laszlo orders the house band to play "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem. When the band looks to Rick for guidance, he nods his head. Laszlo starts singing, alone at first, then long-suppressed patriotic fervor grips the crowd and everyone joins in, drowning out the Germans. In retaliation, Strasser has Renault shut down the club.

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That night, Ilsa confronts Rick in the deserted cafe. When he refuses to give her the letters, she threatens him with a gun, but is unable to shoot, confessing that she still loves him. She explains that when she first met and fell in love with him in Paris, she believed that her husband had been killed trying to escape from a Nazi concentration camp. Later, with the German army on the verge of capturing the city, she learned that Laszlo was in fact alive and in hiding. She left Rick without explanation to tend to an ill Laszlo.

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With the revelation, Rick's bitterness dissolves and the lovers are reconciled. Rick agrees to help, leading her to believe that she will stay behind with him when Laszlo leaves. When Laszlo unexpectedly shows up, after having narrowly escaped a police raid on a Resistance meeting, Rick has waiter Carl (S. Z. Sakall) secretly take Ilsa back to the hotel while the two men talk.

Laszlo reveals that he is aware of Rick's love for Ilsa and tries to get Rick to use the letters to at least take her to safety. However, the police arrive and arrest Laszlo on a minor, trumped-up charge. Rick convinces Renault to release Laszlo by promising to set him up for a much more serious crime: possession of the letters of transit. To allay Renault's suspicions about his motives, Rick explains that he and Ilsa will be leaving for America.

However, when Renault tries to arrest Laszlo, Rick double crosses Renault, forcing him at gunpoint to assist in their escape. At the last moment, Rick makes Ilsa board the plane to Lisbon with her husband, telling her that she would regret it if she stayed, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

Major Strasser drives up by himself, having been tipped off by Renault, but Rick shoots him when he tries to intervene. When police reinforcements arrive, Renault pauses, then tells his men to "Round up the usual suspects." Once they are alone, Renault suggests to Rick that they leave Casablanca and join the Free French at Brazzaville. They walk off into the fog with one of the most memorable exit lines in movie history: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Read On....

This post is decicated to my old friend George Martyn, who used to watch this movie every single night for as long as i knew him; Rest in Peace George.

 

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The Jungle Book (Original)

Jungle Book is an American color 1942 action/adventure film based on the Rudyard Kipling book, The Jungle Book. The film was directed by Zoltán Korda based on a screeplay adaptation by Laurence Stallings. The cinematography was by Lee Garmes and W. Howard Greene and music by Miklós Rózsa.

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color for the director's brother, Vincent Korda and creative partner Julia Heron.
n 1943 the film's score was re-recorded with narration by Sabu Dastagir and became the first commercial recording of a U.S. film score to be released



The 1942 "Jungle Book" was the first film for which original soundtrack recordings were issued. Previously, when record companies released music from a film, they had insisted on re-recording the music in their own studios with their own equipment. The "Jungle Book" records were taken from the same recordings used for the film's soundtrack, and their commercial success paved the way for more original-soundtrack albums.

Plot Synopsis;

In an Indian village, Buldeo, an elderly storyteller, is paid by a visiting British memsahib to tell a story of his youth. He speaks of the animals of the jungle, and of the ever-present threats to human life posed by the jungle itself. He then recalls his early life:

As a younger man he dreams that his village could one day become an important town, and that the jungle could be conquered. However, when he is speaking about these dreams an attack by Shere Khan the tiger leads to the death of a man and the loss of his child. The child is adopted by wolves in the jungle and grows to be the wild youth Mowgli. Years later, Mowgli is captured by the villagers and recognised as the lost child. Taken in by his mother Messua, Mowgli learns to speak and tries to imitate the ways of men. He becomes friendly with Buldeo's daughter, Mahala, much to Buldeo's distress, since he is convinced that the wild Mowgli is dangerous. When Mowgli and Mahala explore the jungle, they discover a hidden chamber in a ruined palace, containing fabulous wealth. Warned by an aged cobra that the wealth brings death, they leave, but take one coin as a memento. When Buldeo sees the coin he tries to force Mowgli to tell him where the treasure is, but Mowgli refuses.

Later Mowgli fights and kills Shere Khan. As he is skinning the body, Buldeo arrives. He threatens Mowgli with a gun, but is attacked by Mowgli's friend Bagheera the black panther. Buldeo becomes convinced that Bagheera is Mowgli himself, shape-shifted into panther form. He tells the villagers that Mowgli is a witch, as is his mother. Mowgli is chained up and threatened with death, but escapes with his mother's help. However, she and another villager who supports her are tied up, and themselves threatened with burning for witchcraft. Mowgli is followed by the greedy Buldeo and two friends to the lost city. They find the treasure, but Buldeo's friends are killed by the jungle, and their own greed, as they attempt to escape with their booty. Buldeo just survives, but has to jettison his loot. Engraged and maddened, he tries to kill Mowgli, and even the jungle itself, by starting a forest fire. The fire rages, but the wind turns and threatens the village. The villagers flee, but Mowgli's mother and supporter are trapped. Mowgli brings the elephants to the village and breaks open the building, escaping to the river with his Mother, Mahala and other villagers. He is invited to follow them to a new life downriver, but refuses to leave the jungle, turning back to help animals trapped by the fire.

The scene returns to the present day, with the elderly Buldeo telling his story, and admitting that the jungle defeated his youthful dreams. When asked how he escaped from the fire himself, he looks into the camera and says that's another story.



Starring;

• Sabu: Mowgli
• Joseph Calleia: Buldeo
• John Qualen: The barber
• Frank Puglia: The pundit
• Rosemary DeCamp: Messua
• Patricia O'Rourke : Mahala
• Ralph Byrd: Durga
• John Mather: Rao
• Faith Brook: English girl
• Noble Johnson: Sikh

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