KISS ME, STUPID might have failed in 1964 for no better reason than the dreadful title (remember 1967's sublime THE HONEY POT?), but the film, drawn from an Italian play, "L'Ora della Fantasia" (filmed earlier as "Moglie per una Notte" or "Wife For A Night" with Gina Lollobrigida unexpectedly in the Felicia Farr role of the wife!) was essentially one long dirty joke about a jealous husband willing to sacrifice SOMEONE's virtue to get ahead, just not his wife's...except that it had Billy Wilder, who found something special there.
In 1964, Billy Wilder's production, the script lovingly crafted with frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond with excellent songs recrafted from the Gershwins' trunk by Ira (it's only the NON-song background music which was by Andre Previn), suffered from every problem imaginable. First Marilyn Monroe (slated for the Kim Novak role) died pre-production, then Peter Sellers (in the Ray Walston part) had a heart attack once it began. The Catholic League of Decency (never known for having any sense of humor) condemned it for daring to suggest that there was more to fidelity than mere form. One wonders if Wilder's earlier (and just as problematic) film "The Apartment" would have won its Best Picture Oscar in 1961 had the group been as vociferously narrow then.
The final insult came when U.S. exhibitors forced Wilder to re-shoot "the trailer scene" (included as a bonus track on the DVD) for U.S. release to imply that "nothing happened" - undercutting the finely crafted balance of the film - and then United Artists dropped the U.S. distribution anyway, putting a subsidiary's name on the film so as not to give "corporate offense" to U.S. bluenoses. U/A's back on the credits - as "An MGM Company" - for the DVD release, which is of the superior ORIGINAL print released abroad.
Commercial success was not to be for KISS ME, STUPID in 1964, and while many view the film today as an undiscovered masterpiece it remains a basically flawed piece - but it does have some amazing virtues - and mysteries. Key to the virtues is the canny casting of Dean Martin and Kim Novak in parodies of their public images: "Dino" the hard drinking, womanizing singer, Kim the actress of limited non-physical virtues specializing in trollop portrayals. Dean, of course delivers as the singer Ray Walston's piano-teacher/composer (with his mechanic/lyric writing partner Cliff Osmond) is desperate to sell a song to, making vintage and rewritten Gershwin songs ("Sophia" was originally "Wake Up, Brother, And Dance," cut from "Shall We Dance") sound as fresh as 1964 - but the key to the film is perhaps the ONLY near great performance of Kim Novak's career.
Under Wilder's direction (something not even Hitchcock could do), Novak makes "Polly the Pistol" a fully rounded character that the audience can care deeply about and be rewarded when Wilder and Diamond give her a genuinely hopeful happy ending - something they do for *everyone* in this unexpectedly warm film, unlike the possibly more realistic "...Apartment." Novak's brief scene with excellent second tier actress Felicia Farr as the wife (why did she never find the roles to make her a bigger star?), is a minor masterpiece and worth the whole film.
Those too shallow to understand why an artist like Wilder would choose to film in the more detailed visual vocabulary of black & white (or who miss Hays Code "morality") will probably never be the ideal audience for KISS ME, STUPID, even 'though the poorly chosen title might seem geared to that sort of "lowest common denominator" comedic taste. There are laughs aplenty here, but the essence of a Wilder comedy is its intelligence and heart.
If there is a problem of *craft* in the film (mainly flawed by the husband's basic attitude toward "his" wife - he does grow during the film - although many will still have problems with the method of surrogate teaching), it is the minor matter of Broadway star Ray Walston's voice when he is demonstrating his songs for "Dino." It is clearly NOT Walston singing and one can't help but wonder why. No one felt it necessary to dub him in 1958 when he recreated his London role (Luther Billis) in the film of "South Pacific" or his Broadway role (Mr. Applegate) in "Damn Yankees." One suspects that the obvious dubbing was in the service of an "in joke" in the Wilder/Diamond script where the wife insists to "Dino" that the song "Sophia" would be better suited to the voice of pop singer, Jack Jones. Walston's singing voice in the film sounds suspiciously like that of Mr. Jones!
Whatever the problems, this KISS ME, STUPID, is ripe for reevaluation and well worth a look. The famed "Wilder Touch" has never been more in evidence, giving essentially problematic material an undeniable warmth and lingering satisfaction for any audience sufficiently sophisticated to give it a chance. The performance Wilder gets from Kim Novak alone may leave people wondering how he could have won *only* six Oscars! A little film with a very big heart.
In 1964, Billy Wilder's production, the script lovingly crafted with frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond with excellent songs recrafted from the Gershwins' trunk by Ira (it's only the NON-song background music which was by Andre Previn), suffered from every problem imaginable. First Marilyn Monroe (slated for the Kim Novak role) died pre-production, then Peter Sellers (in the Ray Walston part) had a heart attack once it began. The Catholic League of Decency (never known for having any sense of humor) condemned it for daring to suggest that there was more to fidelity than mere form. One wonders if Wilder's earlier (and just as problematic) film "The Apartment" would have won its Best Picture Oscar in 1961 had the group been as vociferously narrow then.
The final insult came when U.S. exhibitors forced Wilder to re-shoot "the trailer scene" (included as a bonus track on the DVD) for U.S. release to imply that "nothing happened" - undercutting the finely crafted balance of the film - and then United Artists dropped the U.S. distribution anyway, putting a subsidiary's name on the film so as not to give "corporate offense" to U.S. bluenoses. U/A's back on the credits - as "An MGM Company" - for the DVD release, which is of the superior ORIGINAL print released abroad.
Commercial success was not to be for KISS ME, STUPID in 1964, and while many view the film today as an undiscovered masterpiece it remains a basically flawed piece - but it does have some amazing virtues - and mysteries. Key to the virtues is the canny casting of Dean Martin and Kim Novak in parodies of their public images: "Dino" the hard drinking, womanizing singer, Kim the actress of limited non-physical virtues specializing in trollop portrayals. Dean, of course delivers as the singer Ray Walston's piano-teacher/composer (with his mechanic/lyric writing partner Cliff Osmond) is desperate to sell a song to, making vintage and rewritten Gershwin songs ("Sophia" was originally "Wake Up, Brother, And Dance," cut from "Shall We Dance") sound as fresh as 1964 - but the key to the film is perhaps the ONLY near great performance of Kim Novak's career.
Under Wilder's direction (something not even Hitchcock could do), Novak makes "Polly the Pistol" a fully rounded character that the audience can care deeply about and be rewarded when Wilder and Diamond give her a genuinely hopeful happy ending - something they do for *everyone* in this unexpectedly warm film, unlike the possibly more realistic "...Apartment." Novak's brief scene with excellent second tier actress Felicia Farr as the wife (why did she never find the roles to make her a bigger star?), is a minor masterpiece and worth the whole film.
Those too shallow to understand why an artist like Wilder would choose to film in the more detailed visual vocabulary of black & white (or who miss Hays Code "morality") will probably never be the ideal audience for KISS ME, STUPID, even 'though the poorly chosen title might seem geared to that sort of "lowest common denominator" comedic taste. There are laughs aplenty here, but the essence of a Wilder comedy is its intelligence and heart.
If there is a problem of *craft* in the film (mainly flawed by the husband's basic attitude toward "his" wife - he does grow during the film - although many will still have problems with the method of surrogate teaching), it is the minor matter of Broadway star Ray Walston's voice when he is demonstrating his songs for "Dino." It is clearly NOT Walston singing and one can't help but wonder why. No one felt it necessary to dub him in 1958 when he recreated his London role (Luther Billis) in the film of "South Pacific" or his Broadway role (Mr. Applegate) in "Damn Yankees." One suspects that the obvious dubbing was in the service of an "in joke" in the Wilder/Diamond script where the wife insists to "Dino" that the song "Sophia" would be better suited to the voice of pop singer, Jack Jones. Walston's singing voice in the film sounds suspiciously like that of Mr. Jones!
Whatever the problems, this KISS ME, STUPID, is ripe for reevaluation and well worth a look. The famed "Wilder Touch" has never been more in evidence, giving essentially problematic material an undeniable warmth and lingering satisfaction for any audience sufficiently sophisticated to give it a chance. The performance Wilder gets from Kim Novak alone may leave people wondering how he could have won *only* six Oscars! A little film with a very big heart.