mark.waltz There's nothing to find offensive in "How to Murder Your Wife" except its almost two hour running time where the funniest thing is the gap in Terry-Thomas's teeth and the droll way he has of saying his lines. He must have improvised some of them because the lack of funny dialog in the rest of the script doesn't belly the wit in his character.Those expecting a 60's view of the theory "Men are From Mars/Women are from Venus" will be sadly disappointed. Even so-called women haters will be furious that the only thing to hate about these women is that they don't warrant being hated, only pitied for being sitcomishly annoying. And feminists too won't find anything new to claim offense to; The men here only bash women for the same argument they have had for decades-being too motherly, coddling, nagging, and lightly controlling. The idea of a showdown between the sexes does make for an appealing black comedy that could have been truly fresh, but unfortunately, the writers wimped out. They only added a lot more sex.While the Doris Day/Rock Hudson sex comedies (without the sex) were the opening Pandora's Box of a slew of similar films throughout the 60's, more films added a lot more eroticism with a European flavor. "How to Murder Your Wife" takes Italian blonde beauty Virni Lisi, throws her in as comic strip writer Jack Lemmon's unplanned trip to a Justice of the Peace, and motivates him to write a series of strips where he reveals a plan to kill off the fictional wife of a bachelor obviously based on him. Lisi gets wind of all this, flies the coup, and Lemmon is suddenly accused of murder.The film is all a cop-out on what could have been a delicious caper that somehow turns out happy. But we've seen the supposedly deceased story before ("Irma La Douce" and "The Art of Love") in 60's sex comedies, and the set-up is so obviously easy to fix that it ends up being predictable. It makes no sense that Lemmon, even intoxicated, would wed Lisi, no matter how much in lust with her he was. Lisi, too, may be desirable, but her character is so cloying that there is little desire for the two to reconcile. Poor Claire Trevor (as the wife of Lemmon's lawyer) has to do a drunken dance that is more embarrassing than funny, and the usually funny Mary Wickes does nothing but cry and drink glass after glass of champagne after Lemmon shows up at his lawyer's office for an annulment. If it wasn't for the fabulously droll Terry-Thomas, this movie would be a total bomb!

Dave from Ottawa The success of Pillow Talk in 1959 ushered in a new era of sophisticated comedies, sexier than the ones of the 40s and usually set in upscale Manhattan. Many of these were actually more clever than funny (mostly because they tried to be tasteful and who really wants that in a farce?). This one still stands up today, and to repeated viewings.Bachelor and successful cartoonist Jack Lemmon gets drunk at a stag party and inadvertently marries beautiful Virna Lisi, who then proceeds to turn him into the classic emasculated husband at the urging of her 'well-meaning' female friends. His response is to use his cartoon strip to play out a fantasy murder. Things get complicated when the wife disappears and everybody thinks he did her in for real!Typical for the genre, the central situation is pretty far-fetched. Anybody who finds himself accidentally married to Virna Lisi should invest in lottery tickets, because he's on a lucky streak. And Lemmon's attachment to his New York bachelor lifestyle seems a bit quaint and dated when viewed from the post-sexual revolution world.Yet, the actors sell the contrived story well, with Terry Thomas being especially fun in the role of a rather misogynistic butler who eggs on Lemmon's murder fantasy. And to be fair the story line is well-worked out as a comedy farce, albeit along 60s sit-com lines. Ultimately it all works because it's just plain funny, with lots of witty material in evidence, especially during Lemmon's murder trial at the end, where he manages to put women and the institution of marriage on trial with him. Recommended.

alangalpert This is one of the funniest and best-written comedies I have ever seen. Jack Lemmon is in top form, and Virna Lisi (in her first American film) is beautiful, sexy and delightful. Stanley (Lemmon) is a successful cartoonist and confirmed bachelor. He is ably assisted by his manservant, Charles, played by the always-funny Terry-Thomas. Not only is Charles a confirmed bachelor, also, but he refuses to work for any man who isn't. After a riotous night of drinking at a friend's bachelor party, Stanley awakens the next morning to find himself married to the lovely girl who popped out of the cake (Lisi). (Ironically, during the party his friend's marriage was called off.) Stanley remembers nothing, and to make matters worse, his bride speaks nary a word of English. Worse still, she hails from Italy where (at the time) divorce is forbidden. Stanley is desperate for a way to end the marriage, and quickly, but no one is able to help him. In a delicious irony, he slowly develops a fondness for his wife, only to have her leave him when he no longer wants her to. I won't reveal the rest of the plot, but the denouement is inspired, and the ending is laugh-out-loud funny.

winstonfg OK, maybe not; but on the surface the messages of both are surprisingly similar: The 'other side' are demons and it's OK to kill 'em.Unlike 'Thelma' though, this movie is played entirely for laughs … and in my view succeeds very well. All the leads (Terry-Thomas in particular) are great, and Virna Lisi is spot on – as well as being absolutely stunning. I also agree with everyone else about Neal Hefti's score: it sounds remarkably like the theme to the Odd Couple, and you'll find yourself humming it days later.Yes, the women are cardboard cut-outs and the courtroom scene is over the top (I think they could have played it almost the same and simply acquitted him of having the *idea* of killing his wife), but this was a generation before T&L, and society was very different then.Funny thing is, they could never make a movie like this now; but they certainly could (and probably will) remake 'Thelma'.