adriangr Although it contains one of cinema's most enduring and iconic scenes, The Seven Year Itch is not actually very good. Tom Ewell plays a married man who has the family apartment to himself for the summer, and Marilyn Monroe plays a ditzy blonde who lives upstairs. The plot charts the "will they, won't they?" situation, but hardly anything actually happens.For Monroe fans, it's a poor deal as there is an awful lot of screen time devoted to Tom Ewell delivering extended monologues, which probably worked as a stage play (which this originally was), but gets pretty boring in a movie. This is not really Ewell's fault, he knows how to perform dialogue, but the script is not engaging, as it consists mostly of the character's neurotic musings and guilt about his attractiveness/fidelity/health/the heat/work/smoking, etc. As soon as Monroe is on screen though, she lights it up, but the extent of her dimness is very forced, particularly as Ewell's character is so obviously trying to seduce her, yet she remains unbelievably and steadfastly oblivious to it for nearly all of the running time, while he burbles away via the ever present monologues. Even the skirt blowing scene is disappointing - a real let down when the on screen footage of the situation is compared to the wealth of still photographs that exist of the famous event, because in the movie it's barely even shown.Directed by Billy Wilder, it's nowhere near as smart and sassy as "Some Like It Hot". I think the stage origins drag it down. Town Ewelll is actually the central character, but he fights a losing battle against both the luminous Monroe, and the drivel of his character's dialogue. And for Marilyn Monroe fans, she does provide a textbook dizzy breathy blonde bombshell, but a sharper and wittier script would have made so much more of her.

weezeralfalfa Something I would have expected Woody Allen to come up with! The primary reason for me to see this is to see and hear the stunningly elegant, adorable, Marilyn Monroe in a movie where she is not scripted as a gold digger. She has a NYC summer job advertising dazzledent toothpaste, thus has moved into the apartment above the Shermans. Mr. Richard Sherman has sent his wife and boy to a cooler Maine for the summer. Having time on his hands, he decides to try to get acquainted with this gorgeous creature, who also has lots of spare time. She begins by knocking a flower pot off her patio that nearly beans Richard. Before this, she called a plumber to extract her big toe from the bathtub faucet, she having stuck it in to try to stop it leaking!?This film had to be toned down from the stage version to get past the Hays Commission. Thus, some of the humor was lost, but probably some more was added. Tom Ewell, who played Richard Sherman in the Broadway stage version, was tapped to star in this film version. Marilyn , for some reason, is never given a name other than the anonymous "The girl". This has led some to wonder if she is supposed to be purely a daydream, as clearly she is in one segment. Although Richard has never been a philanderer, he now has daydreams that his secretary is madly in love with him, and that he is making love to his wife's best friend in the surf, in mimicry of the famous scene in "From Here to Eternity". Sherman tells a psychiatrist that he suspects he's suffering from 'The seven year itch': a recognized stage in many marriages. He feels guilty and imagines that his wife finds out and shoots him. Finally, he decides he has to leave this situation. So he packs up and joins his family in Mains, telling 'the girl' that she can stay in his air-conditioned apartment until he returns.In past centuries, the idiom "Seven year itch" referred to persistent itches caused by parasites, rashes, dry skin, etc.. This film did much to promote its modern usage, as a means of expressing the all too common phenomenon of a reduction in marital satisfaction over the years. This is supported by data that says the average divorce happens after 7 years of marriage. The German politician Gabriele Pauli famously suggested that marriage licenses should be good for only 7 years, after which they could be renewed, if both parties agree.

CinemaClown Notable for featuring one of 20th century's most iconic images, Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch is forever etched in the annals of cinema for that sequence alone rather than the film itself. And though by no means does it mean that it's not a good film because it's another fine comedy from Wilder that teases with the idea of infidelity but is still no match to his most acclaimed works.The story of The Seven Year Itch concerns a faithful & overly imaginative middle-aged man who after sending his family off during summer holidays tries to live a bachelor's life but finds himself tempted by a beautiful neighbour. The title refers to the declining interest in monogamous relationship after 7 years of marriage or so they say.Directed by Billy Wilder, the film has all the ingredients of a quality story but feels like it needed a push that never came. The imaginary sequences start off nicely but only become less interesting as the story progresses, camera-work is fluid, editing could've trimmed a few more moments and the performances by its cast is excellent as it benefits from Tom Ewell's impressive act & Marylin Monroe's unmatched screen presence.On an overall scale, The Seven Year Itch feels incomplete as there was a lot that could & should have been done with the story but it never comes to that moment. Also, the shot of Marylin Monroe standing on a subway grate as a white dress is blown by a passing train isn't exactly shown in the manner it has become a part of our pop culture. So there's a little disappointment in that as well. Yet, the screenplay packs enough energy & Wilder's direction is brilliant enough to keep the viewers interested for the majority of its runtime.

Applause Meter Only Marilyn Monroe as The Girl brings life and effervescence to this movie; Tom Ewell, playing a summer vacation "bachelor" is dead weight. I agree with another reviewer that the part of Richard Sherman would have been a great vehicle for someone with the talent of Jack Lemmon. Lemmon would have provided the perfect foil for Monroe's brand of little girl naiveté, and disingenuous sexuality; the type of casting that made his pairing with Judy Holliday so successful. Ewell has absolutely no screen charisma. His characterization lacks the required wit, and whimsical nuance. He infuses no verve into his meanders as fantasizer engaging in monologues, which spout the trials and tribulation defining the battle of the sexes, as culturally accepted in 1950s America. When his character's frustrations morph into physical animation, he's a charmless bumbler and you find your eyes wandering to the set decor—the furniture, a lamp, even a flowerpot. The movie is all Marilyn. The viewer gets her screen persona in full bloom and with a fun, over-the-top bang. The movie is worth watching for her performance alone. Monroe at her iconic peak is the main attraction.