I thought it would be good to get that shit out of the way from
the top so we can dig into the rest of this thing. But I’m not sure how well this is gonna
go. Today we’re talking about a comedy
with a dry and peculiar sense of humor and I’ve mentioned before that I tend to
stay away from this genre on this blob because it’s difficult for me to write
about. Ah, what the fuck. Let’s see what happens.
The very thin story revolves around a dime store novel
editor named Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell (The Girl Can’t Help It)). His wife and son are away on vacation while
he stays behind to make the money that pays for their middle class Manhattan lifestyle
(when there was such a thing). Richard
isn’t supposed to be drinking, smoking or eating unhealthy food per doctor’s
orders. He meets the Girl (Marilyn
Monroe (Niagara)), yes she’s credited simply as the Girl, because she’s
renting the upstairs apartment for the summer and needs help getting into the
building. A little later she accidentally
pushes over a potted plant from the balcony above and Richard narrowly evades a
broken pelvis. He’s pissed at first but
when he lays eyes on the voluptuous Girl all is forgiven. They become fast friends and spend a couple
of days together. That’s it. Told you it was thin.
What drives the movie is what Richard perceives to be sexual
tension, but is really awkwardness, between he and his new neighbor. They’re pretty much opposites but I don’t mean
in an opposites attract kind of way.
On one hand the Girl is well, Marilyn goddamn Monroe and she
is at her most Marilyn Monroe-iest here.
She’s a gorgeous blonde with a spunky personality and loveable eccentricity. She’s not an idiot but puts off such positive
vibes, is so nice, jovial, non-judgmental and comfortable with herself that
she’s almost annoyingly content.
Richard on the other hand is neurotic, possibly bi-polar
with his sharp mood swings, over-analyzes every situation yet can’t keep his
mind on one thought for too long and is completely delusional. This guy thinks the Girl wants to get with
him when there’s been no evidence to support that. He tries to put on a gregarious façade and
fumbles badly which sorta makes me feel sorry for him.
Almost the entire film takes place in Richard’s apartment where
he talks to himself about various topics (this was based on a play). He reminisces about adulterous encounters
he’s had with various women behind his wife’s back, fantasizes how he’s going
to seduce the Girl and imagines how his wife would shoot him if she found out
about any of this.
While that last paragraph sounds incredibly perv-y and
paints Richard as an outright scumbag the movie presents his anecdotes as ridiculously
exaggerated and of questionable authenticity.
For one thing Richard is a clueless goofball that might think he’s a
stud muffin but it’s clear he’s anything but.
He’s not handsome or suave or particularly witty so we have a strong
hunch that the stories about him cheating on his wife are made up. Still there’s certainly an argument to be
made that it’s bad enough he has these thoughts to begin with.
But the key thing is all the comedy in this movie is
exaggerated in some way. Like when
Richard imagines swooning the Girl he pictures himself at the piano hammering
out an extremely melancholic Rachmaninoff concerto while the Girl is tortured
by its beauty gazing off while smoking from one of those long cigarette
holders. As you can see he has the
totally wrong idea about romance and the mind of a seven year old when it comes
to this shit.
So the sexual tension is all in Richard’s head and it’s good
to see that he never really comes close to acting on it. I mean I don’t think he’d know what to do
even if the Girl was actually into him.
No, instead the few days these two spend together they genuinely enjoy
each other’s company by having a few talks and giggles. And the Girl piles on the quirky with a snack
of potato chips dipped in champagne, telling a story of how her big toe got
caught in the bathtub faucet and she keeps her underwear in the icebox. Their conversations don’t get too deep.
One quick aside before I wrap up, this movie (and I guess
the 1952 play) makes a commentary on health conscious diets. Richard is on one and eats at a vegetarian (or
maybe even vegan) restaurant after his wife and son leave. He appears to have some trouble digesting the
food and the waitress takes a hard anti-clothing stance. This is obviously poking fun at people who
frown on animal products and nudists in general. However, things get a little murky later when
Richard reads off the ingredients of a soda he’s swapped out for his usual evening
cocktail and wonders why all the strange chemical sounding components are
healthier than a scotch. Yea that’s a
swipe at soda but it’s not what you think.
Back in the 50’s soda wasn’t considered tremendously unhealthy like it
is today so they were taking aim at what was then considered a much healthier
alternative to booze. Also, Richard acts
more manic when he tries to abstain from smoking and drinking and mellows out
once he takes a drag and a swig. Bottom
line: this movie thinks healthy lifestyles are stupid.
Ok, I think most folks probably haven’t seen this one. They only know the one dress scene and that’s
a shame because I kinda love this piece.
While I can see many people being turned off by Richard’s immature and
possibly debauched mind I think he’s too silly and the whole movie’s too silly
to be taken very seriously. It’s
undeniably a male fantasy scenario with a pretty girl wanting to come over and
hang out just because. Plus she’s only
renting the upstairs apartment for a few months so there aren’t any strings
attached for a long term commitment. The
weird thing is even with this setup nothing happens between these two. That should be a major problem with the film
but there’s something about the dialogue and the humor that hits for me. There’s a childishness innocence to the whole
thing like when adults get together of course they spend the evening eating
potato chips and playing chopsticks on the piano, duh.
No comments:
Post a Comment