Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 124: Sun May 13

Kiss Me, Stupid (Wilder, 1964): ArtHouse, Crouch End, 2.45pm


"It is difficult to evoke the tone and atmosphere of Kiss Me, Stupid in a phrase, but we would describe it as Pillow Talk ravaged by Psycho. It is a horror comedy ..."
Adrian Turner & Neil Sinyard, Journey Down Sunset Boulevard,
The Films of Billy Wilder


Don't miss the chance to see this underrated Wilder movie, presented by 2A Films.


Chicago Reader review: 
This vulgar Billy Wilder comedy scandalized the Legion of Decency and large segments of the American public when it came out in 1964. At the time Wilder pointed out that the film is about human dignity and the sanctity of marriage, but its undisguised contempt for the American hinterlands and the success ethic makes the sexual element seem dirtier than it actually is. Dean Martin plays a carousing parody of himself, stranded in the godforsaken town of Climax, Nevada, while a desperate songwriter (Ray Walston), hoping to sell him a tune, tries to get him shacked up with a prostitute (Kim Novak) impersonating the songwriter’s wife (Felicia Farr). This restoration includes the original ending, which originally played only in Europe, followed by the forced ending that played in the U.S. Both Martin and Novak are at their near best, and the undertone of small-town desperation in Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s script is effectively captured by Walston and his sidekick, Cliff Osmond. Shot in black-and-white ‘Scope.
Jonathan Rosenbaum


Here (and above) is the trailer.

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