Some Like It Hot is showing at 5:30 pm next Wednesday, May 3rd, at the Billy Wilder Centre for Culture and Film in his hometown of Sucha Beskidzka, Poland. Although Wilder is often identified as a native Austrian, when he was born in 1906, Sucha was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before joining the newly founded Second Polish Republic in 1918. His parents managed a cake shop in the town’s train station, and would eventually own a chain of railway cafés. As a young journalist and aspiring filmmaker, Wilder lived in Vienna and Berlin before emigrating to the U.S. in 1933.
The film’s Polish title translates as ‘Half-Jokingly, Half-Seriously.’ In the 1960s, Poland was famed for its unusual and imaginative poster art. But the 1987 graphic for Some Like It Hot – featuring a Monroesque pair of voluptuous red lips – is odd to say the least; while the 2010 poster (below right) plays more directly on the gender confusion of Curtis and Lemmon’s characters.
You can view more of Marilyn’s Polish film posters here.
The Marilyn Report 