Although made in Hollywood, Some Like It Hot has a strong European lineage. Austrian-born director Billy Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. Diamond based their story on a German movie, Fanfare der Liebe; and its jazz-age setting draws upon Wilder’s early days as a roving reporter in Weimar Berlin.
The 1959 comedy classic is showing at Munich City Museum on Friday, May 22, at 9 pm. This screening is part of an ongoing retrospective, 100 Years of Marilyn Monroe. Also this weekend, Some Like It Hot is showing at the Metropolis Cinema in Bochum (May 23-25.)
Looking ahead, Some Like It Hot is coming to the Black Box Film Museum in Düsseldorf on Tuesday, June 2 at 8 pm; and again on June 7 at 12:30 pm, as part of another centennial series, Celebrating Marilyn! (And while you’re there, a studio exhibition dedicated to Monroe is on display until August 30.)
“With SOME LIKE IT HOT, Marilyn Monroe reached a career peak – a key work in her filmography that showcases her comedic precision as well as her unmistakable blend of sensuality and vulnerability. Directed by Billy Wilder, who sensitively unleashed Monroe’s comedic potential, she plays Sugar Kane, a singer in an all-female band who gets caught between two disguised musicians on the run after a Mafia murder. While Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon struggle to maintain their disguises in drag and high heels, Monroe holds the emotional core of the film: her Sugar is a dreamer whose glamorous exterior masks insecurity, humour, and warmth. For Monroe, the film was both liberating and burdensome: while SOME LIKE IT HOT demonstrated her extraordinary brilliance in her chosen genre, it also exposed the limitations of her star image and the obstacles she faced in trying to overcome them.”
And finally, Some Like It Hot is showing at five more German cinemas on Friday, June 5.
- Hall of Fame (Osnabruck): at 4 pm, preceded by coffee and chat from 3 pm; and a ‘wine and cinema’ screening for ages 16 and up at 7:30 pm
- Hall of Fame (Kamp-Lintfort): Doors open at 7:30 pm for another wine and cinema screening for ages 16+, with the movie starting at 8 pm
- Cineworld (Lünen): Coffee and chat screening at 4 pm; wine and cinema screening at 8 pm
- Das Lumen (Solingen): Coffee and chat screening at 4 pm; wine and cinema screening at 8 pm
- Das Lumen (Düren): Coffee and chat screening at 4 pm; wine and cinema screening at 8 pm
The Marilyn Report 