Marilyn at the Movies in Germany

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On Monday, June 1 – Marilyn’s 100th birthday – The Seven Year Itch gets an 8pm show at the Capitol in Aachen.

“The stuffy publishing clerk Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is left alone in sweltering New York City during the summer while his wife and son go on vacation. Things get even hotter for Mr. Sherman, however, when he meets the new tenant (Marilyn Monroe) who has moved into the apartment above him. She’s in town to film toothpaste commercials, and she innocently shares her secret to beating the heat with Richard: she keeps her underwear in the refrigerator. In the film’s most famous scene, Marilyn Monroe stands over a subway ventilation shaft after an evening at the cinema, waiting for the cool breeze from a passing train to lift her skirt.”

On the same day, The Marilyn Myth opens at Kino Metropolis in Hamburg – the first of four Monroe retrospectives coming to German cinemas in June.

“Marilyn Monroe was one of the greatest phenomena of the 20th century. A pop icon and a projection screen for millions. An actress whose art was long overshadowed by her sex symbol image. She possessed intuition, wit, timing, musicality, emotional openness, and an almost magical screen presence. She worked with some of the most important directors and stars of her time, and her courage to repeatedly defy Hollywood and assert her own decisions reveals her as an emancipated, self-determined artist. Yet, to this day, she is primarily seen as a victim and reduced to her tragic end: misunderstood, exploited, an early death that remains shrouded in mystery … Together with Hamburg-based actor, audiobook narrator, and singer Jens Wawrczeck, we celebrate Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday in our summer retrospective, featuring a total of 30 films. Numerous guests are invited for introductions, film discussions, and debates surrounding the ‘Marilyn myth.’ The retrospective kicks off with a double feature on June 1st, Monroe’s 100th birthday …”

  • HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE: June 1 at 6pm (35mm optical-tone Technicolor print)
  • GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES: June 1 at 8:30 pm (35mm optical-tone Technicolor print) – “For François Truffaut, it is ‘anything but cynical and amiable entertainment: it is an evil, intelligent and relentless work.'”
  • THE ASPHALT JUNGLE: June 6, June 13 – “This captivating heist thriller begins with a meticulously planned robbery, executed with clockwork precision. But gradually, unexpected events and the criminals’ character flaws threaten to derail the seemingly perfect heist.”
  • DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK: June 6, June 10 – “A frightening and provocative exploration of the mind of a female murderer.” (The German title translates as Temptation on 809, referring to Marilyn’s hotel room number in the movie.)
  • THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH: June 12, June 25
  • SOME LIKE IT HOT: June 14, June 23
  • NIAGARA: June 15, June 24 – “A marital revenge thriller in which an attractive, life-loving blonde wants to send her depressed husband tumbling over Niagara Falls, brilliantly combines the expressionistic shadows of film noir with the radiant visuals of a Technicolor production.”

  • BUS STOP: June 27 – “In the role of Cherie, Monroe impressively demonstrated her artistic potential, surprising even her harshest critics. Joshua Logan’s film adaptation of William Inge’s Broadway hit combines comedy, melancholy, and erotic tension with one of the most human and nuanced performances of Marilyn Monroe.”
  • THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL: June 27, June 29 – “The unusual combination of the American film icon Monroe and the great English acting and theater institution Laurence Olivier, whom she herself engaged as director and co-star, caused quite a stir in the international film world at the time.”

The June 12 screening of The Seven Year Itch (at 7pm) will be introduced by Jenni Zylka, author of a new book, Marilyn Monroe: 100 Pages.

‘For me, Marilyn Monroe’s characters reflect the roles that women have been and are given in society. Marilyn is a fighter in a rigid system.’

“Jenni Zylka offers a fresh, feminist, and film-journalistic perspective on the 20th-century icon Marilyn Monroe and, above all, on her work. Using her roles in films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch, and The Misfits, she makes a powerful case for an artist whose entire personality is emblematic of a woman’s life, caught between public adoration and private despair.” (With 4-colour illustrations and infographics)

Additionally, two of the better films depicting Marilyn herself will also be screened. Insignificance, starring Theresa Russell as ‘The Actress’, is showing on June 12. (Interestingly, Tony Curtis also appears as ‘The Senator.’)

“Four icons of the 1950s (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, and Senator Joseph McCarthy) meet in this fictional fable about postwar America. The visually stunning film captivates with its seamless interplay of flashbacks and flash-forwards, focusing on Einstein’s current observations and anxieties about the future. Directed by Nicolas Roeg, the film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.”

And My Week With Marilyn (2011) – a fictionalised account of her time in England – is showing on June 16, and again on June 29. Michelle Williams earned an Oscar nomination and won the Golden Globe for her performance.

On Tuesday, June 2, another film series opens at Cinema Quadrat in Mannheim.

“Marilyn Monroe presented her sensational sexual allure with the innocence of a child, becoming the dream woman of the 1950s – and far beyond. But she never wanted to be seen as a mere sex symbol, but rather as an actress. With five films, we showcase the breadth of her acting talent.”

  • GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES: June 2 – “Monroe’s career took off with this role as the superficially attractive Lorelei, who only uses her brain when things get dangerous: she became the quintessential sex symbol.”
  • NIAGARA: June 7 – “A psychologically clever thriller within which the tormented American soul is reflected in the rushing water; with Marilyn Monroe, who, as a blonde femme fatale, proves her acting range at the very beginning of her international career.”
  • THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL: June 16 – “Marilyn Monroe produced this film herself: a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the political and diplomatic turmoil leading up to World War I. Monroe and director and co-star Laurence Olivier famously clashed, yet she delivers one of her finest performances here.”
  • SOME LIKE IT HOT: June 17 – “Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon shine in this fast-paced crime comedy love triangle, which playfully subverts gender stereotypes with delightful wit and sparkling dialogue.”
  • THE MISFITS: June 29 – “Proud men toiling away in menial jobs, a woman who can never live up to her dreams: playwright Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe’s husband, wrote the screenplay for this modern Western about loners who live outside of society and briefly form a community. It is Monroe’s last film: she defies her stereotypical role – and wins.”

On Wednesday, June 3, Marilyn comes to the German Film Institute (DFF) in Frankfurt.

“Marilyn Monroe, who would have turned 100 on June 1st, is one of the greatest film stars in American cinema. Predominantly perceived by the public as a pin-up girl and sex symbol, she resisted the limitations of the roles offered to her throughout her career, seeking opportunities to demonstrate her intelligence, comedic talent, and emotional depth. It was only after her death that her full artistic range was widely recognised.

This small tribute honours an icon of her time, whose influence extends far beyond her short life. It brings together five of the eleven films in which Marilyn Monroe played a leading role … The film series is accompanied by a photo exhibition in the cinema foyer of the DFF.”

  • THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH: June 3, June 18 – “Due to censorship, Billy Wilder had to make his adaptation of George Axelrod’s Broadway play considerably tamer than the original, but much of the entertainment value remains. Marilyn Monroe playfully parodies her own image here.” (The June 3 screening includes an introduction and book presentation by Jenni Zylka)
  • NIAGARA: June 4, June 12 – “A thriller in the style of film noir, with clear echoes of Alfred Hitchcock. After 17 short and somewhat longer film appearances, Marilyn Monroe played her first leading role here. Director Henry Hathaway had actually wanted James Mason for the male lead.”
  • GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES: June 9, June 20 – “Howard Hawks’ comedy, an adaptation of a story by Anita Loos, spices up entertaining situations and several musical numbers by Leo Robin and Jule Styne with pointed criticism of materialism … Jean-Marie Straub considered this film especially Brechtian.”

  • SOME LIKE IT HOT: June 13, June 25 – “This is the stuff of slapstick, but Billy Wilder’s screwball comedy, thanks to the inventive screenplay by Wilder and I.I. Diamond, the sensational performances of Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Joe E. Brown, and, last but not least, Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane, became an overwhelming success and is still considered one of the best comedies of all time.”
  • THE MISFITS: June 26, June 30 – “It’s a kind of late Western set in a modern world—and a film of profound disillusionment, because the free, independent life lived according to traditional values ​​no longer exists … In a lengthy speech, Monroe expresses her disappointment. Despite some misguided literary ambitions, The Misfits is a fascinatingly sensual work of farewell and disenchantment.”

And finally, another retrospective opens at Nuremberg Filmhouse on Friday, June 5.

  • SOME LIKE IT HOT: June 5 – Introduced Dr. Kathleen Loock, whose research focuses on reboots; Some Like It Hot was a remake of the German movie, Fanfaren der Liebe (1951.)
  • THE ASPHALT JUNGLE: June 6
  • THE MISFITS: June 8 – introduced by the film club’s team, followed by a post-screening discussion in the foyer.
  • GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES: June 15 – “Howard Hawks created a cult film musical about class differences and female friendship, captivating audiences with its tongue-in-cheek humor and perfectly choreographed song and dance numbers. Quoted by Madonna and adored by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this film made Marilyn Monroe a superstar.” (Introduced by artist Simona Leyzerovich)
  • DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK: June 19 – “In this real-time thriller, whose plot addresses war trauma and mental illness with surprising nuance for its time, Marilyn Monroe plays her first leading dramatic role.”
  • CLASH BY NIGHT: June 20
  • NIAGARA: “In the pre-show, Viennese artist Karin Fisslthaler, whose work has for years explored the persona of Marilyn Monroe and the role of women (and their bodies) in Hollywood cinema, presents her short films and collages … Since 2003, Fisslthaler has also been creating experimental electronic pop music under the pseudonym Cherry Sunkist.”