The darned 7th year

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Movie
German title The darned 7th year
Original title The Seven Year Itch
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1955
length 101 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Billy Wilder
script Billy Wilder
George Axelrod
production Charles K. Feldman
Doane Harrison
Billy Wilder
music Alfred Newman
piano piece : Sergei Rachmaninow
camera Milton R. Krasner
cut Hugh S. Fowler
occupation
synchronization

7. Year Itch (also The Seven Year Itch ) is an American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder from 1955. The film, starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell is based in the main roles in the play My wife learns a word (The Seven Year Itch) by George Axelrod .

action

Manhattan : Richard Sherman sends his wife Helen and their son Ricky to the country in Maine in the hot summer , while he, like many other family fathers, remains alone in the city for the dog days . Richard is determined not to waste his time drinking and flirting like other husbands do. But his resolutions are forgotten when a sensual blonde moves into the apartment above his. The girl , a model and actress, shoots commercials for a toothpaste and immediately turns his head. Fittingly, the publishing manager Sherman is currently working on the publication of a book by the psychiatrist Dr. Brubaker, who writes that almost all men are looking for affairs in the seventh year of their marriage. Several times, Sherman falls into confused daydreams, in which, for example, he wants to prove his attractiveness to his wife or seduces the girl passionately while playing the piano.

In the evening he meets with the girl and first claims that he is unmarried until she notices his wedding ring. When he touches her while playing the piano, he feels guilty and asks her to leave his apartment. Richard is attracted to her but cannot bring himself to an affair. He imagines that his wife learns of his possible infidelity and would then shoot him. Sherman and the girl also spend the next evening together, the blonde appreciating him as a nice friend who, as a married man, unlike many other men, does not mean any “danger” to her. Meanwhile, Richard's wife Helen calls several times to finally send the paddle that was forgotten at home so that her son Ricky can go kayaking . However, Richard's thoughts are so confused by the girl that he always forgets the paddle.

Meanwhile, Helen has met the writer Tom MacKenzie while on vacation, which leads Richard to more paranoia daydreams in which MacKenzie and his wife fall in love. When MacKenzie finally appears in Richard's apartment to pick up the long-forgotten paddle, Richard knocks him down. Plagued by jealousy, guilt, and fear, Richard says goodbye to the girl in friendship and takes the next train to Maine with his wife and child.

backgrounds

Still from What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City

From 1952, the play My Wife Doesn't Know a Word (The Seven Year Itch) ran successfully on Broadway . It has also been performed regularly in Germany since the 1950s. In a comparison between film and play, it is noticeable that in the play the affair takes place and the two main characters have sex - in the film, on the other hand, there are few, rather harmless kisses and the man's fantasy dreams. Director Billy Wilder originally wanted to show the affair in the film, but the Hays Code , which was in force at the time , made this impossible. Wilder expressed his frustration at this in later years.

At first, movie stars like James Stewart or Gary Cooper were in discussion for the role of Richard Sherman, but Wilder preferred an average-looking guy. The director temporarily favored Walter Matthau , whom he let play the role in a test recording. However, since Matthau was still largely unknown at the time, 20th Century Fox turned him down for the lead role. Finally, Wilder hired Tom Ewell , who had already played the role of Sherman on Broadway and won the Tony Award for it.

The scene in which Marilyn Monroe's wide white skirt is blown up by the exhaust air from the subway was first shot on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue , near 52nd Street. The outdoor shots in New York were disrupted by screeching and cheering crowds, which was useful for the film's publicity. As a result, however, the filmed footage was unusable. The film sequence was then shot in Hollywood in the 20th Century Fox studio. The iconic photo with Monroe above the ventilation shaft was shot by photographer Sam Shaw . The so-called “ Monroe Effect ” was later named after this scene . Interestingly, however , this effect is by no means an invention of Billy Wilder. The 1901 two-minute silent film What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City is an early film adaptation of exactly this scene.

The film was an international success. Marilyn Monroe and Billy Wilder worked four years later at Some Like It Hot a second time.

Psychological background

The darn 7th year is after "I see what you don't see" - psychoanalytic film interpretations. to be understood as "satire about men, their projection onto women and defended wishes". The character has strong guilt and jealousy fantasies, which range to paranoia. The wife, seen here as a mother, is split off, and through her travels, Sherman can get closer to the neighbor. Here Monroe plays a naive maiden and gives Sherman a “sexual projection surface”, whereby her interchangeability is underlined by not even having a name. In the triangular relationship, she is referred to as "child", which also expresses his feeling of superiority over her. "What is she imagining, just a drink and then I'll throw her out" indicates a strong fear of rejection by women and the fear of not being attractive, whereby the woman is always devalued. There is an object-splitting triangle in which the mother is split off and feelings of guilt arise, which in Sherman lead to paranoia and ideas of size. The superego conflict is not resolved. His fear of abandonment manifests itself in the form that he calls his wife. According to Susanne Kaut's thesis, the protagonist misses the chance to mature because he flees to his wife before the sexual union with the neighbor.

German version

The German dubbing was created in 1955 in the studio of the elite film Franz Schröder in Berlin . The director was Konrad Wagner , who also wrote the dialogue book.

role actor Voice actor
The girl Marilyn Monroe Margot Leonard
Richard Sherman Tom Ewell Arnold Marquis
Helen Sherman Evelyn Keyes Elisabeth Ried
Tom MacKenzie Sonny Tufts Curt Ackermann
Mr. Kruhulik, caretaker Robert Strauss Werner Lieven
Dr. Brubaker Oskar Homolka Walter Richter
Miss Morris, secretary Marguerite Chapman Hannelore Minkus
plumber Victor Moore Carl Heinz Carell

Reviews

“Performed by Billy Wilder in an extremely funny satirizing way. Shine role for Marilyn Monroe. "

- Lexicon of International Films

“The temptations of a husband in a humorous and witty satirical way are presented in an accessible manner. For the big city audience. "

- 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958. Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition. Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 460

“Miss Monroe enriches the film with a special personality and a certain physical something, which may not necessarily correspond to the ideas of the author of the original, but certainly has something for itself. From the moment she enters the scene - in a dress that envelops her shapely body as if it had been artfully poured into it - the famous film star with the silver-blonde hair and the innocent big eyes suggests only one thing. And this suggestion pretty much dominates the whole film. It is - well, why phrase it? Miss Monroe clearly plays the title role. "

- Bosley Crowther : The New York Times

Awards

DVD release

  • The darned 7th year. Cinema Premium Edition . 2 DVD set. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2006.

literature

  • George Axelrod: My wife doesn't hear a word. Comedy in three acts (OT: The Seven Year Itch ). German by HH Carwin . Felix Bloch Erben, Berlin undated [stage manuscript]
  • Susanne Kaut: The Seven Year Itch. In: Theo Piegler (Ed.): “I see something that you don't see” - Psychoanalytical film interpretations. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8379-2034-5 , pp. 51-67.

Web links

Commons : The darn 7th year  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanne Kaut: The Seven Year Itch. In: Theo Piegler (Ed.): “I see something that you don't see” - Psychoanalytical film interpretations. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8379-2034-5 , pp. 51-66.
  2. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam: Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 380.
  3. ^ The darn 7th year in the German dubbing index , accessed on April 17, 2020.