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Some Like It Hot: SE
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Billy Wilder's 1959 romantic comedy is still considered one of the best of the genre, and with good reason - great performances, comic timing and a light, funny script that revolves around two guys (Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis) who find themselves in a bit of trouble and end up trying to romance Marilyn Monroe.
Actually, Jerry (Lemmon) and Joe (Curtis) are two musicians who end up playing a Prohibition-era speakeasy when the place is raided. A mobster named Spats thinks that he's been ratted out, and when the two musicians witness a gang hit, it's time for them to get out of town - and quickly. Their only choice is to join an all-girl group on its way to Florida, where they quickly fall for Sugar Kane (Monroe), a singer seeking love - but there's definitely some problems along the way, including a millionare who falls for Lemmon's character as a female. It's slapstick, for sure, but it's genuinely funny and displays impressive comedic timing as the three main actors really hit their lines right.
And really, the best part of the whole enterprise is Monroe, who reportedly was troublesome on the set, but ends up turning in a remarkable performance that's incredibly sexy and funny. One of the most famous scenes in the picture of course remains as Monroe's solo-singing of "I Wanna Be Loved By You", which is still one of cinema's sexiest sequences. If anything, the picture does seem a bit long - 120 minutes seems a little bit much for the material, but it's a fairly minor complaint as all of the performers are at their best.
The DVD
VIDEO: MGM presents "Some Like It Hot" in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio - unfortunately, it is not anamorphic. Sharpness and detail are often at best good, if not occasionally very good, although some scenes in the black and white film appear noticably soft; the picture seems inconsistent.
Although the picture does not show constant signs of wear, print flaws did appear at an infrequent rate - some, simply distracting, but a couple instances of wear were moderate enough to cause somewhat greater concern. Speckles, marks, dirt, scratches and other damage came up at times throughout the movie. Some scenes appeared mildly grainy, while others seemed to be grain-free.
Overall, MGM's effort here certainly isn't terrible - most of the film is certainly watchable, if not enjoyable - and I've seen films from the era look worse. It's simply that some scenes do suffer from a bit of wear due to age.
SOUND: "Some Like It Hot" is presented here in both its original mono soundtrack and a newly restored Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is what I looked through for this review, but I did flip back and forth at times to compare the general quality between the two tracks. The 5.1 presentation doesn't really change things a great deal, as one might expect - the sound stays mostly mono in nature, with few exceptions.
Still, I found the quality of the 5.1 audio to be very pleasing, if of course not up to the kind of quality that is displayed in more modern pictures. This "digitally enhanced" (or at least that's what the menu says) track offers the dialogue, music and effects clearly and crisply, if occasionally a bit "thin" sounding. I didn't notice any instances of distortion or other similar problems.
MENUS:: Menus are wonderfully animated, with a clip of Monroe singing to start and a background that contains scenes from the movie. It's a great intro for the movie.
EXTRAS:
Nostalgic Look Back: This is a 31 minute interview with Tony Curtis by film critic Leonard Maltin in a famous cafe that was wildly popular at the time and still remains famous today. Curtis remembers a great deal about the proceedings, from the beginings meeting with director Wilder and chatting about the personal problems that Monroe had at the time. He's able to discuss a great deal about the performance and what it was like to work with both director Wilder and his fellow actors.
Trailers: Trailer for "Some Like It Hot" and trailers for other Billy Wilder films - "Avanti", "Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes", "Fortune Cookie", "Kiss Me Stupid", "Irma La Douce" and "The Apartment".
Pressbook Gallery: A large gallery that shows images from the original pressbook. An additional feature on some of the image is the option to select a section of the image for an enlarged view.
Virtual Hall Of Memories: This is a featurette that sends us down a little computer generated hallway, which stops at a framed image and then offers clips from the film and rare behind-the-scenes images of Monroe, Curtis, Lemmon and Billy Wilder. About 16-17 minutes in length.
Memories of the Sweet Sues: This 11 minute featurette offers the girls who played the girl band members getting together to remember the days of production - there's some gossip between the group and a few great stories. Definitely worth watching for fans of the film. They even watch some scenes and comment on them during the documentary (we see them in a box in the lower corner)
Final Thoughts: "Some Like It Hot" is a classic comedy definitely worth watching. MGM's disc provides generally good image quality, although some scenes do suffer from some noticable wear due to age. Sound quality is fine for a film of its age, and there's even some solid supplemental features. A basic edition is also available.
Billy Wilder's 1959 romantic comedy is still considered one of the best of the genre, and with good reason - great performances, comic timing and a light, funny script that revolves around two guys (Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis) who find themselves in a bit of trouble and end up trying to romance Marilyn Monroe.
Actually, Jerry (Lemmon) and Joe (Curtis) are two musicians who end up playing a Prohibition-era speakeasy when the place is raided. A mobster named Spats thinks that he's been ratted out, and when the two musicians witness a gang hit, it's time for them to get out of town - and quickly. Their only choice is to join an all-girl group on its way to Florida, where they quickly fall for Sugar Kane (Monroe), a singer seeking love - but there's definitely some problems along the way, including a millionare who falls for Lemmon's character as a female. It's slapstick, for sure, but it's genuinely funny and displays impressive comedic timing as the three main actors really hit their lines right.
And really, the best part of the whole enterprise is Monroe, who reportedly was troublesome on the set, but ends up turning in a remarkable performance that's incredibly sexy and funny. One of the most famous scenes in the picture of course remains as Monroe's solo-singing of "I Wanna Be Loved By You", which is still one of cinema's sexiest sequences. If anything, the picture does seem a bit long - 120 minutes seems a little bit much for the material, but it's a fairly minor complaint as all of the performers are at their best.
The DVD
VIDEO: MGM presents "Some Like It Hot" in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio - unfortunately, it is not anamorphic. Sharpness and detail are often at best good, if not occasionally very good, although some scenes in the black and white film appear noticably soft; the picture seems inconsistent.
Although the picture does not show constant signs of wear, print flaws did appear at an infrequent rate - some, simply distracting, but a couple instances of wear were moderate enough to cause somewhat greater concern. Speckles, marks, dirt, scratches and other damage came up at times throughout the movie. Some scenes appeared mildly grainy, while others seemed to be grain-free.
Overall, MGM's effort here certainly isn't terrible - most of the film is certainly watchable, if not enjoyable - and I've seen films from the era look worse. It's simply that some scenes do suffer from a bit of wear due to age.
SOUND: "Some Like It Hot" is presented here in both its original mono soundtrack and a newly restored Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is what I looked through for this review, but I did flip back and forth at times to compare the general quality between the two tracks. The 5.1 presentation doesn't really change things a great deal, as one might expect - the sound stays mostly mono in nature, with few exceptions.
Still, I found the quality of the 5.1 audio to be very pleasing, if of course not up to the kind of quality that is displayed in more modern pictures. This "digitally enhanced" (or at least that's what the menu says) track offers the dialogue, music and effects clearly and crisply, if occasionally a bit "thin" sounding. I didn't notice any instances of distortion or other similar problems.
MENUS:: Menus are wonderfully animated, with a clip of Monroe singing to start and a background that contains scenes from the movie. It's a great intro for the movie.
EXTRAS:
Nostalgic Look Back: This is a 31 minute interview with Tony Curtis by film critic Leonard Maltin in a famous cafe that was wildly popular at the time and still remains famous today. Curtis remembers a great deal about the proceedings, from the beginings meeting with director Wilder and chatting about the personal problems that Monroe had at the time. He's able to discuss a great deal about the performance and what it was like to work with both director Wilder and his fellow actors.
Trailers: Trailer for "Some Like It Hot" and trailers for other Billy Wilder films - "Avanti", "Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes", "Fortune Cookie", "Kiss Me Stupid", "Irma La Douce" and "The Apartment".
Pressbook Gallery: A large gallery that shows images from the original pressbook. An additional feature on some of the image is the option to select a section of the image for an enlarged view.
Virtual Hall Of Memories: This is a featurette that sends us down a little computer generated hallway, which stops at a framed image and then offers clips from the film and rare behind-the-scenes images of Monroe, Curtis, Lemmon and Billy Wilder. About 16-17 minutes in length.
Memories of the Sweet Sues: This 11 minute featurette offers the girls who played the girl band members getting together to remember the days of production - there's some gossip between the group and a few great stories. Definitely worth watching for fans of the film. They even watch some scenes and comment on them during the documentary (we see them in a box in the lower corner)
Final Thoughts: "Some Like It Hot" is a classic comedy definitely worth watching. MGM's disc provides generally good image quality, although some scenes do suffer from some noticable wear due to age. Sound quality is fine for a film of its age, and there's even some solid supplemental features. A basic edition is also available.
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