Recently accorded the status of the funniest film ever made in an American Film Institute poll, Billy Wilder's 1959 cross-dressing comedy masterpiece is now further celebrated in a comprehensive and exhaustive book published by Taschen. For exhaustive also read weighty: it's a book that you feel is making you physically stronger each and every time you pick it up.
Those in need of stimulation of the physical and entertainment variety will therefore be delighted to learn that Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot is also thoroughly unputdownable, offering up a treasure trove of facts, anecdotes and sumptuous black and white and colour photographs and illustrations (easy to see why Wilder decided to shoot in black and white, colourised Lemmon and Curtis look like particularly downtrodden transvestites). Immaculately conceived, it's a no expense spared kind of product (hence the prohibitive cover price), all wrapped up in a lush, tactile velvety yellow cover, which makes it the perfect book to curl up both to and indeed on.
The book is divided into three beautifully curated sections. The first, 'The Film', features an in-depth making of account and two drafts of the script (a first and final - complete with informative margin additions). Like all the sections, 'The Film' is copiously illustrated with wonderfully produced stills. The second, 'Interviews', is perhaps the centerpiece, featuring intelligent, perceptive interviews with all the key participants: Billy & Audrey Wilder, Jack Lemmon - in one of his final conversations - , Tony Curtis, Walter Mirisch, Barbara Diamond (widow of scribe I.A.L Diamond) and perhaps most interestingly Russ Elwell and Carvil Veech, two locals who watched the filming process at the Hotel Del Coronado. Each subject rekindles valuable memories about the production (humorous if oft repeated anecdotes are duly recited), whilst also helping to contextualise the working methods (also photographically depicted), production problems (Lemmon and Curtis were obviously a drag to costume in every sense of the word) and the film's current lofty status in cinematic culture.
The final section, 'Scrapbook', is a film historians dream, featuring as it does original reviews (yes, the critics got it right), magazine articles, national and international campaigns and attendant marketing tie-in's. The section closes with full cast and crew details and affectionate biographies of principal cast and crewmembers.
The content is matched by exhilarating and luxuriant design that extends to a Billy Wilder bookmark and a faux-period Marilyn Monroe notebook that nestles cosily in the tome's back cover. An attractive presentation box is also thoughtfully provided.
Faultlessly edited by Alison Castle (Dan Aulier conducts the interviews), Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot at times feels like the only popular film book you'll ever need. Save up, treat yourself or if you're feeling extra generous, post-season of goodwill, somebody else.
Reviewed by Jason Wood
