Product Details

• Actors: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: August 12, 1997
• Run Time: 143 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304508530
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,722 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In 1963, Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce was one of the biggest box-office hits of the year, grossing twice as much as The Great Escape and The Birds. Yet this popular movie has been almost completely forgotten by film history, even to fans of Wilder or stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine (the same trio had made a masterpiece, The Apartment, three years earlier). It doesn't represent the best work of those legends, but Irma provides tart entertainment. At least some of the movie's popularity can be chalked up to its subject, which was pretty risqué for the time: Lemmon plays a Paris policeman who falls in love with a prostitute (MacLaine). The script was adapted from a stage musical, but Wilder decided to cut the songs, instead developing the humor and romance into his own blend of bittersweet perversity; this Technicolor-fantasy Paris is kind of a dark cousin to Gigi. Lemmon is in his prime period of hand-wringing self-doubt, and MacLaine is perfectly in tune with his rhythms, especially in scenes that add tenderness to the sometimes queasy mix of moods. Ironically--given the nixing of the songs--the film won its only Oscar for André Previn's adaptation of the stage play's music into a wordless orchestral score. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MacLaine and Lemmon in Parisian backstreet fairytale, May 3, 2005

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Irma La Douce (DVD)

Billy Wilder's 1963 adaptation of the successful stage musical IRMA LA DOUCE still makes for an entertaining movie experience. Shirley MacLaine is simply perfect for the title role with Jack Lemmon absolutely hilarious as her comical suitor.

Irma la Douce (Shirley MacLaine) plies her trade on the Rue Casanova of Paris with her fellow lovelies (with such names as Lolita, Amazon Annie, Mimi the MauMau and Suzette Wong). Into Irma's life comes the noble and honest policeman Nestor (Jack Lemmon) who is soon kicked off the job because he refuses to take bribes and compromise his own conscience. Nestor goes to live with Irma as her `business manager' but wants her to give up her profession, so he `invents' the filthy-rich Lord X to become her sole client, and takes a night-job to help the shortfall. All manner of hilarious complications ensue as Nestor's double life soon begins to spin out of control!

Based on the successful stage musical (music by Marguerite Monnot, lyrics by Alexandre Breffort), IRMA LA DOUCE was re-tooled by Wilder as a straight comedy piece. It works quite well either way, though I must confess that as an admirer of the stage play, it would have been smashing for Shirley MacLaine to perform that gorgeous score. The movie does retain the jaunty "Dis-donc, Dis-donc" and Andre Previn's score makes good use out of Monnot's music, particularly "Our Language of Love".

The strong cast also includes Lou Jacobi as the owner of the Bistro Moustache, Bruce Yarnell as Irma's previous manager Hippolyte and Billy Wilder stalwart Joan Shawlee as Amazon Annie.

The evocative costumes were designed by Orry-Kelly and the unbilled narrator at the beginning of the film is none other than Louis Jourdan. Shirley MacLaine was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance here and the movie itself was one of the year's top-grossers.

The DVD presents the movie in a nicely-letterboxed 16:9 print. Colours are full and rich and the soundtrack is stridant in 2-channel stereo. The only extra is the original trailer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wilder, Lemmon and MacLaine!...Who Could Ask For More?, July 10, 2005

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Irma La Douce [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Well, we already knew the teaming of Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and director Billy Wilder was magic. Just have a look at "The Apartment" for proof of that. And here they are, together again,putting their wonderful spell on the viewer in the delightfully funny "Irma La Douce".

"Don't believe that Paris, is the city that never sleeps", says the opening narration. At 5:00 in the morning, the only sights and sounds on the streets of Paris are the sanitiation workers. But...not too far from the big city, is another district, and it's bustling with workers in the meat and fish market, and produce vendors preparing their goods. You will also find find a street lined with cafes and hotels, and the women that work them. They claim their stations, dressed in colorful and slinky garb, with fitting names like "Amazon Annie", Kikki the Cossack" and "Lolita" , waiting for that one big catch..the one that will set them up for life. They are "pro"fessionals! And there is none more professional than "Irma La Douce"(Aka Irma, the sweet). Dressed in her trademark green stockings, and always toting her little dog(also dressed in green, and a bit of a boozehound), she's the most sought after pro in the neighborhood. She's the best!

Everybody wins in this business. The girls turn their money over to their "managers", the managers bribe the cops, and the cafe owner serves up the drinks and words of wisdom. Everything runs like clockwork. That is until the day, an honest cop is assigned the beat. His first order of business is to make a raid on the girls(costing him his job). He falls big time for Irma though, and must figure out a way to keep her off the streets. And so Voila! ...dressed as a rich Englishman, he becomes Irma's only client, and wears himself out in the process. Watching him keep up the pace, working to pay Irma the big bucks, while trying to keep his identity a secret is as fun now, as it was over 40 years ago.

Jack Lemmon is at his comedic best. He'll have you grinning all the way through. Shirley MacLaine's performance of the sweetest and sexist pro ever will have you saying "ooo la la" . You'll fall in love with Irma immediatley. The screenplay (Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond) is one of the cleverest and wittiest written. The film is nealry 2 and 1/2 hours, and not only does it go by quickly, you will wish there was more.

A wonderful supporting cast includes Lou Jacobi, who plays "Moustache", the philosophizing bartender, who has been everything from a Lawyer to a Doctor in his past("But that's another story..."), Herschel Bernardi, Hope Holiday and Joan Shawlee. The costumes by Orry-Kelly are marvelous, and a score by Andre Previn, completes this great crew.

A classic comedy and a class act..a must have for fans of Wilder, Lemmon and MacLaine.

Merci Beaucoup....enjoy...Laurie

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A Couch in New York

Some Like It Hot

Diamonds

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars But that's another story . . ., September 24, 2002

By 

the wizard of uz (Studio City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Irma La Douce (DVD)

It's astounding. This is one of the funniest comedies ever made and few people have even heard of it.

Everyone's seen "Some Like it Hot" (I HOPE!) but even die-hard Billy Wilder fans have missed out on this one.

Like "The Apartment" it's co-written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine and is directed by the man himself.

There's one big difference, though. "The Apartment" has been justly acclaimed as a masterpiece of cinema, but despite what critics have written about it, it is NOT a 'romantic comedy.' It's a drama. A poignant love story with a happy ending.

This one's a screwball comedy. A first class farce.

But, that's another story . . .