Billy Wilder Film Festival At Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre March 18, 2004

Wilder Laughter
With Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, James Cagney &
More!
Friday, March 19 & Saturday, March 20

Spring Comedy Festival
At the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square, Jersey City, N.J.

Tel. (201) 798-6055

Web. www.loewsjersey.org

Friends of the Loew's continues our tradition of ushering in Spring with
laughter by presenting three of the brightest comedies by Billy Wilder,
one of America's most prolific movie makers, and featuring some of the
greatest stars of the mid-20th century, some in familiar roles and
others playing decidedly against type in one way or the other:

"Sabrina"
Starring Humphrey Bogart & Audrey Hepburn
(1954, 113 min., Paramount, B&W)
Academy Award for Edith Head's Costume Design

Friday, March 19, 8PM: A romantic comedy that's part fairy tale,
Sabrina features Humphrey Bogart playing somewhat against type, in a
role originally intended for Carey Grant, as the protagonist who knows
the price of everything but has no concept of the value of love.
William Holden plays Bogart's younger brother who wants to marry for
love, not money. Audrey Hepburn is a Cinderella-type character; her
waif-like vulnerability and angelic beauty, as always, make her perfect
for such a part. Wilder, who directed, produced and shared screenplay
credit for Sabrina uses snappy banter and double entendres to play on
such themes as commerce vs. love, cynicism vs. romanticism, sex vs.
love. In typical Wilder form, he doesn't hit the audience over the head
with these themes, but rather uses just a wink and a nod to play them
out as we are thoroughly charmed by watching Bogart and Hepburn
inexorably fall for each other.

"One, Two, Three"
Starring James Cagney
(1961, 110 min, United Artists, B&W)

***A Rare Big Screen Presentation of This Title, Screened in an Archival
Print***

Saturday, March 20, 4 PM: In his last starring role in a theatrically
released motion picture, Jimmy Cagney gave a virtuoso turn in a kind of
role he was not best known for - rapid fire comedy. He plays a Coca
Cola executive assigned to manage the company's West Berlin office in
the days just prior to the construction of the Berlin Wall. Cagney
agrees to look after his Atlanta-based boss' daughter when she visits
Berlin. When she arrives, she announces to Cagney's horror that she has
married an uninspiring East German Communist. Cagney conspires with the
East German Police to arrest the bridegroom and breakup the marriage,
only to learn to his greater horror that his boss' daughter is pregnant.
As fast as you can say "one, two, three", Cagney must reverse course
and conspire to get her husband released and then pass him off, despite
his determined anti-capitalist pronouncements, as acceptable to Cagney's
decidedly pro-capitalist boss. Mayhem and hilarity ensue. This
lightening-fast, breathless farce sends up everything from soft drink
capitalism to Communist hypocracy, Soviet disorganization, male lechery,
female giddiness, postwar Germany and American pop culture. Cagney and
director Billy Wilder never let up the pace for even a moment, down to
the final punch-line.

"Some Like It Hot"
Starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon
(1959, 120 min, United Artist, B&W)

***Screened in an Archival Print***

Saturday, March 20, 8 PM: Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon give flawless
fish-out-of-water performances playing decidedly against type as two
musicians who disguise themselves as women in order to hide from a
mobster played by George Raft. Marilyn Monroe is certainly in character,
and turns in one of the best performances of her career, as a bubble
headed, sweet and devastatingly sexy singer who the two boys - or is it
girls? - fall head over high heels for. Genuine hilarity ensues as
Curtis and Lemmon try to woo Monroe through elaborate gender-bending
ruses. The script is riddled with hilarious set pieces and movie
in-jokes. Some Like It Hot was remarkably ahead of its time, providing
both timeless laughs and sly gender commentary. The film also stands
out as a classic example of the heights to which all-out farce can
aspire, achieving an uncontrived giddiness through both plot
manipulation and the finely tuned work of its performers. The movie has
not tarnished at all with time, and remains one of the few films that
can still make drag seem a novel and innovative subject. Some Like It
Hot was the biggest money-making comedy up to 1959.

Admission for each film is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors and children 12
years old and younger.

The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre presents its classic films on a 50
foot wide screen using carbon arc illumination for the brightest,
whitest light.

The Loew's Jersey Theatre, located at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, is
easily reached by car or mass transit from throughout the Metropolitan
Area. Ample off-street paid parking is available. For directions or
additional information, call (201) 798-6055 or visit www.loewsjersey.org

Classic Film Weekends at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre are
presented by Friends of the Loew's, Inc., which operates the Loew's as a
non-profit arts center.