[.ca] How to Murder Your Wife (Widescreen)

From Amazon.com:
"Being married is the normal way to live... isn't it?" The note of doubt at the end of that statement is fully exploited in How to Murder Your Wife (1965), a barbed piece of war-between-the-sexes comedy. Cartoonist Jack Lemmon, an exponent of the Playboy philosophy, lives in the ultimate swinging bachelor townhouse ("Everything masculine and perfect," manservant Terry-Thomas says approvingly) until a drunken evening leads to marriage with an Italian bombshell (Virna Lisi). What to do? The whole movie seems to exist in order to arrive at Lemmon's clever courtroom oration in the final half-hour, which is tartly funny if datedly misogynistic: he unleashes a male fantasy of trashing the gray-flannel suit and late-model station wagon for Hefneresque freedom. The wheel-spinning of the early reels is curious coming from screenwriter George Axelrod, usually a reliable satirist. He had better hours than this, notably in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Lord Love a Duck. --Robert Horton

Very confusingly titled comedy movie, entertaining cast:
The movie title is really misleading for this mildly satiric comedy that often time may felt overboard at present yet entertaining most of the time, thanks to Terry-Thomas, Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi. Its a pleasure to watch Virna Lisi, a classic beauty! Watch out for the great classic english comedy actor Terry-Thomas. He manages to deliver any piece of conversation with such a unique style of his own it is simply hilarious to watch.

Verry funny and with an Italian twist.:
I believe that this is my favorite Jack Lemmon movie. Jack plays a confirmed bachelor who has a very ordered life until he meets Verna Lisi who turns his whole world upside down. He tries to change things but in the end is very happy. It really has nothing to do with the murder of his own wife.

The Good-natured Sanity of Satire:
There is absolutely nothing like good-natured satire for escape from the pressures of the workaday world, which insists on everyone being reasonable and restrained in their ire toward others. In the genre of high satire, "How to Murder Your Wife" takes one poke after another at the guys AND their ladies, both of whose unrealistic expectations toward one another periodically drive each other to the brink of ... could it be MURDER? This is STRICTLY for laughs -- and of course, paradoxically the best laughs come when a good moral results from the logical playing out of the perfectly orchestrated tomfoolery in this classic film. We need satire -- much more than we think -- to remain good-natured, even sane. It alone gives us the perspective to let down our self-righteous hair and laugh at ourselves. One is only certain that he has a friend when his friend isn't afraid to insult him once in awhile! Remember the profound psychological function of the Medieval court jester, alone of the King's subjects who could ridicule the King mercilessly ... and so keep him human in aspect. The Marx Brothers knew themselves to be Society's collective court jesters with a holy mission to insult the upper classes, who were taking themselves so perilously seriously in the '20s and '30s. So, may our insecurities of male and female social prerogatives vanish in a cloud of wholesome laughter in this ingenious stroke of good will -- and may we benefit from more and more good satire in future productions. For it is the perfect irony of this film that its theme is actually the passionate pursuit of harmony between the sexes, and not their mutual demise. Ah, give us a second helping of wit, Sir Terry Thomas!

It's a men's joke!:
Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is a popular cartoonist. 463 newspapers buy "The adventures of Bash Brannigan" because they know their author draws on real-life experience. His lawyer Harold (Eddie Mayehoff) gives free vent to his moral indignation: "pornography! violence! sadism!" but Stanley remains complacent: " I never asked Bash to do anything I haven't done myself". He is immune to Harold's sermon who can't wait to see him henpecked. But Stanley has perfected the skill of lying in a woman's arms without falling in her hands. He owns a luxurious townhouse in New York and Charles (Terry-Thomas), his distinguished and stuck-up butler (He calls himself "Mr. Ford's man") runs the household, awakes him, escorts him to the shower, weighs him out (160 pounds) and prepares healthy meals. In short: Stanley leads the life that readers of the "Playboy magazine" dream of. One day he goes to a friend's wedding (The bride forgot her shoes in Stanley's bedroom), but the wedding he celebrates instead is his own: He wakes up with a hangover and discovers that he married the girl who jumped out of the wedding cake (Virna Lisi). Since the new Mrs. Ford has assets (she took part in a beauty contest) he tries to break the news gently to her: he wants a divorce...Mrs. Ford is amused to see his pantomime: She does not understand one word because she comes from Italy...Harold is delighted and lists Stanley's obligations:"You got to make a new will...health check...insurance". Harold's wife Edna (Claire Trevor) informs Mrs. Ford that she is entitled to a mink-coat, a pet-dog and her husband's credit card. Charles has dark forebodings. The foundations of his cosmic system are shaken when his new lady takes possession of her house. Duel in the kitchen: Charles is calories-conscíous, Mrs. Ford prepares lasagne-souffle with a pound of butter. Both wait for their lord and master to pass his judgment. Stanley settles on the souffle - and forfeits his butler. Stanley's comic-strip hero follows his creator's example: "Yes (Gulp)" says the bridegroom. "He He" says the bride. Mrs. Ford's qualities do not miss their fire. Still. Stanley's home becomes a boudoir. He develops a paunch - his appetite is good. She makes a do-it-yourselfer out of him and a sissy and she controls his liquor-ration. Goaded by Edna she inspects her husband in his no-ladies-allowed-club and startles some half-naked men in the sauna. Her contrition comes too late: Stanley decides to free not himself but his comic-strip hero from the manacles of matrimony. He smuggles the prototype of an ecstasy-pill in his wife's drink. Brrrp! and she is dancing on the table. Blaaap! and he drags her off on his shoulder. Yes, and then he commits his "murder": He throws a dummy in the gloppeta-machine and buries it in cement. His wife sees his new Bash Brannigan cartoon and gathers that he is longing for her death... A deeply moving moment all the more effective because it comes unexpected. This film is the best sex-comedy in a series that started 1959 with PILLOW TALK and ended 1965 with THE GREAT RACE. These films were demonised and nagged to death by calamity-howlers who could not endure the sight of a happy audience. I was never offended by the alleged "sexism" - why shouldn't women be capable to take a men's joke with humor? The plot is a yarn, the courtroom scene a classic, the score Neil Hefti's best and the acting fantastic. This is the one film where Jack Lemmon has the opportunity to play the playboy - and he does so with boundless relish. Irrepressible, undaunted and with his unmistakable sense of humor. And he did all the stunts himself! Virna Lisi is irresistible as his fond appendage who coddles her husband until he becomes a softie. The only objectionable point is the mistreatment of sympathetic Claire Trevor (STAGECOACH, KEY LARGO). But, as Orson Welles once said: "Husbands should revolt from time to time. Even the best circus-number becomes boring if the beast is too tame".

A guy thing...and loads of fun...:
In our PC society, I can still look back and grin affecionately, considering that this film was made at a time when "battle-of-the-sexes" humor was at a peak (Doris Day, anyone?) Lemmon's a natural, and Terry-Thomas actually steals the film for that reason. Fairly formulaic, the men are made to look more idiotic than the women, though if anyone wants to take issue, check out Claire Trevor's manipulative harpee witch. Virna Lisi is, indeed, stunningly gorgeous, and very endearing. This is a "nice" movie; not a great one, nor one that lives on in history. It has Lemmon, Terry-Thomas, Lisi, Trevor, Eddie Mayehoff (a riot), and should be taken for exactly what it is: a fun, mindless romp that entertains. Lighten up. I still think this should've been nominated for Sound Effects...I never forgot the "Gloppita-gloppita" machine. Don't judge; enjoy!