New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Ajami ***
• The Girl on the Train ***
• Greenberg **1/2
• Mother
• Repo Men **1/2
• The Runaways
• More

• Armored
• Astro Boy
• Broken Embraces
• Dillinger Is Dead
• Fallen Angels (Blu-Ray)
• The Fourth Kind
• Ninja Assassin
• The Princess and the Frog
• Undead: The Vampire Collection
• Wonderful World
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2009
• More

• 2009: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My 2003 Interview with Brittany Murphy
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009
• Richard Linklater
• John Woo
• Jared and Jerusha Hess
• Essential Halloween Movies
• Michael Stuhlbarg
• Jane Campion
• Bobcat Goldthwait
• Hugh Dancy
• Kathryn Bigelow
• Willem Dafoe: The 2009 CineVegas Interview
• David Carradine
• A 2002 Interview with Edward Asner
• Vinessa Shaw
• Henry Selick
• 2008: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2008
• Bruce Campbell
• Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei
• Josh Brolin
• A Tribute to Paul Newman
• Steve Coogan on Hamlet 2
• Manny Farber (1917-2008)
• Bernie Mac (1957-2008)
• Emily Mortimer
• Brad Anderson
• Don Cheadle at CineVegas
• Abel Ferrara at CineVegas
• Tina Sinatra
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006)
• Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut
• Alfonso Cuarón Interview
• Guillermo Del Toro Interview
• Christmas Movies
• Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• Actress Interview Gallery
• The Top 100
• More Features and Interviews

• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon
• Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard
• Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs
• A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller
• Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
• Agee on Film, by James Agee
• Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
• Negative Space, by Manny Farber
• 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Irma la Douce (1963)

Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)

Lady of the Night

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Irma La Douce on DVD

Billy Wilder somehow sustains the lively pace and humor for the two-and-a-half hour color comedy Irma la Douce (1963, MGM/UA, $14.95) in which Shirley MacLaine stars as a popular turn-of-the-century Paris hooker who falls in love with squeaky-clean beat cop Jack Lemmon (the pair re-teaming after the highly successful The Apartment). This was perhaps Wilder's last modest hit, but it's also one of his lesser films; it's difficult to entirely justify the overwhelming length. André Previn won an Oscar for his score. MacLaine was nominated for Best Actress, as was Joseph LaShelle's color cinematography.

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi, Hope Holiday, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney, Paul Dubov, Howard McNear, Cliff Osmond, Diki Lerner, Herb Jones
Written by: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond, based on a play by Alexandre Breffort
Directed by: Billy Wilder
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 144 minutes
Date: July 10, 2003