The No Music Musical

 Irma la Douce (1963) – A naive police officers falls for an idealistic prostitute in Paris.

Directed by Billy Wilder                Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemon, Lou Jacobi

Why I Liked It – Fun, lighthearted silliness.

There’s a lot that shows this movies age here.  The cleaned up Hollywood version of sex workers.  These are picture perfect young beauties whose work gets a jolly wink-wink-nudge-nudge.  There is one exception to that when Irma’s (MacLaine) pimp, Hippolyte (Bruce Yarnell), slaps her around a little.  The word “pimp” is never heard, of course.  It’s a dark and dangerous business being treated in a musical comedy style.  You either accept the approach or not.  I rolled my eyes and kept going.  Over all, I was rewarded.

Oh, and about the musical part of musical comedy.  There isn’t any.  The movie is based on a musical, but Wilder didn’t feel comfortable with the music and dancing scenes required.  The movie looks and feels like a musical, without a single musical number in it.

So what do you get here?  Two great performers doing their thing.  I will admit that I don’t always find Shirley MacLaine my cup of tea.  In this role, she won me over.  Her version of an idealistic prostitute is ridiculous and endearing.  She’s proud of the work she does and how she supports her man.  Yeah, that conversation with Jack Lemon’s naive Nestor Patou is pretty cringe worthy.  It’s a product of its time is the only defense I can offer.  Lemon meanwhile is doing his patented twitchy little man with a big heart.  Patou was transferred away from a quiet assignment he loved to the red light district.  A place that has rules he doesn’t understand.  He and MacLaine work wonders here.  If you can work your way past the nonsense, you’ll be able to enjoy the silliness of the movie.

And that’s what “Irma la Douce” does best.  It’s the glossy surface of a musical with lots of energy, some snappy dialogue and just enough action to fill in for the dance numbers.  There are some amazing character actors in supporting roles too.  Herschel Bernardi is Patou’s exasperated superior officer Inspector Lefevre.  Lou Jacobi is “Mustache” (seriously, that’s character’s name, and for obvious reasons), the voice of wisdom and owner of the local cafe where everyone gathers.  Howard McNear is instantly recognizable to a certain generation of the audience.  He is best known for “Floyd the Barber” on “The Andy Griffith Show”.  His character here is cut from the same cloth.

So, a bit of silliness with some wonderful performers in a movie that feels like it’s missing something.  Which it is.  You expect a production number to break out at any moment, but it never does.

Trivia notes – Grace Lee Whitney, known to all Star Trek TOS fans as Yeoman Janice Rand, plays one of the professional ladies here – Kiki the Cossack.  Also James Caan’s film debut.

Rating – *** Worth A Look

The trailers for this movie are weird.  Almost nothing about the story, at all.