How To Murder Your Wife (1964 released 1965 Richard Quine)

From the off, as Terry Thomas addresses the audience - the men in the audience, as the wives wouldn't want to see this picture and are at home in their kitchens - it's knowingly sending up the old-fashioned attitudes of the bachelors, and ends on a reassuring note - the man needs the woman. "Now's your chance - go in there and finish her off." George Axelrod's the writer, who preferred comedy, though let us not forget also adapted Richard Condon's 'The Manchurian Candidate' rather brilliantly in 1962. He had started writing for radio, then television, and his first play was a hit - 'The Seven Year Itch'. His next Broadway hit 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter' was completely changed for its film adaptation.

Lemmon's great as usual - a real one-off - but Terry-Thomas and Verna Lisi are strong in support.

And I would have to say if I was teaching how to score a movie, then this would be a really fun example. For it's not only Neal Hefti's themes that are interesting - there's one for the Brash Brannigan capers, one for Lemmon and Lisi canoodling, an Italian theme just for her, the funeral marches etc. - but it's also the way he arranges the themes as needed to really suit a particular scene or moment. The minute people started putting pop songs into movies, that fine art started to get lost - you rarely if ever get it now.

I was only thinking a couple of days before of Lemmon saying' You no speak-a de English" and I couldn't remember what film it was from!