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Irma la Douce

  • 19631963
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 2h 27m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
19K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,415
5,976
Irma la Douce (1963)
Watch ’Official Trailer’
Play trailer1:14
1 Video
99+ Photos
  • Comedy
  • Romance
A policeman falls in love with a prostitute, Irma, but doesn't want her seeing other men. So he creates an alter-ego, a wealthy Englishman who will be her only customer. Seems like a solid e... Read allA policeman falls in love with a prostitute, Irma, but doesn't want her seeing other men. So he creates an alter-ego, a wealthy Englishman who will be her only customer. Seems like a solid enough plan - what could possibly go wrong?A policeman falls in love with a prostitute, Irma, but doesn't want her seeing other men. So he creates an alter-ego, a wealthy Englishman who will be her only customer. Seems like a solid enough plan - what could possibly go wrong?
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
19K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
2,415
5,976
  • Director
    • Billy Wilder
  • Writers
    • Alexandre Breffort(play)
    • Billy Wilder
    • I.A.L. Diamond
  • Stars
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Lou Jacobi
Top credits
  • Director
    • Billy Wilder
  • Writers
    • Alexandre Breffort(play)
    • Billy Wilder
    • I.A.L. Diamond
  • Stars
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Shirley MacLaine
    • Lou Jacobi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 78User reviews
    • 59Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 6 wins & 7 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:14
    Official Trailer

    Photos133

    "Irma La Douce" Jack Lemmon 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine
    "Irma La Douce" Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon 1963  UA  / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Jack Lemmon 1963 UA  / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon 1963 UA  / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Shirley MacLaine 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Shirley MacLaine 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Jack Lemmon 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Jack Lemmon 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine 1963 UA / MPTV
    "Irma La Douce" Herschel Bernardi, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon 1963 UA / MPTV

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Lemmon
    Jack Lemmon
    • Nestor Patou…
    Shirley MacLaine
    Shirley MacLaine
    • Irma La Douce
    Lou Jacobi
    Lou Jacobi
    • Moustache
    Bruce Yarnell
    Bruce Yarnell
    • Hippolyte
    Herschel Bernardi
    Herschel Bernardi
    • Inspector Lefevre
    Hope Holiday
    Hope Holiday
    • Lolita
    Joan Shawlee
    Joan Shawlee
    • Amazon Annie
    Grace Lee Whitney
    Grace Lee Whitney
    • Kiki - the Cossack
    Paul Dubov
    Paul Dubov
    • Andre
    Howard McNear
    Howard McNear
    • Concierge
    Cliff Osmond
    Cliff Osmond
    • Police Sergeant
    Diki Lerner
    • Jojo
    Herb Jones
    • Casablanca Charlie
    Ruth Earl
    • One of the Zebra Twins
    Jane Earl
    • One of the Zebra Twins
    Tura Satana
    Tura Satana
    • Suzette Wong
    Lou Krugman
    • Customer #1
    James Brown
    James Brown
    • Customer from Texas
    • Director
      • Billy Wilder
    • Writers
      • Alexandre Breffort(play)
      • Billy Wilder
      • I.A.L. Diamond
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The pimps' union is called the "Mecs (Guys or Blokes) Paris Protective Association" (MPPA), which also stands for "Motion Picture Producers Association", an organization which had given Director Billy Wilder some trouble.
    • Goofs
      The shadow of the "boom" can be seen on the brown wall, at the right of the screen, just after Lemmon shows up in MacLaine's apartment, following his jailbreak. It shows up behind Bernardi, just after MacLaine's sarcasm that Lemmon could be found in jail.
    • Quotes

      Moustache: But that's another story...

    • Connections
      Alternate-language version of Irma la Douce (1972)
    • Soundtracks
      Ah ! Dis Donc
      Music by Marguerite Monnot

    User reviews78

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    "But That's Another Story"
    When I first saw Irma La Douce as much as I liked it, I was puzzled by the fact that Billy Wilder had chosen to do this hit musical without any songs in it. Very much like Fanny from a few years ago which also had a French setting and came to the screen without its score. The Broadway cast album was a staple in my house and I certainly enjoyed the songs that Keith Mitchell and Elizabeth Seal and the rest of the cast did on Broadway.

    What made it more puzzling was the presence of Bruce Yarnell in the movie cast, the possessor of a really nice baritone voice, he played opposite Ethel Merman in the Lincoln Center revival of Annie Get Your Gun. That together with the fact Shirley MacLaine first made her mark in musical roles, in fact she had starred in the screen version of Can-Can the two years before.

    Well, according to the recent biography of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov in fact this film started out as a musical. Somewhere there is some footage of MacLaine, Yarnell, possibly even Jack Lemmon and Lou Jacobi doing some musical numbers lying in a vault somewhere. Wilder said he thought the numbers slowed the pace of the story and midpoint in the film he just scrapped what he had shot and didn't bother with the rest.

    Personally I wish he had kept the numbers in, maybe it would have made Irma La Douce run too long. Who knows maybe we'll get to see them some day.

    Shirley MacLaine got an Oscar nomination for her performance in the title role. She's a good natured working girl who has the misfortune to get busted by the one cop in Paris who is not winking at prostitution on his first day on his new beat. That would be Jack Lemmon who for his honest law enforcement gets himself fired.

    That far from ends it as Lemmon falls for MacLaine and like he did in The Apartment sees himself as her savior. The rest of the film is the ridiculous lengths Lemmon goes to save MacLaine from her life of sin and debauchery.

    His one confidante is Lou Jacobi who plays Moustache the owner of a local bistro where the girls and their mecs(that's French for pimp) hang out. His role was originally intended for Charles Laughton.

    Billy Wilder has a well deserved reputation as a cynical observer of humankind and had some run ins with several Hollywood greats. But he became an unabashed admirer of Charles Laughton after working with him on Witness for the Prosecution. The tenderest part of that Wilder biography tells about how Wilder kept visiting Laughton up to the end discussing the part with both of them knowing it was never to be. Yet I wish Laughton had lived to do the part. It would really have been special.

    Bruce Yarnell's part is that of MacLaine's mec. His career too was tragically cut short by a plane crash that he was killed in later in the decade. Terrific voice, nice screen and stage presence, what a terrible thing to happen.

    Though I would have liked to have seen the musical, I can't fault Billy Wilder's production of Irma La Douce. The fact that this came to the screen at all was further demonstration of the Code finally being lifted from the backs of the creative.

    Maybe we will see a full blown musical adaptation of Irma La Douce some day. But that's another story.
    helpful•33
    11
    • bkoganbing
    • Dec 28, 2006

    FAQ7

    • What is 'Irma la Douce' about?
    • Is "Irma la Douce" based on a book?
    • How do you translate "Douce"?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 8, 1963 (Canada)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Sweet Irma
    • Filming locations
      • Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Phalanx Productions
      • The Mirisch Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 27 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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