Thanks John, I haven't found out - as yet - where these intriguing films can be found. Im sure some of them could be bought on the net and there's the question of finding a suitable time and place to screen them. Perhaps some of the other members may have suggestions...
My favourite European screenplay is Marcel Carne's Les Enfants du Paradis.... but that's a topic we should perhaps leave for a meeting...  for the moment thanks for the list and enthusiastic comments, Stefan.

--------------------­--------------------­--
From: John Flaus <[address removed]>
To: [address removed];
Subject: Re: [movies-303] SOME LIKE IT HOT
G'day Stefan, thanks for your comments...
We really will have a lot to straighten out (!) when we get into a
solid conversation about Billy Wilder and the world of comedy.
Yes, I realise that he didn't follow HOT with STUPID immediately - but
those two have some affinity not shared with the inbetweeners.
I can't agree with you about the value of the gender problematic in
HOT: to me it doesn't explore the problem so much as exploit it.
And I reckon STUPID provides more insight into gender roles and
cultural codes.
That's not the end of our differences: I reckon Wilder's best
screenplay is ACE IN THE HOLE (released in Australia as THE BIG
CARNIVAL -
because of media wowserism: it was a time when comic strips on which I
had learned to read were having their names carefully re-inscribed
as "Speed" Gordon and "Ben" Bunny - but that's a topic for another
time).
After lifelong consideration, I consider the best two screenplays in
English are SCARLET STREET and ACE IN THE HOLE. Yet both
of them encountered official harrassment and popular neglect (in
Australia the only city release for Wilder's masterpiece was the
"foreign"
cinema, where all other films it screened had sub-titles; back in 1951
I believe Melbourne and Sydney each had only one such outlet).
Deciding on "the best" is a dubious struggle with conflicting
standards and variable properties, but I've attempted it in relation
to screenplays.
Now let me try you on another "best": After lifelong consideration I
consider the best ending to a dramatic narrative film: THE SEVENTH
VICTIM (1943).
It was listed in the Green Guide for screening on Channel 2 last night
- damn! I should have sent this e-mail yesterday to notify you - I
suppose they ran it
- but you probably know the film anyway! If not, please consider it
for Movies-303, along with other fine B-grade product from RKO and
elsewhere.
Finally: awards are inevitably compromised so please don't wave them
at me as a sign of merit/support for your rating.
I'll conclude this with a few examples of my parallact poems : two
lines, each of nine voiced syllables:
WHO SPEAKS HER FIRST NAME? VENDONAH
Known on file as X-27, He might have made a splendid yachtsman,
Traitor to the nation that betrayed her. (DISHONORED 1931) But pride
and progress brought comeuppance. (THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS)
NIGHT TRAIN ATONEMENT
Tense and lethal prelude to glory; Here was she hanged where
the stark tree stands,
Lincoln comes like a thief in the night. (THE TALL TARGET 1951)
Vengeance will go where justice may not. (RIDE LONESOME 1959)
TO THE SOUND OF A FALLING CHAIR HAPPY ENDING
She whose time is short embraces life, The waiting judge was
floored by what he saw:
Another, in her prime, hastens death. (THE SEVENTH VICTIM) The
blushing bride with freshly blackened eye. (CAREFREE 1938)
"AND THE WINNER IS..." BASIC GRAMMAR: CUT ON EYELINE
Art prostrates itself to vanity, Their glances meet, he looks
down to see
Egos preened, markets primed, suckers hooked. Worlds emerging in a
coffee cup. (DEUX OU TROIS CHOSES QUE JE SAIS QU'ELLE 1967)
Any of the seven above would be great programming, if they are
available...
John Flaus
On 09/06/2015, at 5:50 PM, Stefan wrote:
> Thanks John, I really enjoyed your comments. I've seen Bringing Up
> Baby and His Girl Friday and they are excellent - however I still
> think Some Like It Hot is a cut above both of them and is Billy
> Wilders best film which is saying a lot considering the great films
> he made in his prime during the 40's and 50's. Wilder followed up
> Some Like It Hot not with Kiss Me Stupid but with The Apartment, One
> Two Three, and Irma La Douce; The Apartment won best film in 1960 as
> well as best screenplay and best director. Kiss Me Stupid, a dud I
> agree, came out in 1963.
> When Some Like It Hot came out in 1959 it had a progressive and
> thought provoking new take on gender issues which is one of the
> reasons it is still so popular with all age groups whereas Bringing
> Up Baby and His Girl Friday are unfortunately little known to young
> people.
> Once again thanks for your comments and reminding us of Howard
> Hawks, hope to see you soon, Best, Stefan.
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 9 Jun 2015, at 4:48 pm, John Flaus <[address removed]> wrote:
>
>> I hope this reaches someone - I don't have "credentials".
>> Or it may have already found its way onto other people's screens -
>>
>> This is what I tried to say in reply to e-mail message about
>> tomorrow's
>> (= Wednesday's) screening of SOME LIKE IT HOT:-
>> I presume we're talking about the 1959 Billy Wilder production, not
>> the
>> Bob Hope vehicle of 20 years earlier.
>> Who are/were these so-called "critics" who voted this as the funniest
>> movie ever? Did they stop going to the movies after they voted?
>>
>> I ask Movie Fans, before they accept this fashionable market-oriented
>> vote, to consider the movie that Wilder followed up with in 1964:
>> KISS
>> ME STUPID. It didn't do anywhere as well at the box office - does
>> that
>> tell you anything?
>> He intended to cast Lemmon and Monroe again, but they weren't
>> available (Monroe had died). However he was able to give one of the
>> plum roles to Mrs Lemmon (= Felicia Farr), and she was great without
>> hogging camera attention. Kim Novak filled the "glamour" role - I
>> think
>> she tried too hard to emulate Marilyn, but I know that some people
>> (including "critics") don't agree with me.
>>
>> If you want to go looking for anything funnier in the sound era,
>> I suggest two of Howard Hawks's from the end of the 1930's:
>> BRINGING UP BABY and HIS GIRL FRIDAY.
>>
>> These movies don't simply entertain - they make you think - and
>> therefor
>> feel. Compared to SOME LIKE IT HOT, you emerge from the screening
>> wiser as well as happier. Though don't get me wrong - the Wilder
>> movie
>> is bloody good entertainment.
>> Do I sound like a grumbleguts? I am known in some quarters as Old
>> Crusty
>> from Castlemaine. Sorry I can't be at the screening tomorrow to
>> contribute
>> to the "discussion" - maybe at the next one.
>>
>> John Flaus
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
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>> Movie Fans In Melbourne.
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>
>
>
>
> --
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