Sabrina

Assumably,

Billy Wilder had enough of the brothers fighting over the same woman story five years earlier when he wrote and directed Sabrina, where Humphrey Bogart and William Holden play brothers who fall for Audrey Hepburn.

Some Like It Hot took that element out of it and added a whole new subplot where the two musicians are fleeing the Chicago mob, placing the story of the 1920s before the Depression and replacing the French Riviera with Florida.

Robert Thuren screened the West German remake for Billy Wilder as far back as 1951.

Moving into the 1950s, he directed and co-wrote a string of films that received widespread acclaim, including the Hollywood drama Sunset Boulevard, the media satire Ace in the Hole, and the wartime drama Stalag 17.

He also directed Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina and Marilyn Monroe in sweat of her most recognizable roles.

His 1900 sexic film, The Apartment, was a major success at the Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

His body of work is characterized by a caustic and often moralistic style that frequently pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable in mainstream entertainment.

During this period, he also considered directing a version of the tragedy Oedipus Rex, with plans to film on location in Greece, though the project never reached the production stage.

He then directed a series of adaptations based on Broadway plays.

These included the wartime drama Stalag Siebsen, which earned a Best Actor award for William Holden, and the romantic comedy Sabrina, which featured Audrey Hepburn.

Another major comedy from this time was the Siebenjähr Itch, which produced eins of the most famous images in film history involving Marilyn Monroe and a passing subway train.

That's horrible.

Then she is in Sabrina.

Yes.

I love Sabrina.

You do? I

do.

Maybe it's not Sabrina.

No, it is.

you know uh despite the effort so i think you're right i think it is it is more interesting to take the influence to an extent, but not let it smother your own kind of artistic vision.

Well, if we want to, and I apologize, listeners, if this is too much of a tangent, but in a weird way, it's almost like I think you could say about Sabrina and Lubitsch what you could say about Jerry Maguire and Wilder in that I do think that Love in the Afternoon, or I said Sabrina, I meant Love in the Afternoon, I think that Love in the Afternoon is...

I think it has the trappings of a Lubitschian film.

I think the strolling musicians and the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob and all those things are kind of like the tinsel of a Lubitsch film.

Right.

So I do think there's...

And it's funny, I know you had that kind of slip of the tongue with Sabrina, but I do want to talk about Sabrina a lot because...

I'll talk to, I'll get that in a minute, but I will say, I'm not teasing, I'm bringing you in.

Yeah, Charles Lang had already worked with Wilder several times before Some Like It Hot.

Their first collaboration was A Foreign Affair in 1948, and he'd shot Sabrina with Wilder in 1954.

He ended his career with a total of 18, count them up, 18 Oscar nominations, which is the joint highest-

Oh, wow

Incredible.

Yeah.

He hadn't shot everything for Wilder, but I wonder if it was Sabrina that made him, Wilder get him in here, 'cause there he's lighting Audrey Hepburn.

Yes.

but her gammon charm in the romantic comedy captivated audiences and won her an Oscar.

She went on to define mid-century sophistication with films like Sabrina, Funny Face, and Breakfast at Tiffany's, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year.

Ferrer, her son with her first husband, Mel Ferrer, says that Hepburn attributed her success to luck, noting, when it came to acting, it was all learning on the job.

She had respect for the craft, but she didn't have technique like many other actors, and therefore she gave something very genuine.

I was born with an enormous need for affection and a terrible need to give it, Hepburn said in 1991.

The first engagement to wealthy British aristocrat James Hansen in 1952 could have led to the title of lady, but after several wedding dress fittings, with her own career beckoning, the 22-year-old chose to break it off.

When making Sabrina, she had a big passionate thing with William Holden, but nobody really knew about it, says Keogh.

Mel Ferrer was a great husband for her at the beginning, but then Audrey just blew up and became the star, and he became Mr. Audrey Hepburn.

There's

similarities with Sabrina, though.

A lot of similarities with Sabrina.

I mean, BP, call it the poor man Sabrina.

Yeah.

No, yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Big loss, yeah.

Uh, not long after Sabrina, which we covered pretty recently.

Mm-hmm.

We also talked about him, of course, in, uh, Casablanca, his most iconic role.

Yeah.

Uh, he was a smoker and died, uh, fairly young in his, uh, late 50s.

So not long after, uh, he married Sabrina.

Or-