FilmClub presents the Hollywood classic, Some Like It Hot, at the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg, today (October 27) at 7 pm.

Number 22 on the American Film Institute’s top 100 American films, the film, directed by Billy Wilder, stars Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis as Jerry and Joe, a pair of struggling musicians who, desperately trying to evade the Mafia after witnessing the infamous 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

They decide to impersonate women and join the wackily named all-female band Sweet Sue And Her Society Syncopators. Here they encounter Sugar Cane, the singer and ukulele player, played by Marilyn Monroe.

The perfectly chosen cast employ the full gamut of both high- and low-brow comedy techniques – deadpan, slapstick, farce, physical – and writer/director Wilder blends them all into a mix of rare exuberance that remains as fresh today as when it was first released in 1959.

Notorious for Marilyn Monroe’s astonishing performance, for her gift for wearing costumes that make her seem naked even when fully clothed, and for her chronic inability to learn her lines, the film is a true Hollywood classic.

As the critic Roger Ebert puts it, Some Like It Hot is “one of the enduring treasures of the movies, a film of inspiration and meticulous craft….”

As usual, entry is R35 per person and The Tatham Coffee shop will be offering a soup and bread supper from 6 pm onwards (at a very reasonable R30 per person). Safe parking is available in the government parking lot next to the gallery in Chief Albert Luthuli Street.