How to Murder Your Wife

A comedy that, if made today, would likely be under attack from every politically correct special interest group you could name. The title alone would bring out the picket signs. That observation aside, "How to Murder Your Wife" is a very funny comedy in which the supporting cast outshine the stars. Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, and Terry Thomas are all good, but it is Eddie Mayehoff and Claire Trevor who really make this one memorable. There never was a henpecked bumbler like the great Mayehoff, and no one could match Trevor as a...well, you know, the word that begins with a B.

Entertaining and enjoyable comedy which unfortunately is too long for the premise on which it is based, although Lemmon gives his usual faultless comic performance in the lead role of a successful cartoonist who wakes up one morning to find himself married following the previous drunken evening. However, the high point of the movie is undoubtedly Terry-Thomas' pivotal but underwritten performance as Lemmon's gentleman's gentleman whose concern for his employer's changed circumstances is as much as a result of his genuine desire to protect Lemmon's well-being as it is to avoid his own obsolescence.

By 1965 Lemmon had already been in "The Apartment" and won critical acclaim for his ability to carry a dramatic comedy, and notably one loaded with difficult scenes - but then Lemmon was a master of comic timing. In "How To Murder Your Wife" the comedy gets broader, the pacing sputters a bit, and there's Virna Lisi (love her or hate her.) This film is dated, but there's two kinds of dated in the movie world: Annoying Dated and Charming Dated. This one falls in the second bracket. Yeah, it's charming, and therefore one can endure the somewhat chauvinistic bachelor theme. Yeah, its leading lady can't speak a lick of English, but Lisi fills the part to the T. There's better Lemmon films out there. But if you have the time between watching "Some Like It Hot" and "The Odd Couple", you should give this one its 118 minutes. You won't regret it.

This was the last of the three comedies that Jack Lemmon made in the middle 1960s that he hated. Like GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM (and not like the abysmal UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE) HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE had a clever script and good production. Lemmon played a successful cartoonist who carefully scripts and photos the scenes he will use in his detective adventure strip. He lives in a townhouse, complete with top rate valet (Terry-Thomas) and has a wonderful life as a bachelor. But while attending a stag party, he meets Virna Lisi, and takes her home. Apparently he has married her (the groom at the stag party had broken up with his fiancé before the party, and throws the wedding ring out - and Lemmon uses it). As a result Lisi starts domesticating him, and Terry Thomas walks out. Lemmon uses the changes in his lifestyle in the comic strip, but finally he revolts and kills off the comic strip version of Lisi. When Lisi sees this she walks out, but everyone thinks that Lemmon killed her. So the scene is set for a murder trial.

This is not a film for feminists. It takes a dim view at the effect of domestication on Lemmon (and his lawyer, a hysterically funny Eddie Mayehoff). But I point out that before the end Lemmon does admit he misses the domestication. Even Terry-Thomas gives into it at the conclusion. It still a good comedy, a worthy minor work if not one of the high points in Lemmon's acting career.

I really love this movie and have little to add to the positive comments posted already.

One question though...

As the cartoonist, Jack Lemmon would always act out the scene first with his butler taking pictures Jack would use to draw the comic strip. He did this for the Bash Brannigan diamond caper at the beginning of the movie.

Then, when Jack decided Bash Brannigan should kill off his wife, Jack walked around the city to get the supplies he (Jack) would need to act it out; a mannequin (because he wasn't going to dump his real wife's body in cement), the pills, and a remote control.

Later, in the comic strip, Brash walks around the city and buys a mannequin, pills and a remote control.

So, wasn't it a mistake in logic to show Bash Brannigan in the comic strip saying he would need a mannequin? Bash was not acting it out. He was killing Mrs. Brannigan. Right?