Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

I just had the good fortune to see GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES on the big screen this evening (6/5/18) to commemorate the 92 birthday of Marilyn Monroe. This movie sent Marilyn to iconic Hollywood status - but what can't be denied is the POWER of Jane Russell's performance. And together their chemistry is pure perfection. This is not just Marilyn's film, (even with the brilliant staging and Marilyn's brilliant performance of "Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend), but it's Jane's movie too. She had a totally unique and original screen presence which matches PERFECTLY with Marilyn's unique and original screen presence. If you've never seen this movie, you'll probably want to watch it because of the eternal fame of MM (people know who she is without ever seeing one of her films), but you'll walk away loving Jane Russell just as much!

This talented pairing of Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe was made in movie heaven. It appears on many lists of "must see" films. Based on a somewhat naughtier 1925 book and a 1949 Broadway Musical (starring Carol Channing). It's intended to be a farce, and more of an entertainment than a true musical, as the story is certainly not to taken seriously. Every time the two girls perform, something magical happens and there are several good musical numbers. "Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend" is the signature Monroe musical number of all time. An unbelievable cast including the "USA Olympic Swimming Team". Although many critics called the swim team's performance "gay", my wife just loves it. Charles Coburn as "Piggy" is the original "dirty old man" and squeezes Marilyn tightly while imitating an anaconda snake in a tall tale about his African Safari. He lets her wear his wife's famous diamond tiara to keep her quiet and she naively believes that he gives it to her as a gift. A police chase travels to France to find the "stolen" and missing diamond-encrusted crown. The boy millionaire is quite annoying, and so is her nerdy fiancé, but skipping over that nonsense still can't spoil the magic of this wonderful classic movie, with the reddest and pinkest Technicolor anyone has ever seen!

This was Marilyn's first musical comedy, and my favorite, partly because is includes Jane Russell as an equal, making a musical comedy team. Generally, when you have a comedy team, you want them clearly differentiated from each other, both physically and personality -wise, but not so different that they can't relate to each other. Here, their hair color is as different as can be, Jane is a little taller, has a more elongate face, and MM tends to often quint her eyes vs. Jane's round eyes. Jane tends to be forthright and loud. Marilyn tends to be more devious, often with a naïve little girl persona. This contrast is most vividly displayed in how they sing "Bye Bye, Baby". Jane is prancing around in front of a men's Olympic team, singing loud and up tempo. MM then sings it slowly, softly, sexily, with feeling, to her shy nerdy fiancé(Gus), who is prohibited by his father from sailing to France with Marilyn. Besides his father being rich, Marilyn feels comfortable with Gus because he's shy, brings her gifts all the time and is easily manipulated. Also, Jane's attitude in what she most wants in a husband superficially is as different from Marilyn's as their hair color. Marilyn is a gold-digger first. If they happen to be young, handsome and/or athletic, as Jane likes, that's an added bonus.The script has Marilyn traveling to Paris, as a showgirl. Jane, also a show girl, accompanies her as a sort of chaperone, charged with trying to keep her out of compromising situations, to satisfy Gus's father, who suspects she is just a dumb blonde gold digger, who doesn't love Gus. Gus's father secretly sends a detective(Mr. Malone) to check up on Marilyn's doings. Thus, Jane and Malone have opposite goals as relates to documenting some scandalous incident. At first, Jane hates him, but then she realizes she's attracted to him.Malone takes a seemingly compromising photo of Marilyn being embraced by an elderly monocled diamond mine owner(Charles Coburn, as Piggy). By trickery, the girls steal the roll of film and have the picture developed to show to Piggy, inducing him to give Marilyn his wife's expensive tiara(headpiece) to keep her quite about the apparent incident. Apparently, even without the photo, Malone communicates what he saw to Gus's father. As a result, his financial support of the girls is cut off and Gus tells Marilyn their relationship is finished. Well, Piggy's wife discovers her tiara missing, and assumes Marilyn stole it, because she was so impressed when shown it. In turn, Marilyn discovers it missing from her jewelry box....The rest of the story I leave for you to discover for yourself, except to say that there is a predictable happy ending.Despite the most memorable song being "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", we might think of the theme song being "Two Little Girls from Little Rock", since the pair sing it in the very beginning, before the title shows up, and again at the end. Marilyn sings "Diamonds are..." in a lavish stage production, dressed in flashy pink, as are the chorus dancers, Marilyn being surrounded by their male partners. This is later followed by Jane's very dynamic version in a courtroom, with blonde wig, to resemble Marilyn whom she was impersonating. This scene will probably be the comedic highlight of the film for you.The 3 songs I have mentioned in the above were composed by Jule Styne and Leo Robin for the prior stage version of this story. Two lesser songs were composed by Hoagy Carmichael and Harold Adamson for this film version: "When Love Goes Wrong", sung by Marilyn, and "Anyone Here for Love?", sung by Jane in the presence of the Olympic team.Malone asks J.R. how 2 girls so different in their attitudes toward men can be such good friends? I don't remember her response, but I will say they trust each other and don't compete for the same men.Marilyn is characterized as being ignorant about most things, but claims she tries to act dumb, because that's what men want.Available as part of the Marilyn Premier DVD Collection, as well as on it's own.The subsequent "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" I haven't seen, but is said to be a spoof of the musical comedy genre, with Jane sometimes trying to imitate Marilyn. It's rating is very low, but some reviewers say it is nonetheless quite entertaining.

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES is the sparkling 1953 musical comedy based on the Broadway musical that made Carol Channing a star and here does the same thing for another blonde...namely Marilyn Monroe. Monroe shines in the ultimate dumb blonde role: Lorelei Lee, who along with best pal Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell) are a couple of showgirls being tailed by a private detective hired by the father of Lorelai's latest beau, to get the goods on her. The razor-thin plot is so not the issue here. The issue is the performances by the film's stars that absolutely light up the screen. Monroe, in particular, found the role of a lifetime here as Lorelei Lee, the seemingly dim-witted gold digger with a nose for diamonds and rich men, who has no shame about using her obvious physical assets to get what she wants. This is the role that most people look to when they say that Monroe was just a "dumb blonde", but if you watch closely, Monroe is just playing a "dumb blonde" and doing it better than probably anyone ever did. And never was there a clearer example of why the camera just loved Monroe.Though the film is clearly Monroe's showcase, Jane Russell never allows herself to be blown off the screen and performs impressively alongside Monroe as the wisecracking Dorothy Shaw. Russell proves to have the same skill with a wisecrack that actresses like Thelma Ritter and Eve Arden did.Elliott Reed, Tommy Noonan, Charles Coburn, and young George Winslow offer solid support in supporting roles as the various men (and boys) involved in the misadventures of Lorelei and Dorothy.Musical highlights include the ladies' opening number, "Two Little Girls from Little Rock", "Bye Bye Baby", "Ain't Anybody Here for Love?", and Monroe's iconic "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", a number that has become a permanent part of cinema pop culture.Aided by breezy direction from Howard Hawks, this is a delightful musical comedy classic which features two beautiful and talented ladies front and center at the peak of their charm.