Let's Make It Legal (1951)

It's the 50's: everyone is dressed up at work and at home, pitchers of dry martinis are the order of the day, and liberal use of DDT is the best bet for killing aphids on roses. You can't help but smile at some of this stuff. There's nothing terribly amazing about the script in this romantic comedy, which has a couple (Claudette Colbert and Macdonald Carey) divorcing after 20 years of marriage, and a jet-setter and old flame (Zachary Scott) swooping in on her. What's fun is the cast - Colbert is a delight and looks fantastic at age 48, her son-in-law is played by a slender 21-year-old Robert Wagner, and a blonde fortune hunter who appears in a few scenes is played by 25-year-old Marilyn Monroe, right before she became mega-famous. It's light entertainment with a cutesy ending.

The two main male characters are both pursuing and fighting over the older woman (Claudette Colbert) and ignoring the charms of the young bombshell (Marilyn Monroe)! Surely that is a progressive and unusual story line for 1951, maybe for any era. Colbert and the two men do fine work, and Monroe looks great and does a few funny physical bits in her small role (it is absurd that the DVD is promoted as a Marilyn Monroe movie). Great period costumes, decor and language, too. This is an entertaining, sometimes funny '50s film with a strangely progressive bent, a strong older-woman lead, and some interesting character quirks (how can you not love a guy whose passions are horse betting and rose cultivation), plus a Marilyn Monroe cameo.

Miriam and Hugh Halsworth's divorce is going to be final after midnight. Hugh, an inveterate gambler, cannot kick the habit, which was one of Miriam's main objections for divorcing the man she married. The two are not bitter about their separation, in fact, they seem to be pretty decent about their split than most couples. Hugh loves to come by his former home to tend the roses he so lovingly cares for, something Miriam would like to see him stop doing.When former beau Victor McFarland, a local man, decides to pay a visit to his hometown, he goes to see Miriam. He has not gotten over the fact she married Hugh instead of him. Now, recently liberated, Miriam reacquaints herself with the man she liked twenty years before. Victor proposes and she finally accepts, but leave it to Hugh, he will not concede defeat. He is up to his former tricks to win Miriam back.A 1951 Twentieth Century Fox comedy which was shown on a classic cable channel recently. Directed by Richard Sale, the comedy with its 77 minutes running time, is fast and frothy enough because of the good pacing the director had the good sense of giving the picture. The screenplay was written by I.A.L. Diamond, a genius for the genre, and Hugh Herbert.The three stars were perfectly cast. Claudette Colbert in her late forties made an excellent Miriam, the woman who could not take anymore of her husband's gambling, but who still loved him. MacDonald Carey was in top form as Hugh, the man fighting to save his marriage. Zachary Scott, suave and debonair, shows up to get between the Halsworths. Robert Wagner and Barbara Bates are seen as the young couple living with her parents. Marilyn Monroe has a small part in the film.

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that some future Cultural archaeologist will note the large percentage of timber amongst actors of the late forties and fifties. God knows we had our share in England; Keiron Moore, John Gregson, Richard Pasco, Laurence Harvey, Michael York, but the virus was just as active in Hollywood, John Derek, Wendell Corey, John Ireland, Gary Merrill to name only a handful. Hugh Marlowe even managed to luck into two 'classic' films in the same year (1950), having featured roles in both All About Eve and Twelve O'Clock High. Here we have another in the shape of Macdonald Carey. Sending him in as leading man against Claudette Colbert is like sending in Banksy against Toulouse Lautrec. The poor sap hasn't a chance. You're never wasting your time watching Colbert (well, hardly ever, Texas Lady anyone) but apart from a roster of mostly uncredited 'character' actors she's the only decent thing in this piece of cheese albeit it was co-written by Izzy Diamond and directed by Richard Sale. Robert Wagner is an embarrassment, Barbara Bates a disaster, Zachary Scott walks through it and ... oh the hell with it, cross it off your list.