This weekend sees the 45th anniversary since the sudden death of Marilyn Monroe. While it is a time when fans feel particularly sad about her early passing, it is also a good opportunity to remember her life and to celebrate all she achieved.
So, yesterday, I watched two of her films on DVD – Lades of the Chorus (1949) for the first time ever and Let’s Make Love (1960) for the second time. Both are great upbeat movies which reminded me of some of the pleasure Marilyn brought to the entertainment world.
Here is my review for…
LET’S MAKE LOVE
By the time Let’s Make Love was released, Marilyn had been making films for thirteen years. She had played serious, dramatic roles, but this one was back to the light, fluffy comedy musical the public always associated her with. Her co-stars this time were French actor Yves Montand and British singer Frankie Vaughan.
The idea was something of a Cinderella story with a twist. While essentially
a romance, it is set in the context of a theatre and the world of highly successful business. Good meets bad, poor meets rich, that kind of thing. Montand plays the wealthy and rather aloof Jean-Marc Clement, while Monroe is singer, dancer and actress Amanda Dell, who is far from wealthy, but also warm and caring.
Clement is informed that a theatrical production is being rehearsed in which he is one of a series of famous people being parodied in it. Having been informed this will not be good publicity for him, Clement attends the auditions with his aide and adviser Alexander Coffman (Tony Randall), hoping that his presence will help the cast see him favourably.
Instead, he is assumed to be auditioning for the part of the look-alike Clement and is taken under the wing of the sympathetic – and gorgeous – Amanda. Clement is used to getting any girl he wants simply by being who he is – and flashing the cash and diamond bracelets around – but Amanda is different. Disinterested in wealth and possessions, she dislikes Clement, so he introduces himself as ‘Alexander Dumas’ in the hope of winning her by his charm alone.
This sets off a fun little runaround, as Clement joins the cast of the play and leads a double life, mixing high finance with lustful desire and a few hours a day in showbiz.
While these movies are often enjoyable but forgettable, Let’s Make Love is one of the best films of its type that I have seen. Montand is convincing as Clement and handles the role very well with charm and warmth. Vaughan sings well – of course – but is somewhat overshadowed by his co-stars. Randall’s role is straight-forward and not very challenging, but he handles it well. Wilfrid Hyde-White plays one of Clement’s team with typical Britishness.
We even get cameos from Milton Berle, Gene Kelly and Bing Crosby as they try (as themselves) to teach Clement how to tell jokes, dance and sing, in his quest to get Amanda’s interest. Sadly, we get far more of the irritating Milton Berle than we ever wanted and much less of the talented Crosby and Kelly.
But at least we have Marilyn. She shines in this film. She looks wonderful, her curvaceous figure shown off to its full advantage in cleavage-hugging outfits and her hair a beautiful white-blonde colour and chopped into an unruly bob. She wears amazing costumes, my favourite being the blue sweater with black tights – only Marilyn could look sexy in a jumper!
The highlights of the film for me are her musical numbers. Fitting into the plot well, these are played as rehearsals so it doesn’t feel strange to suddenly flit from acting to a big song and dance number. Early on, we have the sweater routine to the wonderfully catchy My Heart Belongs To Daddy. Later on, she shimmers in a backless silver gown to Specialization and cavorts around a bed singing the title track.
Her acting is very good too. Some of the lines seem rather like in jokes or snipes at Marilyn’s public image though. For example, there are several times where Amanda refers to her lack of formal education and how she is trying to improve her knowledge by studying as an adult. Marilyn herself did this in real life.
The script is well written most of the time, with several laugh out loud moments and even more that elicit smiles from the viewer. The whole film is upbeat, positive, fun and enjoyable and the time (around two hours) goes quickly. I would definitely recommend it and not just to Marilyn fans, but to anyone who wants to spend two hours recalling happier times.
INFORMATION
Let’s Make Love is available on region 2 DVD from Amazon UK for only £5.97. It is also part of the Marilyn Monroe: The Collection (Vol.2) DVD box set for £21.98 and the Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection for £15.97.
Pictures of Let's Make Love (DVD)
Marilyn
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Production Year: 1956 - Comedy - Director: Joshua Logan - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Betty Field, Hope Lange, Eileen Heckart, Arthur O'Connell, Casey Adams, Hans Conried, Robert Bray
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
In Let's Make Love, an uproarious comedy of backstage conniving and romantic intrigue, ... more
Marilyn is marvellous as a show-stopping star who teaches an international tycoon that money can't buy you love. Featuring cameos by movie legends Milton Berle, Bing...
![Let's Make Love [VHS] [1960]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/83959536.jpg "Let's Make Love [VHS] [1960]")
![Let's Make Love [DVD] [1960]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78485287.jpg "Let's Make Love [DVD] [1960]")
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