Gentlemen Prefer Blondes/How to Marry a Millionaire

In the early 1950's Marilyn Monroe starred in a number of successful musical comedies for 20th Century Fox. Not counting her later work with Billy Wilder at MGM (and "The Seven Year Itch", which was a Fox film, but differs greatly from her standard Fox fare, largely because of Wilder's touch), these films would stand as the apex of her career, based on the film's overall quality and the performances she turned in. Two of the best were “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, directed by the legendary Howard Hawks and co-starring equally buxom Jane Russell. Remembered for all time as the film in which Monroe sings “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in her sleeveless pink dress and long pink gloves, the film’s strength lies in the fact that Monroe has better chemistry with Jane Russell than she ever did any of her male co-stars. The two deftly play off each other, Monroe doing her trademark innocence and naiveté shtick, while Russell excels as the “ballsy, brassy dame”, who knows a thing or two about men and constantly has to impart her knowledge onto Monroe’s Lorelei Lee. The other is “How To Marry A Millionaire”, though not a comedy, combines Monroe with a stellar supporting cast, featuring Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable as her partners in the titular crime and the legendary William Powell, in a fine knowing performance, as one of their marks. The fun of this film is the premise: three millionaire chasing women move into an apartment they could never afford with a limited budget, planning on marrying for money way before that ever becomes an issue. Obviously things do not go as planned, and the film stands as a fine comedic showcase for the three women; suave, sophisticated Lauren Bacall, nearly blind Marilyn Monroe, and impulsive ditz Betty Grable. Both films were hits in their day, solidifying Monroe’s stature as leading lady of romantic comedies and leading to bigger roles in the aforementioned Wilder films.

“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” introduces its two chorines; Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw, as they are performing their nightclub act together, singing “We’re Two Little Girls From Little Rock”. The reason it sounds so good is because it, along with several other songs used in the film, was written by Jule Styne, acclaimed composer of songs from such classic shows and films as “Gypsy”, “Anchors Aweigh”, and “Funny Girl”. After their act, Lorelei’s fiancé, Gus Esmond visits them backstage and expresses his reluctance to let the girls go to Europe unaccompanied. To make matters worse, Gus’ father, and provider of his considerable fortune, thinks Lorelei is nothing but a golddigger, and warns that any misconduct on her part will result in Gus being cut off. What he does not tell Gus is that he is sending a private detective along to follow the girls and make sure Lorelei gets into trouble. The fact that they are traveling with the Olympic track team, all of whom appeal to the always-looking-for-a-good-time Dorothy, does nothing for Gus’ nerves. Soon after the ship sets sail Lorelei immediately begins looking for a sugar daddy (something to tide her over I suppose) and settles on Henry Spofford III, based on his regal sounding name. Little does she know that Mr. Spofford is actually an extremely precocious 7 year old boy, and his one-liners, delivered in a deadly serious monotone, comprise the film’s funniest moments. Lorelei soon settles on a different type of sugar daddy, Sir Francis “Piggy” Beekman, played by famed character actor Charles Coburn. After the private detective, Ernie Malone, who cozies up to the ladies by coming on to Dorothy, gets his pictures of Lorelei and Piggy together (in an innocuous act of course), Mr. Esmond pulls the plug, which sends a desperate Gus to Paris, where the ladies are performing in a variety show. Complicating matters is Ernie’s growing affection for Dorothy and a missing diamond tiara which Piggy gives to Lorelei in a moment of weakness, then disappears when his wife starts asking about it. Everything is resolved in an elaborate courtroom scene in which Dorothy poses as Lorelei, sings a reprise of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and clears everyone’s name. Ernie destroys his evidence, winning back Dorothy’s heart and Gus and Lorelei are free to be together (while she does love him, her intentions remain strictly monetary, sending a troubling message, especially considering the next film).

“How To Marry a Millionaire” plays out much the same way, with the three women, working as models, set themselves as bait to lure in three millionaires. All three quickly find suitable marks, Loco (Betty Grable) ends up with J. Stewart, domineering banker only to happy to cheat on his wife, but desperate to avoid word of it getting out, Pola (Marilyn Monroe) lands mysterious eye-patched playboy Waldo, and ostensible leader Schatze (Lauren Bacall) lands Texas oilman JD Hanley, a debonair (much) older man, played with requisite charm by William Powell. Loco and Pola quickly find their men not worth their time, both through hilarious circumstances. Loco immediately falls ill upon arriving at the rustic Elk lodge Stewart takes her to, and is nursed back to health by Eben, the handsome park ranger/valet who works for Stewart. She mistakenly assumes he is wealthy when he tells her thousands of acres of timber are “his”, referring of course to his duty to protect them. Pola, who is constantly at a severe disadvantage thanks to her insistence on not wearing her glasses, lets her poor vision cloud her judgment with Waldo, ignoring her friends’ comments that he is no good. Her poor vision however is ultimately what gets her out of trouble. Schatze is at first the happiest of the three. She truly loves JD (and his money) and his noble intentions and refined manner suit her perfectly. All the while she has to reject the advances of Tom Brookman, a millionaire who never wears a suit and prefers cheeseburgers, thus she assumes he works at a gas station. All three realize their unhappiness, though not without one final push of common sense (Stewart’s paranoia about being seen with Loco explodes as they have the unfortunate distinction of being the 1 millionth car to cross the George Washington Bridge, resulting in a massive photo op, while Pola, thinking she is getting on a plane to Atlantic City to meet the shady Waldo, instead ends up on a plane to Kansas City sitting next to Freddie Denmark, the on-the-lam millionaire owner of the apartment the girls have been renting!) and end up with their new men. Schatze has the hardest decision to make. She ends up not marrying JD, who handles the entire thing with diplomacy, even putting in a good word for Tom, resulting in Schatze giving him a chance and ultimately falling in love with him (she only finds out her is a millionaire after he throws down a $1,000 bill to cover the gang’s tab at his favorite cheeseburger place). As opposed to “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, here, all three women end up in loving relationships, although, they have to some fun, two of the three of them are still millionaires!

San Francisco

One of the best of the "disaster film” sub-genre that was popular in the 1930's, “San Francisco” was an MGM production that boasts two incredible stars and award winning, revolutionary special effects recreating an event only 30 years old at the time. Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy were two of the biggest stars of the time when MGM first paired them together for this film. The duo would subsequently appear on screen together in "Test Pilot" and "Boom Town", but never as successfully, with both actors comfortably playing roles that suit them perfectly. Gable is "Blackie" Norton, one of the bosses of the Barbary Coast, San Francisco's gambling and otherwise “illicit” district, whose counsel comes from his boyhood friend and priest, Father Tim Mullin, played by Spencer Tracy. With Gable as a charismatic rogue and Tracy as a compassionate man of faith (roles they would play many times throughout their respective careers), plus the dynamic singing of rising star Jeanette MacDonald (soon to be illustriously paired with Nelson Eddy in a popular series of MGM operettas) and the aforementioned special effects (taken for granted today, but cracking a believable city street was no small feat in 1936), all under the smooth direction of W.S. "One Take Woody" Van Dyke, made this one of MGM's biggest hits of 1936. While the sub-genre would go on to include "In Old Chicago", "The Hurricane" and "The Rains Came", “San Francisco” and Schoedsack/Cooper's "The Last Days of Pompeii" were among the first to dazzle audiences with spectacular recreations of historic events, but still barely scratching the surface of what cinematic innovators would ultimately accomplish. However, when considering older films, one must place them in their proper context, and in 1936, there was no bigger film than MGM's "San Francisco".

The film begins on New Year’s Eve, 1905. As the town celebrates, a house burns down on the Barbary Coast, the “red light” district of San Francisco, which is saying something considering San Francisco was regarded as the “wickedest” city in the world at the time. The next morning, several area “politicians” come to see Blackie Norton, owner of the Paradise saloon and dance hall, as well as de facto leader of the Coast, and urge him to run for city council. Blackie reluctantly accepts but soon is caught up in his fight abolish the fire trap buildings that populate the Coast, such as the one that burned down on New Year’s Eve. His political fighting soon takes a back seat to his romantic fighting with upper class politician and manager of the Tivoli Opera House, Jack Burley. Burley hears Blackie’s newest singer, Mary Blake, perform one night at his club and instantly recognizes her operatic voice is being wasted performing in a saloon and implores Blackie to tear up his contract with her and let her go to the Tivoli. Burley also loves Mary and his jealousy rivals Blackie’s who fiercely and selfishly forbids her from breaking her contract. Initially Mary, a naïve young girl new to San Francisco, thinks of Blackie as a thug and gambler, but she begins to see the good in him thanks to his best friend, Father Tim Mullin, who informs her of Blackie’s good deeds he does for the community anonymously. Mary soon falls in love with Blackie, but Burley does not give up and soon Father Mullin begins pressuring Blackie to let her go to the Tivoli. Blackie reluctantly lets her go, but after one performance schemes to get her back, threatening to use his new political clout against Burley. The scheme works temporarily, but when Father Mullin learns of it, he forces Blackie to let her go back, resulting in Blackie punching his best friend, but Father Mullin’s point has been made, and Blackie again lets her go to the Tivoli. Leaving her time at the Paradise behind, Mary soon becomes an opera sensation and is soon engaged to Burley, while a bitter Blackie sees the Paradise shut down by politicians in an attempt to “clean up” the Coast.

Soon after, Mary and Burley are attending an annual society gala which honors the best variety act in San Francisco. All of the dance halls perform, except for the Paradise, which has been shut down. Mary jumps up at the last moment and announces she will sing on behalf of the Paradise and leads the crowd in a rousing rendition of the song “San Francisco”, enough to win the event for the Paradise. A resentful Blackie storms on stage and says “no thanks”, shunning Mary and the honor, but the uneasy mood quickly changes as the most devastating earthquake in California history hits. Tearing the theater apart, toppling tall buildings, breaking open city streets, splitting water mains, and causing massive fires, the earthquake completely ravages the city. Blackie emerges from under a pile of rubble and quickly begins looking for Mary. He grows despondent when he finds the body of Burley and Mary’s hat, wandering aimlessly around town looking for her, trying to avoid deadly aftershocks, and the raging fire, which the army tries to stop by dynamiting debris into its path (in reality, the water main breaking was the worst of the fallout, as the raging fires could not be adequately fought, thus the archaic practice of dynamiting, which ended up doing much more harm than good). Blackie stumbles into a Red Cross tent and finds Father Mullin caring for the wounded. Thinking Mary is dead, Blackie slumps to the ground and sheds a few tears (much would be made of Clark Gable refusing to do a scene in which he had to cry in “Gone With the Wind” three years later, allegedly threatening to walk off the film until Olivia de Havilland convinced him otherwise, however here oddly, no such stories exist), but Father Mullin says he knows where Mary is and takes him to her. Blackie and Mary are reunited in a large refugee camp, and as a boy runs through the camp telling everyone the fire is out, Blackie and Mary walk hand in hand with the swelling crowd back into their ruined city, which, as the film fades to black, dissolves into a shot of contemporary San Francisco, leaving the viewer with a feeling of resiliency and hope.

Irma La Douce

Only Billy Wilder could write a sweet, charming, hilarious romantic comedy where his leading lady plays an indifferent prostitute. The man who made a living churning laughs out of the most cynical of situations made it four for four when he followed up his masterpieces “Some Like It Hot” and “The Apartment”, and the vastly underrated “One, Two, Three!” with “Irma La Douce”, a delightful fable reuniting his two stars from “The Apartment”: Shirley MacLaine as the titular heroine (taking her one step further to ruin from a confidence-less working girl/mistress in “The Apartment”) and Jack Lemmon in a dynamic double performance as exasperated Nestor Patou and his alter ego, Lord X. The film also features a wonderful supporting performance by Lou Jacobi (in a role intended for Charles Laughton) as Moustache, the de facto narrator and conscience of the piece. The plot, if handled by anyone else, would be written off as convoluted and superfluous, but Wilder and his writing partner I.A.L. Diamond were masters of the five (or six) act structure, as the film deliberately plays out, milking every situation for all its worth. Really though, the story is Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine playing off each other, possessing chemistry most directors would kill for. Attention must also be given to the film’s elaborate Rue Casanova set as well. While the majority of Wilder’s films are mostly static, this film plays out across the gorgeous set, as well as some fine Parisian exteriors which give the film an extra cache. Running at a leisurely 147 minutes (a hefty running time for any film, let alone a romantic comedy), the film sprawls through four distinct story arcs, which basically boil down to boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. The genius of Billy Wilder was that even when he was brushing with excess and indulgence (his later films’ padded running times hint at greater creative freedom, and a growing displeasure with studio imposed edits), his jokes were always funny and his characters always true. Jokes and gags that would come off as superfluous and unnecessary in other films are always inspired and worthwhile in Wilder’s, a forgiveness which few directors are granted from critics and audiences.

As the film begins, Nestor Patou is an overly enthusiastic patrolman, walking his first beat on the Rue Casanova. Recently promoted after rescuing a boy from drowning at his previous beat (a tame childrens’ park, a joke amongst the other policemen), Nestor is shocked when he discovers the rampant prostitution. He proceeds to arrest the entire network of pimps, girls and their johns, capturing his captain in the process; all this despite the protest of Moustache, the owner of the bar that serves as unofficial headquarters of the Rue Casanova. Fired from the police force for embarrassing the captain and disrupting standard business practices, Nestor sadly returns to the Rue Casanova looking for Irma, the pretty red head he noticed during his arrest. After witnessing her being roughed up by her pimp, Nestor steps in on her behalf and in a hilarious “fight” completely inadvertently manages to knock the pimp (the local tough, natch) out, securing Irma’s affection and the respect of all the other pimps who elect him their new leader. Swept up in a new career, Nestor hatches a new scheme to keep Irma from selling herself on the street: posing as a wealthy, mysterious, older Englishman, known as Lord X. Jack Lemmon throws himself into the more unrestrained role of Lord X, with a maniacal cackle and herky jerky walk, as well as referencing pretty much every popular film about the British of the past 30 years (“Gunga Din”, “Lives of a Bengal Lancer”, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, etc). Initially flush with a loan from Moustache, Lord X agrees to visit Irma twice a week, each time giving her 500 francs and in exchange she does not sleep with any other men. Irma is at first confused by Lord X’s intentions, he seems content simply talking and playing solitaire with her, but soon she falls in love with the mysterious gentleman, never suspecting he is Nestor trying simply to do the right thing. To sustain the 1000 francs he has promised to Irma as Lord X, Nestor begins waking up early in the morning, sneaking out of the apartment and working several jobs before returning home just as Irma awakens. During this time Irma gets increasingly frustrated with Nestor, as she cannot figure out why he is constantly exhausted and disinterested in her. Nestor soon realizes she may prefer Lord X to him, which results in him taking drastic action.

Nestor plans on “retiring” the Lord X character to win back Irma’s affections, but as he throws the Lord X costume in the river, a passerby suspects that Nestor, who emerges from behind the tree Lord X just went behind moments before, has killed him, and soon Nestor is arrested for the murder of Lord X. Nestor thinks he can explain everything to the police, but Moustache hatches a plan: the only way to convince Irma of your love is to admit to killing Lord X in a fit of jealous passion. This being Paris, he claims, they will be compelled to free you to be with the woman you love. Moustache’s plan half works; Irma’s love for Nestor is rekindled, but Nestor is throw in jail. A few months later Moustache breaks him out and in a hilarious moment, Lord X is reborn (literally emerging from the Siene at the exact spot Nestor was to have killed him), and vindicates Nestor. Nestor and Irma are free to marry and in the background of the wedding a mysterious stranger watches the proceedings: Lord X! As the audience wonders what is going on, Moustache appears and says “but that’s another story”, a refrain of a phrase he has used several times throughout the film, each time usually to get Nestor to go along with a scheme of his (when he convinces Nestor he can get him off for the murder of Lord X by rationalizing he was once a lawyer, “but that’s another story”). Noting that this was Billy Wilder’s highest grossing film is surprising considering some of his classics like “Some Like It Hot” and “Sunset Boulevard”, but when you consider the two stars at the peak of their careers, the overwhelming amount of chemistry they shared on the heels of “The Apartment”, and the sheer number of laughs the film has, its not that big a shock. One can wonder how different the film would have been with Marilyn Monroe in the lead, Billy Wilder had a longstanding love/hate relationship with the star, always coaxing an incredible performance from her, but using every last strain of patience in the process and in the end he opted for the more stable Shirley MacLaine. Watching the film today, it appears quite perfect.