Sunday Movie Review: "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953)

Eh.

I'm having a really blah day and a ton of homework, and so despite the fact I watched a few interesting movies recently, I'm going to be lazy and give you a short review today. Sorry :(

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The poster:Well, Lauren's the star of this, but the poster is obviously in Marilyn's favor. (Wonder why... hmm..)

The plot:

In this classic comedy, three New York models (Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall) set up an apartment with a mission: They plan to use their looks, charm and talent to catch and marry a trio of millionaires. The gold-digging dames' outrageous man-hunting scheme does attract wealthy candidates, but, love and money don't appear to coexist; all three women must choose between the extremes. [from Netflix]

The starring players:

• Lauren Bacall as Schatze Page
• Betty Grable as Loco Dempsey
• Marilyn Monroe as Pola Debevoise
• William Powell as J.D Hanley

The verdict:

★★★ 1/2

It's uncommon to find a film with three female leads, but here's one for you. And it's a batch of three popular blonds, as well - Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, and Betty Grable. Betty and Lauren were still popular but had had their prime in the 40's; as for Marilyn, she was at the peak of her popularity and riding high. It's really Lauren's film but Marilyn gets top billing (and the film poster is obviously in her favor). My favorite was Betty Grable, though. Her character is stupidly sweet and a riot to watch. Lauren Bacall is equally endearing as Schatze and the same goes for Marilyn who surprisingly ditched her usually seductive appearance for glasses. Love the witty script (at one point when Lauren is trying to convince her aging beau that the age difference doesn't matter, she points out she finds old guys attractive, like Roosevelt and Churchill and "that old what's his fella in The African Queen," in a cheeky reference to Bogie... another is a nod to Harry James, Betty's trumpeter husband at the time). Was nominated for Best Costume Design and it makes sense, the costumes are lavish and gorgeous and any fashion fan would want to watch. Catch William Powell in the role of the aging beau. Very splashy and not the greatest movie ever but a fun a rom-com out of Old Hollywood and Betty, Lauren, and Marilyn make it all worth it.

The bottom line:

Fun, splashy entertaining film - the three leads and William Powell, in addition to a witty script, makes it worthwhile.

Some photos:

Some trivia:

• One of the first movies to have its score recorded in a stereo.
• Betty Grable received top billing in the credits, but Marilyn Monroe was promoted the most in trailers and posters; whereas the real star of the film was Lauren Bacall.

A movie tidbit:

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 Happy Sunday! :) 

The Candid Camera (of sorts)

Bonjour, mon ami!

(Excuse my awful broken French). I was all giddy because over the last days, I found some really great Old Hollywood pictures! One of my favorite things ever is finding a great picture of an Old Hollywood star. I love finding rare or more candid photos, or photos of Classic Hollywood hanging out together (I think I've already expressed my love of awesome people spending time with awesome people). In fact, I'm not a fan of the more "general photos" -- you know, when you Google Image someone and the same particular photos all show up in the first page??? Even if these are good photos they're quite common and it gets tiring. Though candids are my favorite, I do like magazine photos, or posed photos, especially if it's LIFE magazine or something like that (I'm crazy about LIFE). I just like finding more rare, Classic Hollywood pictures versus the overused ones. ;)

^^ I hope some of that made sense. Anyway, I'm Vivien-Leigh-cat-smiling right now because I found a ton of great pictures and am here to share them with you all!! (Oh, and once again - a billion sorries that I couldn't tag everyone for this post, I only tagged the people with the most pictures / did not yet have a tag on this blog... Blogger can be a real pain sometimes!!)

Also, a quick reminder. The Film Noir Contest at Film-Classics.com closes in about a week. I'm currently in second place which is a lot better than I ever expected!!! If you have not voted yet, want to vote, liked my Anatomy of a Film Noir, etc. etc., you can vote here. Don't forget to check out the other reviews, because they are all wonderful! This ends on September 10th, so you have a week left to cast your votes if you already haven't.

Oh! And one more, quick last thing. You can now follow Frankly, My Dear with BlogLovin'! The widget to do so is on my sidebar, right under the usual members box. Now, I'll stop babbling and get on with the show ;)

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This is an amazing photo and I went crazy ecstatic when I found it - this is three of my favorite film stars in the SAME room: Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, and Natalie Wood. Liz, Audrey, and Nat all together in a CANDID.  How crazily AMAZING IS THAT???

Bob and Ava  just chilling out together!

Bogie and Bacall. I really love the latter!

Gina and Rock :)

I'm sure everyone has seen this before, and I even had it as my Favicon for a while, but I cannot get over how thrillingly, chillingly amazing this one is!

I love this one of Joan -- she's sort of like,

"Did I do okay?"

Jane Russell just lounging around.

Lauren needs her coffee!!!! (From the Brown Derby, of course)

Best friends, Ava and Lana, in some really gorgeous dresses

Leslie and Shirley chatting together

Okay, is it just me, or does it look like Liz and Dick are on a merry-go-round? Either way, I find this photo quite cool. 

Marilyn and Betty pose for the camera at the premiere of "How To Marry a Millionaire"

Lauren, Bogie, and Marilyn

I love this photo, too. Marlon relaxes and types on his typewriter while his cat wraps himself around Marlon's neck ;)

Errolivia :)

I cannot get over how much I LOVE this photo. This has to be one of my favorite pictures of Natalie, ever.

This one, too. I also j'adore this one.

Sophia Loren speaking to a little girl. Pretty adorable :)

Natalie and Warren during their brief courtship

Vivien with her cat. I love this one, too ;)

Ingrid and Cary share a laugh - I love these two together!

I'm sure you've all this one before, but I don't care. It's amazing. Bette Davis doing her nails. Enough said.

More pet pictures! Bette with her dog.

Doris is just chilling out -- don't disturb!

Lucy pointing something out to Desi.

Cheers!

hehe. She looks so incredibly chic here :) I'm guessing this was during the run of "Wildcat," just after she'd divorced Desi.

Okay, I don't even know what they're doing here, but a candid photo of Lucy and Henry together is simply awesome enough for me to share :)

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Before I sign off, I'd like to thank everyone for their lovely comments on my last post! It looks like everyone's pretty happy with "WML?" becoming a segment and I can't wait to share more clips with you all. :) I'll also try and do more "Rianna Recasts" and "You know you're obsessed when..." which were also requested.

See you tomorrow with the Sunday Movie Review!