Chérie, divorçons

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.

Let's Make It Legal is an amiable lightweight comedy that gave Marilyn Monroe a featured role in her days on the rise as a legend. The stars are Claudette Colbert and MacDonald Carey who are calling the marriage quits after over 20 years. Waiting in the wings is an old beau of Claudette, Zachary Scott who lost Claudette to Carey back in the day and has gone on to become a captain of industry and awaiting a presidential appointment besides.

The reason for the divorce is Carey's drinking and gambling. His only other indulgence is his garden where he's grown some prize rose bushes.

Two other interested parties are their son-in-law Robert Wagner and daughter Barbara Bates who live with Claudette with their baby girl. Bates won't leave the mother alone and wants her parents back together. Wagner wants to have their own home and if she won't get back together with Carey, Wagner will push a marriage with Scott.

Carey should have done more comedy in his career, he had a nice light touch and does a marvelous drunk act. Colbert is a veteran comedy performer and the part was definitely no strain on her. Still Let's Make It Legal will never be among her top fifty. And Scott is shown up to be something of a cad in the end.

The nucleus of this story is how Carey won her and what he does to win her back. Fans of the main players should enjoy Let's Make It Legal and others will to.

The young whiny daughter pretty much ruined this movie for me. Not sure why Marilyn Monroe was even in this picture. It was fun seeing Robert Wagner when he was twenty. Now he's 90 and still looks good. The story was so so.

Poor Colbert.

She's surrounded by actors who couldn't stand in front of a camera with her, even if they had been in their prime. Her star power blows them right off the screen, one after the other. Looks, charm, stance, poise, physical condition, charisma, eyes, nose, mouth, voice, motions..... every aspect that goes into making an actress, she's ten times greater than anyone else in this film.

Even in scenes where the action takes place in the living room, with all the other actors talking and moving in the foreground, and Colbert standing in the kitchen door, she just dominates the shot. It's dazzling to see how great she is, but it saddens the heart that she couldn't get better treatment from a studio.

It's like watching a world record brook trout swimming in a school of grass carp.

Forty-something Claudette Colbert (she was 48 at the time) is waiting for her divorce decree to become final. She lives in a beautiful home in southern California which she shares with her married daughter and her husband (Barbara Bates, Robert Wagner). He works at a local resort hotel with his father-in-law (Macdonald Carey) who keeps coming around the house to tend his roses and talk Colbert out of the divorce. He has a gambling problem.

The daughter (Bates) is a whiny, annoying little thing who wants mommy to wait on her, cook, and help with the baby. Wagner wants to move out, but Bates wants to stay to help her parents get back together. Enter millionaire Victor (Zachary Scott), a former rival for Colbert's hand.

Scott is about to land a big government appointment and has returned to his home town for publicity and moves into the resort where Carey is PR director. Also staying there is Miss Cucamonga (Marilyn Monroe), who's out for all the publicity she can get.

Of course Scott ignores Monroe and zeroes in on old flame Colbert, much to the annoyance of Carey. The divorce becomes final and Colbert announces she will marry Scott. Daughter Bates goes into a tizzy at the thought of losing mommy and having to set up her own home with Wagner.

What settles Colbert's mind in the matter is when she learns why Scott did not propose to her 20 years before and why Carey did. Will she really marry Scott or will she reconcile with Carey? Seems far-fetched by today's standards, but in 1951 divorce was still a big deal. The stars all do well here with Monroe notable in her "build-up" period with 20th Century-Fox. Colbert looks great though she's a decade older than her suitors.

Co-stars include Kathleen Freeman, Frank Cady, and Vici Raaf.

Bates' character is truly annoying and selfish and almost ruins the film.