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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.

Claudette Colbert, Macdonald Carey, Zachary Scott, Robert Wagner, Barbara Bates, and Marilyn Monroe star in "Let's Make it Legal," a 1951 20th Century Fox comedy. It's a fast little black and white film about a divorcing couple, the Hugh Halsworths (Colbert and Carey), their daughter Barbara (Bates) and her new husband Jerry (Wagner).

The premise is that the Halsworths are divorcing because Hugh is a compulsive gambler and Miriam, his wife, has had about all she can stand. So they've separated and the divorce is final at midnight. But Hugh is always hanging around, spraying his roses or entering the house on some other excuse.

Their daughter is having marital adjustment problems: She loves her mother waiting on her hand and foot and taking care of the new baby, but her husband wants them to have their own place. Barbara hopes her parents will get back together, which Jerry attributes to her selfish motives. In the midst of all this, an old boyfriend of Barbara's (Scott) enters the picture and proposes.

This film is of interest due to an early appearance of Marilyn Monroe as a sexy young woman most anxious to meet the very wealthy Victor (Scott). It's also of interest to me because Colbert and Carey play young grandparents - not young people playing characters supposed to be older, but actual young grandparents. You don't see much of that in classic era films. Hugh tells Scott he married Miriam right out of school. (In actuality, Carey was about 38 at this time and Colbert was 48).

"Let's Make it Legal" is also of interest as a look at how the studios worked. This isn't a big movie, so it's used as a training ground for two contract players, Wagner and Bates, neither of whom are very good. The studio probably appeased agent Johnny Hyde, who was ambitious for his client Monroe by giving her a small role. They used the film as a vehicle for Colbert, who in Hollywood, though still beautiful, is past her sell by date and relegated to less expensive films, as well as the washed up Scott. They pair her with a B leading man, Carey, whose big success was in television.

This isn't a great movie. It's light, it's amusing, it's somewhat dated. Seeing Colbert is always a pleasure and Carey was an amiable actor, Scott an attractive one. Sadly both Bates, who later committed suicide, and Scott suffered from depression. Scott at this point in his career concentrated on stage and television work.

Pleasant comedy.

This is probably one of Marilyn's least watched films. She didn't have much screen time but I thought it was a pretty cute movie. Claudette Colbert is almost unbelievable as a grandmother because she is still so beautiful. The ending is great. Too cute. 4 stars out of 5.

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.

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.

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.

I bought this DVD at cut price and only recently watched it. Had no ideas about it - Marilyn was on the front of the case but as has been mentioned before, that was dishonest marketing as she is a minor supporting actor. The main stars, Claudette Colbert in particular, shine and it's a lot of fun. Yes, the story is silly - it's a 1950s comedy - and the acting would not win Oscars, but it's a 77 minute smile that turns into a giggle now and again. The clothes are divine and the story swims along merrily, with a highly likely ending. Pity about Macdonald Carey, he was like an American Carey Grant, and could have done well in movies, but seems to have concentrated his career on TV.

Pretty straightforward romantic comedy from the 1950's starring the wonderful Claudette Colbert and the new to me Macdonald Carey. They play Miriam and Hugh Halsworth who are in the process of getting a divorce. Miriam is still living in the family's home with their daughter, son-in-law and new born granddaughter. I was delighted to see Robert Wagner as the son-in-law who played off Barbara Bates who played his young wife. Another delightful surprise is the young Marilyn Monroe, who plays a bit part as a side character...I feel like she was under used in this film as a distraction.

A large part of the comedy is around Hugh constantly showing up uninvited to the family home...and his concern over his garden roses that at one point he shows up at night to move! Their divorce is proceeding when their high school friend and Miriam's former boyfriend shows up wanting to pursue her again...this reveals an ancient secret around some dice used to win Miriam.

Claudette Colbert is the best part of this film and if you are a fan you just get it. Cute and fun, I think fans of early 50's romantic comedies will enjoy this. The one downside is the whole divorce storyline. I hate the normalization of divorce that I see in this film.

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.

This is quite possibly the worst Marilyn Monroe movie I have ever seen,it's not poor Marilyn's fault though. If you want to blame anyone for ruining this movie blame Barbara Bates and Robert Wagner. All Bates does in this movie is whine and complain , and she doesn't do it very well either.Wagner is Bates' husband who wants her to stop trying to get her divorced parents back together, and just like Bates, he gets so annoying you just want to slap him by the end of the movie. The two saving graces of "Let's Make is Legal" are Claudette Colbert and Marilyn Monroe, who doesn't have enough screen time.

I had to sit through approximately 70 minutes of this 77 minute film for only like maybe 7 minutes total of Marilyn Monroe.

Not abysmally made considering its age, but it's just really dull. Maybe there was a market for this before televisions were a thing and you could have these kinds of stories play out on tv sitcoms, but it just doesn't cut it, even when compared to other films of the 50s.

Not the worst thing ever, but there also wasn't much to enjoy, so can't really give it more than 2/5 (my favourite thing about it - if I had to pick one - was how short it is).

Only watched because it came in a Marilyn Monroe boxset (she's not in it much and doesn't really make an impression), and I like to try and finish every movie I've got in my physical collection.