Comment épouser un millionnaire

The film, the first filmed in CinemaScope, although the second to be released, remains as slick and witty as ever. While the three girls chase rich husbands they somehow end up marrying for love.

Personally for me it is Lauren Bacall and William Powell that standout...their witty knowing conversations are a true delight. Mr Powell shows just why he was so highly regarded. He has a magnificent calm and dignified presence beautifully complimented by Mrs Bogart's cool chic.

The film shows all the problems of early CinemaScope of course ...the lack of closeups because of optical distortions that would occur and enough light to sunbake under being necessary on the sets and a sound scheme with the stereophonic image shifting from side to side as characters moves across the screen.

The film is beautifully restored on the DVD with fine colour and sound.

The use of a 1:2.55 ratio means a truly WIDE screen ....which is shown off by the location shots of New York and the girls apartment which seems enormous!

The opening sequence/overture of course was designed to show off both the brand new wide screen and stereo sound. It seems slightly redundant now but is still a fabulous piece of music by Alfred Newman.

So turn the lights down, turn up the stereo and step back to 1953 and watch a consumate piece of entertainment

The opening prologue is an orchestra performance that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. I began to wonder if I was watching the wrong movie. I've read they did this because it was the first movie shot in Cinemascope and they wanted to highlight the new stereophonic sound system. Seems to me it was unnecessary but times were different then I guess. Anyway, the plot is about three women on the hunt for husbands. Naturally, they would prefer rich husbands. Lauren Bacall plays the leader of the three -- she's the smart, sophisticated one. Betty Grable plays the ditzy, naïve one. A role Marilyn Monroe probably would have played just a few years later due to typecasting. Here Marilyn plays a sort of middleground between Bacall and Grable's characters. Not too bright and not too dumb. She wears glasses but frequently takes them off because she thinks men don't like girls who wear glasses. There are several amusing gags that come as a result of her poor eyesight. All three ladies are beautiful, of course. They are also very funny and immensely appealing. The men in the film are pretty good, too. Even the ones playing jerks, like the great Fred Clark. Cameron Mitchell, David Wayne, and Rory Calhoun play the three primary love interests and are all likable. William Powell, in his second-to-last film, is as classy as they come. The themes are a little dated but it's all light and fluffy so nothing to get indignant about, for those of you who might. It's a fun, enjoyable romantic comedy. Fans of the three leads will love it most.

I enjoyed this cute story of gold-diggers on the prowl. I agree with those who said that musical prologue was way too long -- it was eight minutes before the opening credits came on! This seemed the perfect setting for Marilyn Monroe to sing "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," but that gem was in another of her films. I don't agree with those who said Betty Grable was too old for her part. She merely *looked* old. I tried to figure out why. She was only 35 years old. She was still slim (possibly even slimmer than Lauren Bacall, who'd recently had her second child) and her face looked relatively youthful. So why did she look 45? I concluded it was the hair. That poodle cut was unflattering and added years. I also enjoyed Grable's coy reference to real-life husband Harry James and Bacall's to Bogart. All in all, a charming movie and a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

An over excited critic once wrote that seeing Monroe in Cinemascope was like being smothered in baked Alaska, and seeing this movie, you know exactly what he (I assume he was a he) was on about. The movie opens on the extreme verticals of New York skyscrapers and narrow city streets, then cuts to a wonderfully elongated horizontal Monroe streeeeeeeetched across the scene in an increasingly empty apartment (the girls sell their furniture to be able to pay the rent). This movie is dated and fluffy, but has several interesting elements that make it worth a look for anyone interested in movie history, any of the leads, or in passing a wet Sunday afternoon in a pleasant way. This was Grable's last performance. She knew Monroe was about to usurp her, but the two women both dealt with an uncomfortable situation in a professional way. There is a great narrative twist in the film too - Monroe plays a short sighted girl who finally meets the man to marry her when he tells her he likes her in her glasses. Unlike the usual cliched plot line, it is when Monroe keeps her glasses on that she is revealed to be beautiful. Her acting is this film is among her best, especially her vulnerable scene in the gold aeroplane, and the moment in the powder room when she looks at herself in the mirrors and explodes into five, raspberry satin dress covered Marilyn's is a visual pleasure the film and the viewer revel in (Monroe can't, not wearing her glasses at that point). This film is creamy, smooth, warm - just liked baked Alaska!!

Bacall, Grable, and Monroe, along with fabulous fashions and sets, and a few epic shots of NYC all contribute to making an otherwise very thin film just plain fun to watch. I'm not going to spend time analyzing the different personalities each of the three leads and their men are supposed to represent. The title pretty much tells the story and I will just say that this was a fun, easy, and pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.