Comment épouser un millionnaire

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.

Loco Dempsey, Pola Debevoise and Schatze Page, each one a pretty model, their goal in life?, to marry millionaires. They set themselves up in a top apartment and set about wooing any potential suitors, trouble is is that it's hard to tell the rich from the normal, and love may just have a say after all.

Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall play our three dubiously motivated ladies, each one putting a delightful stamp on each respective character. Filmed in CinemaScope, New York {and the girls Manhattan apartment}is beautifully realised and with the restored DVDs available, the colour positively gleams on the screen. The story itself is a fun one, tho at its core it's of course greedy and selfish, but this is a romantic comedy that plays out with delightful ease, and thankfully doesn't contain pointless filler scenes to purely showcase the actresses on show.

Monroe has never looked as pretty as she does here, some of her other films are obviously more famous, but she radiates sexiness and with her character being vision impaired, she gets to show the wonderful comedic talent that she definitely had. Bacall clearly is the best actor on show, so it's no surprise that she gets the best written part, at times bitter, intelligent and determined, her Schatze Page character is the glue binding the picture {and the girls} together. Betty Grable is solid without really impacting a great deal, with the boys {notably Rory Calhoun} offering entertaining support. How To Marry A Millionaire is simply a delightful movie that never over tries your patience, it's a fun ride with a little something for everyone, and it cheerily pays you off at the end. 7/10

Three ladies seek to plunder a small fortune, by marrying a man who they can then prune, but he must be, very wealthy, one would assume not too healthy, these girls are hoping things get opportune. So they lease or fleece a place where they can stay, a place to entertain, have fun and play, taking advantage of what's offered, all the things that they are proffered, one by they find that love don't come their way. It's not the deepest film that you have ever seen, rather shallow to be fair, and rather lean, not that funny, rich or charming, of the sexes it's quite harming, imagine watching this upon the silver screen (and finding it entertaining!).

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.

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!!