Die beste Freundin

Marilyn, never more beautiful, outstages a stiff Olivier in this fairytalish comedy. The lessons at the Actor´s Studio (NY) really did pay off! An absolute delight and probably my favorite Monroe movie after ´The Misfits´. Don´t watch this one for the complex storylines or the explosive action, watch this one for the genius of Marilyn Monroe.

Judging from the footage in this documentary ´Something´s got to give´ would certainly not have been a step forward for Marilyn: a silly comedy which would have taken her right back to her early days. During the late fifties Marilyn had proven to be a very fine actress, able of playing high standard comedy (Some like it hot, The prince and the showgirl) as well as dramatic parts (Bus stop). Then her personal life got in the way of her film career. While 20th Century Fox gave Elizabeth Taylor the star treatment and the budget that goes with it (for portraying Cleopatra), Marilyn got stuck with this stinker. She got fired during the shoot and died just before the studio rehired her to finish the job. Though this documentary shows a couple of touching scenes (f.i. Marilyn´s character meeting her children for the first time in years - this was to be the first time Marilyn played a mother), I think ´The Misfits´ is a much more suitable swansong for this beautiful child (as Truman Capote once called her).

SF-kidsmovie with cartoonish quality, lots of action and some painfully dated special effects. Pretty entertaining, but not quite the material for a screen legend. To see Bette Davis in other post-Baby Jane roles, more worthy of her talent, watch ´Death on the Nile´ (1978) and ´Whales of August´ (1988).