"How To Marry A Millionaire" is a typical 20th Century Fox comedy blockbuster of the 1950's. This movie is the very definition of a big, brassy and over-the-top Hollywood of days gone by, and it's all the more fabulous for it. The three leading ladies are wonderful - each providing something different from the other and all of them truly accomplished and talented comedy actresses.
Marilyn Monroe, for my money, steals the show hands down. She is absolutely adorable in the film and she looks at her most beautiful, too. Many other beautiful women have drifted in and out of film over the years, but in "How To Marry A Millionaire" it should be obvious to anyone that Monroe is the most beautiful of them all, period. She is also puts in the kind of perfected comedy performance nobody else can. Betty Grable is wonderful, and just as hilarious and beautiful. Lauren Bacall leads the way and is pretty much flawless in her portrayal of the money-hunting ladies ring leader.
The cinematography is pure 1950's Hollywood and it looks pretty stunning, it has to be said. This was one of the first movies to use 20th Century Fox's Cinemascope format, which was basically a 1950's version of today's Widescreen technique. This causes the only real problem for me, which is a lack of close-up's. This is something nearly all other Cinemascope pictures fall victim to. The only other possible complaint about the movie is that it's quite slow moving, but then so are nearly all other films from this time so it's perhaps not a very fair criticism.
So, all things considered, this is a very entertaining movie and a must see for fans of Monroe, Grable or Bacall. The script, although dated in places, holds up pretty well and even provides a rather poignant take on Sexual Politics in places. The movie was fully restored a couple years back, and this restoration (Completed with a full Widescreen Frame to best emulate the film's original Cinemascope format) is the only way to watch the film. "How To Marry A Millionaire" is a great movie from the 1950's that defines it's era and even manages to remain appealing in some ways today.
Marilyn Monroe, for my money, steals the show hands down. She is absolutely adorable in the film and she looks at her most beautiful, too. Many other beautiful women have drifted in and out of film over the years, but in "How To Marry A Millionaire" it should be obvious to anyone that Monroe is the most beautiful of them all, period. She is also puts in the kind of perfected comedy performance nobody else can. Betty Grable is wonderful, and just as hilarious and beautiful. Lauren Bacall leads the way and is pretty much flawless in her portrayal of the money-hunting ladies ring leader.
The cinematography is pure 1950's Hollywood and it looks pretty stunning, it has to be said. This was one of the first movies to use 20th Century Fox's Cinemascope format, which was basically a 1950's version of today's Widescreen technique. This causes the only real problem for me, which is a lack of close-up's. This is something nearly all other Cinemascope pictures fall victim to. The only other possible complaint about the movie is that it's quite slow moving, but then so are nearly all other films from this time so it's perhaps not a very fair criticism.
So, all things considered, this is a very entertaining movie and a must see for fans of Monroe, Grable or Bacall. The script, although dated in places, holds up pretty well and even provides a rather poignant take on Sexual Politics in places. The movie was fully restored a couple years back, and this restoration (Completed with a full Widescreen Frame to best emulate the film's original Cinemascope format) is the only way to watch the film. "How To Marry A Millionaire" is a great movie from the 1950's that defines it's era and even manages to remain appealing in some ways today.