Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Pictures, Movie, Photos, Stills
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Movie Poster
- Director:
Howard
Hawks
- AMG Rating:
- Genre: Musical
- Movie Type:
Romantic Comedy, Musical Comedy
- Themes: Love Triangles,
Vacation Romances
- Main Cast: Jane Russell, Marilyn
Monroe, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan
- Release
Year: 1953
- Country: US
- Run Time:
91 minutes
George
Winslow - Henry Spofford III; Marcel
Dalio - Magistrate; Taylor
Holmes - Gus Esmond, Sr.; Norma
Varden - Lady Beekman; Howard Wendell - Watson;
Steven
Geray - Hotel Manager; Henri Letondal - Grotier;
Leo
Mostovoy - Phillipe; Alex Frazer - Pritchard;
George
Davis - Cab Driver; Alphonse
Martell - Headwaiter; James Moultrie - Boy
Dancer; Fred Moultrie - Boy Dancer; Jean
de Briac - Gendarme; Peter Camlin - Gendarme;
Harry
Carey, Jr. - Winslow; Jean
del Val - Ship's Capt; Ray
Montgomery - Peters; Alvy
Moore - Anderson; Robert
Nichols - Evans; Charles
Tannen - Ed; Jimmy Young - Stevens;
Charles de Ravenne - Purser; John
Close - Coach; William
Cabanne - Sims; Jack
Chefe - Proprietor; George
Chakiris - Dancer; Robert
Foulk; Ralph
Peters - Passport Official; Jimmy Saung
- Dancer; Rolfe
Sedan - Waiter; Harry
Seymour - Captain of Waiters; Max
Willenz - Court Clerk; Alfred Paix - Pierre
Plot
Second-billed Marilyn
Monroe is the blonde in question in this second film version of
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Miss Lorelei Lee, whose philosophy is
"diamonds are a girl's best friend." Together with her best human friend
Dorothy (top-billed Jane
Russell), showgirl Lorelei embarks upon a boat trip to Paris, where
she intends to marry millionaire Gus Esmond (Tommy
Noonan). En route, the girls are bedeviled by private detective
Malone (Elliot Reid), hired by Esmond's father (Taylor
Holmes) to make certain that Lorelei isn't just another
gold-digger. When Dorothy falls in love with the poverty-stricken
Malone, Lorelei decides to find her pal a wealthier potential husband,
and that's how she gets mixed up with flirtatious diamond merchant Sir
Francis Beekman (Charles
Coburn) and precocious youngster Henry Spofford III (George
"Foghorn" Winslow). Most of the Leo
Robin-Jule
Styne songs from the Broadway show remain intact, including Marilyn
Monroe's rendition of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," a
production number later imitated by pop icon Madonna.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
On the surface, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a brassy, garish, colorful
musical comedy featuring two rather lightweight actresses, Marilyn
Monroe and Jane
Russell. Ultimately, however, director Howard
Hawks uses the nature of the material and the glossy stars to an
interesting, paradoxical effect. The film lacks strong masculine
characters and any sort of traditional morality; it's dominated by the
superficial. The two main characters are sex symbols who, in true
Hawksian fashion, have their sex-appeal turned on its head. Monroe's
first starring success came the year before, in Niagara,
and she had also shown a flair for comedy in Hawks' Monkey
Business; but Gentlemen was the first time she proved that
she could truly charm an audience, something which she continued to do
through 1959's Some
Like It Hot. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
