denis-38 Reviews

Chaos Walking (2021)

Ummmmmm....

[1/10 · 11 May 2021]

So, I don't know exactly how old Tom Holland's character is supposed to be--let's say 20-ish. (The actor himself is 24.) His mother and the rest of the settlement's women were killed off when he was a baby. So, maybe 18 years and all these men--and a couple of younger fellahs--are not having sex? Having sex with each other? Don't think about sex because the "Noise" is enough company?

Stupid, wretchedly plotted, annoying. I can't see how anybody thought the premise--perhaps it works in the books?--could ever be made into a film that didn't drive everyone insane. And is it supposed to elevate or demean women? Is it anti-female, anti-male or simply bereft of a script and director?

The one star is for Mr. Holland's shirtless scenes.

Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021– )

Better to have stayed away...

[3 April 2021]

Badly written, woodenly performed, and even for this liberal, gay, viewer, WAY too "woke." (I counted at least two potential transgender characters.) And why, if Stabler was away doing good work, being his own boss, is he back in New York as a "member of the team" overseen by--sigh!--an aggressive, unsympathetic woman of color? It doesn't appear this will become a series with stand-alone episodes, rather a long journey to fond out Who Killed Kathy? (Given the issues in the Stabler marriage it would made more sense to return him as divorced from Kathy and estranged from his kids--especially the now totally unrecognizable Dickie Stabler--what the heck happened there?!!) It is a mystery to me how "SVU" has continued--I find it unbearable and totally unrealistic now. I don't see "Organized Crime" lasting more than a short season.

P. S. Does Dick Woolf watch his other cop show? In Stabler's return everybody was quick to trash him for his old aggressive ways. Yet "Chicago PD" is nothing but violent cops--killer cops, in fact. Maybe Elliott's comeback should taken place in the Windy City, where he could beat and murder at his pleasure.

Tenet (2020)

Stop after 16 minutes...

[10 January 2021]

At the 16-minute mark in "Tenet" one of the characters says, "Don't try to understand it!" I was already confused, but after two more hours I realized that line was a clear and present warning of confusion to come. A bigger screen or subsequent viewings are NOT tempting prospects. What is tempting is to go back in time and retrieve that 2 hours and 31 minutes. Mr. Nolan, can you help me?

Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult (2020)

Head and Culty Shoulders Above "The Vow"

[26 October 2020]

Although interested in the subject, I simply had no patience for HBO's "The Vow"--after a few episodes I lost all sympathy for the supposed victims/perpetrators who did nothing but film themselves excessively and express regret that didn't seem awfully sincere. "Seduced" gets right to the ugly heart of the matter and is infinitely more compelling. So far, most of those who seemed to figure so prominently in "The Vow"--justifying and endlessly "explaining" have not shown up--with the exception of actress Catherine Oxenberg, who here seems more like a concerned parent rather than a participant in "The Real Cult Mothers of Los Angeles."

We Are Who We Are (2020)

Really?

[22 October 2020]

I can't give a full review to the series. I came across one episode--six, I think--and realized at last it was supposed to be taking place on a military base. On what planet? I noted unpleasant kids, inappropriate parents, and no sense of reality. Bad acting, too. I'm gay, by the way, and honestly, I don't to feel the pressing need see "my people" represented in EVERYTHING. (Especially as they are usually presented as obnoxious.) It all seems very HBO-ish, which these days is not much of a compliment. But mostly, and again--this is supposed to be a MILITARY BASE??????????

My Week with Marilyn (2011)

An Insult and a Lie

[27 November 2011]

First things first. Colin Clark's "memoirs" on Monroe are fictitious. Anyone who has ever read more than one MM biography can see what Clark did--cut and paste. Sure, he was a lowly gofer on the set, and no doubt had his observations, but his books are clearly written many years after the fact, and much fleshed out with bits from other books. He claimed they were "diaries" he'd kept hidden for decades. Please.

Okay. Now to "My Week With Marilyn." Has everyone gone mad? Is Michelle Williams so convincing in her interviews, talking about her "multi-layered" performance that almost every critic has swallowed her words whole? What "layers" does Michelle reveal? Her Marilyn is miserable from beginning to end, or an idiot. There is NO change in voice or manner, as she insists, as she plays "real" Marilyn, "fake" Marilyn, and then the role of Elsie in "The Prince and the Showgirl." Miss Williams is a wonderful actress---loved her in "Blue Valentine"--and perhaps she means everything she says and has talked herself into thinking she has given a flattering or incisive portrayal of MM. She has not. Sorry.

Listen, at her worst--"River of No Return" let's say--Monroe is more magnetic and varied than Michelle is for one second in "My Week With Marilyn." This has actually made me re-think Catherine Hick's performance in the TV movie about MM, many years ago.

My suggestion? Watch "The Prince and the Showgirl." The real one. Then tell me Michelle Williams has given an "Oscar worthy" performance. (Although MM would never be nominated for an Academy Award, she did win the French and Italian versions of the Oscar for her turn as Elsie.) Oh, and what a horrible portrayal of photographer Milton Greene in this movie. He was so devoted to MM and co-produced "TPATS." He guided Marilyn to her peak, and is here brushed off like some coarse "player." Ugly.

Marilyn--still viciously exploited almost 50 years after her death.

Don't Bother to Knock (1952)

An Actress Emerges..Despite Her Diction

[10 January 2010]

It's hard to quarrel with those who find Monroe's early performances difficult to take. She was coached by a crazy Russian lady who insisted on MM over-enunciating, coming down hard on her D's and T's. Sometimes, as in "Clash By Night" she shook this off, and delivers a relaxed performance. And, in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" it suits the comic character. But otherwise, this affectation becomes a problem in anything approaching a dramatic performance.

I happen to think Monroe is splendid in "Don't Bother To Knock." Once and a while, the diction loosens, but her work here relies mostly on her reactions and body language. Her complete unraveling--the scene in the hotel lobby--is beautifully played and gives a hint that MM might one day have made a brilliant Blanche Du Bois. I also find her quite beautiful in DNTK. The darker hair suited her, and for once the camera focuses on her face, not her body.

After "The Seven Year Itch" (a charming effort and more relaxed diction-wise) Monroe would dump her Russian coach for the Strasbergs. I don't necessarily approve of them, but at least under their teaching she finally shook loose her problem.

Fall (1997)

Maybe someday I'll watch the entire movie...

[3/10 · 18 January 2009]

I just caught the last 25 minutes of "Fall." It struck no dim memory, so I stayed with it. I found the leading man attractive enough and the leading lady suitably endowed to be a top model. The plot--cabbie and supermodel--well, in one way or another this is one of the world's oldest films clichés, and my eyes rolled when I read the synopsis. He was supposed to be a poet, so that was the big diff between the hundred other similar tales of Ordinary Joe and the Glam Lady. (Let's go back to "Her Highness and the Bellboy" with Hedy Lamarr and Robert Walker!)

As "Fall" plummeted to its conclusion I was struck by the standard twists,right up to the airport dash, the miraculous sighting as she enters alimo in full drag--did he read the Paris gossip columns to know whereto find her?--his despondent reactions. (Although the pillow-weeping was a bit much.) I was also struck at how, well...very gay he seems.Not that there's anything wrong with that! But given his normal-guy looks, I had to take a big suspension of disbelief. Maybe in her business she was always sleeping with gay-ish men? What alerted me that this was probably a VERY bad movie, and I'd missed the worst of it, was his letter to her, read over the action as she leaves and he follows. It was such drivel I could only assume she fled to Paris because she realized he was retarded! He was certainly no writer of merit.

I was dismayed when the movie closed with a very long shot of what appeared to be the two principals walking in the park, sitting on a bench, chatting. If it was not a misty flashback moment,one assumes they reconciled in some fashion? Unless it was another shortish, swishy man and his towering blonde friend? (Sorry for that, but I am gay myself and there is shot of him walking away from the camera, wearing only jeans that had me screaming, "you go,girlfriend!) If "Fall" pops up again, I'll probably watch it from the beginning. Sometimes a bad movie can lift the spirits better than a masterpiece. I just hope there are not a lot of examples of our cabbie/poet's writing.

Divorce His - Divorce Hers (1973 TV Movie)

Fun, if you know what you're getting into!

[5/10 · 1 January 2009]

"Divorce/His...etc, is for hardcore Elizabeth Taylor fans (as are most of her vehicles, post 1967) Here you find her in all her latter-day glory--over-the-top and inappropriate in every way. The script, if you can call it that, tells the tale of a longtime married couple (wealthy, of course) whose marriage is coming apart. It's a tale told from two perspectives, tho both are equally silly and poorly written. You can just skip Burton, he's a burnt out zombie here. (Liz n' Dick would separate for the first time shortly after this thing hit the airwaves. Burton looks more than ready!) But our girl Liz gives it her all. She approaches every melodramatic moment, every abysmal line of dialogue as if her life or an Oscar depended on it. Quibble if you will if she is a good actress--she is certainly not a lazy one! She enlivens the material with her baroque presence--the wigs, the jewels, the gowns. The wigs! And of course a drinking game could be made out of her fluctuating weight. In one sequence she visits her horrible children's rooms to scold them. She loses ten pounds between the son and the daughter.

Taylor looks good, stll quite the beauty. Her real problem is her proportions. Very short, very short-waisted and that enormous bosom. Dressing her must have been a challenge even at her slimmest. Here, Edith Head does some excellent work, but Taylor sneaks in a few monstrosites from her own closet--the mini dress/tent she wears in a flashback sequence, in Africa! (She's sporting a fantastically distracting bullet bra, and a gigantic pendant hanging between the famed bazooms. When she sits down, the dress hikes to her crotch. Anybody can act, Miss Taylor puts on a show.) So, it's like that. Taylor's wacky, sometimes stuttering-placing- emphasis- on- the- wrong- word line-readings are also worth a peek.The high point is Liz and Carrie Nye. Nye, who looks like a transgendered corpse, thank you very much, reveals to poor Liz that she (Nye) has had an affair with Burton. Liz, rather tanky in her blue silk penoir get-up, pushes Nye away (how Nye didn't land in the next country is a miracle) "Stop talking, stop telling! He must have been drunk. How could anyone have an affair with you, you're not even beautiful!" This truthful statement seems beside the point, but Miss T. couldn't have given this (and other whoppers) more gusto had it been scripted by Edward Albee.

So, you have been warned. If you like this sort of thing, try to get a copy of "X, Y and Zee" which is much better and when "Zee" is funny, it is meant to be. Liz--we love, ya, honey.

Return Engagement (1978 TV Movie)

Surprisingly effective Tayor

[9/10 · 1 January 2009]

When this aired in 1978, I approached with dread. Taylor was terribly overweight (as a fan, I preferred not to see her so swollen) and what I knew of the plot of "Return Engagement" made me shudder--a history professor with a corny vaudeville showbiz past? Imagine my surprise when this turned out to be so poignant, with Elizabeth Taylor completely convincing in her role! Something in this screenplay must have touched her--a lonely woman who has escaped her glamorous past, reminded of it by one of her students (Joe Bottoms) who essentially forces her out of the closet of her guarded, careful lifestyle. Elizabeth had given a similarly fine-grained performance in "A Little Night Music" (let's just skip her singing, okay?) as an actress looking for a way out of that unsatisfying existence. So perhaps the theme of escape and/or renewal appealed to her. (She was married to John Warner at the time, and had "semi-retired" to act the role of a political spouse, but her image remained larger than life. Eventually she returned to being "Elizabeth Taylor.") This is without a doubt one of the many curiosities of Elizabeth Taylor's career, and one of the most satisfying. Be prepared, she is plump. Beyond plump, really. But her hairstyle and clothes are suitable and flattering. If you are a Taylor fan--and I assume you'd have to be, to be looking up anything on this movie!--it is worth searching out ebay or Amazon for an old VHS copy.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Marilyn's great, but...

[18 September 2008]

This movie was a HUGE hit in its day. It has not aged well. The Kinsey Report generation was titillated by Tom Ewell and his midlife fantasies about The Girl upstairs (Monroe, given no name--well she was essentially playing the public idealization of herself.) But today the movie is excruciating; boring ALMOST beyond redemption. Salvation arrives in the voluptuous and glimmery form of Miss M. She is adorable and gives a paper-thin role a lot of humor and even some poignancy.

But she is not on screen enough, and when she's off..oy vey! Here's my suggestion if you want to appreciate Monroe here. Find when it's going to run again. Record only MM's scenes, and please, find a full screen version. Cinemascope was not a good idea, except for epics. You'll find a delightful comedienne, even before her immersion in Method acting.

Billy Wilder gave Monroe a far better (if still not terribly big) role in a much better film, "Some Like It Hot." But even "Hot" is looking a bit tired. If you want tip-top Monroe in a tip-top entertaining-from start-to-finish film, try "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." That one still holds up.

And so does "Bus Stop" despite the un-PC hero who manhandles Monroe. (But that was the movie--he was an idiot from a farm and she was a dim bulb from the Ozarks.)

Anyway, "Itch" has some of Monroe's most charming moments. My favorite? After the famous piano bench scene, when Ewell fumbles a pass--he tells her to "take her potato chips and go!" She does, but before she leaves, as she's opening the door, she pauses, looks over her shoulder--oh, the line of her back!--and says, sweetly, "I think you're very nice."

Millions of American men, sitting in darkened 1955 movie palaces, sighed deeply.

And women? Well, MM was too sweet to be a threatening femme fatale. They just worried she'd catch cold, standing over the subway grate.

There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

See it for The Merm , Mitzi and Marilyn!

[20 August 2008]

This decades-spanning tale of a vaudeville family was a big hit in 1954--but not big enough to cover the cost of the film. So it came to be known as a flop. In fact this is nifty family entertainment--very corny, sentimental and obvious. It is tremendously appealing. Merman, Dan Daily, Donald O'Connor and Mitzi are all terrif. Merm socks out a performance that is proof positive she would have been sensational in the film version of "Gypsy." (Despite my admiration for that unjustly maligned movie and Miss Roz Russell.) Believe me, when she finally gets around to belting out the title song, prepare the hankies.

Miss Gaynor just never got the right breaks. She is triple-threat and a knock-out.

This leaves Johnny Ray and Miss Monroe as the movie's two surreal question marks. Ray was a briefly, hugely popular singer. He could not act. And being almost stone deaf gave his "acting" and his singing a weird intensity.

As for MM, she did not want to make this movie. Fox blackmailed her with the promise of "The Seven Year Itch." If she did "There's No Business..." she could have "Itch." She agreed. She was horrified to see how sketchy her character was, and how she would be forced to mock her own serious ambitions and play the Fox vision of her as a viciously aggressive sex-pot. (Her character is on the receiving end of plenty of rude remarks) MM's acting is often strained--she was still in the grip of a dramatic couch who insisted on over-enunciation. But the script said "sexy" and MM was obedient to that plot point. She thrusts herself every which way.

Jack Cole, who had choreographed MM so well in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" here leaves her to lead with her pelvis. Monroe's "Heat Wave" number is a high-camp scorcher. It shocked 1954 audiences and even today it's something to see! Vocally, Monroe is very strong. Especially on "After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It." And her "Lazy" is awfully good. But with MM in a beaded flesh-colored bodysuit, thrusting herself against patrons in a nightclub, or wedged into skin-tight black leotards lolling around on a chaise lounge, who can concentrate on her voice?

As to her "Heat Have" get-up, it looks like something Carmen Miranda would reject as "too much"--suffice to say, Monroe makes startling use of the flamenco skirts and her bare legs. (This was the movie that finally propelled Monroe out of Hollywood and into forming her own production company.)

I always enjoy this film. It has heart. And courtesy of Miss M, heat! Here's my viewing suggestion--watch the full-screen rather than the letterbox version. This was very early Cinemascope. On TV, the wide-screen version leaves everybody with heads the size of postage stamps. Very few close-ups. The color, however, is gloriously vivid and unrealistic. Just the way I like it.

A Star Is Born (1954)

Judy Deserved the Oscar...BUT...

[17 August 2008]

I hate to fly in the face of 99.9 percent of those who consider "A Star Is Born" a masterpiece as well as Miss Garland's greatest performance. There are many fine moments within this film, and though Cukor was already on a slide, he uses Cinemascope beautifully--a rare accomplishment for a non-epic. But no matter what purists insist, the film WAS over-long, Miss Garland WAS too old, too harsh-looking, too inherently savvy to be convincing as a struggling young band-singer. To counter this basic miscasting, Cukor encourages her to bathos rather than pathos. She's a raw nerve from the get-go, and that doesn't work for her character, at least not at first. And are we to believe a girl who belts out "The Man That Got Away" as she does, is not getting anywhere on radio?! The more I see of "ASIB" the more self-indulgent it seems. Everybody plays to the balcony--in China! Although often this over-acting has great power, no matter how obvious the effort. ("Be tragic, no--more tragic!" you can almost hear Cukor saying to his stars, especially to quick-to-go-misty-eyed Judy.) Yes, yes, Judy should have won her Oscar, not only for the best of her acting and singing, scattered through "ASIB" but for the body of work, which was already legendary. I mean, Grace Kelly? What a joke. But Judy was not popular within the industry and her little ways had helped put the film over-budget.

For my money, if you want to see the proper use of Judy's latter-day talents and persona, watch "I Could Go on Singing." Melodramatic and obvious--a soap opera--but playing an ersatz version of herself, she is riveting and appropriate.

Summer Stock (1950)

Judy's charming MGM swan song...

[17 August 2008]

I think many of the comments posted reflect what many of the posters know about the agonizing production of Judy's final film for MGM. This simple, very corny movie took months and months to shoot and Judy was either late or not appearing or collapsing. Okay. But if we didn't know that, how would we view the finished product? In my opinion none of the stress shows. Garland is by no means "fat" She is at the weight nature--if not MGM--intended. She's on the plump side. She is exquisitely photographed, and well-costumed. She's a farm girl; the over-alls make sense, as well as working to conceal her a bit. The dresses are flattering and designed to give her shape and height. Her face is lovely, still. (Four years later, in "A Star Is Born" she looks harsh and a decade older than her actual age.) Her voice is in top form, especially on "Evening Star" an unjustly forgotten gem. Gene Kelly looks fantastic and gives his all to a movie he didn't want to do. He felt, justifiably, that it was an old Mickey/Judy re-tread. And now, literally, a show was being performed in a barn! But he did it for Judy, who'd given him his movie break in "For Me and My Gal" back in 1941.

It goes on, and meanders, as so many MGM musical do, but it is still a satisfying, enjoyable example of the genre.

And, for all the "hokcum", sentiment and predictable outcomes, "Summer Stock" also offers Judy's best dancing sequence, ever--in any film. For Miss Garland to have risen to the challenge offered, in a movie that offered so few, and in her emotional distress...well, that's genius, folks.

Clash by Night (1952)

Great Barbara...Surprising Marilyn

[8/10 · 21 June 2008]

Remarkably powerful performance by Barbara S. as a weary woman who comes back home---after living what she herself describes as a "sordid" life. Home is a dump of a fishing village. Her hot bother (Keith Andes) and his luscious girlfriend (Marilyn Monroe) welcome her. Andes is wary, Marilyn is intrigued. Barbara, looking for security, marries rough-but-goodhearted Paul Douglas, but dallies self-destructively with bitter, sexy Robert Ryan. Dialogue is alternately withering and ponderous; Barbara overcomes all in a volcanic display. Her best performance until the TV mini-series "The Thorn Birds" many years later. (Although her perverse lesbian madam in "Walk on the Wild Side" is worthy of attention.) The real eye-brow raiser is Monroe. Loaned out by Fox for this--after a series of tiny roles in stupid comedies-- she is so fresh and vigorous, naturally sexy. It makes one a bit sad she had to return to Fox, where they continued to cast her unimaginatively. She would not be so playful and vital on screen until "The Prince and the Showgirl" But she would never again play a role with such an equally attractive partner, nor one so self-confident. If she'd had more roles like this, she might not have become the great star we know now, but likely would have enjoyed a more varied and satisfying career. She might even still be around today!

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

TOTALLY micast, but fab...

[9/10 · 5 March 2006]

This was Elizabeth Taylor's second Tennessee Williams' script and the third in a series of increasingly hysterical, over-wrought characterizations--"Raintree County" and "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" preceding "Suddenly."

In "Raintree" she's crazy because she thinks she she part black. In "Cat" she's half crazy with desire for her hubby who won't sleep with her because (maybe) he's gay. In "Suddenly" she's half-crazy because her very definitely gay cousin was cannibalized before her eyes, while they were vacationing where the boys are.

Miss Taylor is loads of fun in these roles, shrill and noisy and petulant. She is actually very good in "Cat" perhaps never better--perhaps because the death of her husband Mike Todd just days after filming began, gave her more than her usual commitment to a role.

But the thing is, Elizabeth Taylor's essence, is NOT unhinged. She always seems quite sane, really. Her high-pitched, breathy neurosis always rings false--if, again, it is always watchable (to the dedicated fan, anyway.)

In no other film is this as evident as "Suddenly Last Summer." At no time, no matter what words pour out of Catherine Holly's mouth, does she come across as she should--a fragile thing who is driven to a near-breakdown over a sexual tryst in a gazebo and then goes over the edge after allowing herself to be "used" to procure boys for her cousin. Taylor's Catherine is way too assured, sophisticated, healthy, vital. She is quick to anger, quick to argue. She looks like she could take apart the sanitarium with her bare hands--or at least the sound of her voice.

Taylor performs brilliantly (though Mank, who would also direct her in "Cleopatra" encourages Taylor's actressy heavy-breathing, when restraint serves her best--"Giant," anyone?) But it is clear she's no victim.

Katharine Hepburn on the other hand comes off like a lunatic from her first scene. THIS woman wants somebody else to be lobotomized?! (to keep Miz Liz from all that "obscene babbling" about cousin Sebastian.) Monty Clift looks stunned and behaves with the kind of nervous hesitation that Miss Taylor should have used in her own performance.

And yet, all this miscasting works for the film, precisely because the subject matter is so bizarre. Had it been properly cast--Audrey Hepburn (all vulnerability) or Kim Novak (all somnambulism) or Marilyn Monroe (vulnerability, sex and raw nerves--go see "Bus Stop) the movie wouldn't have nearly the same over-ripe aroma.

And speaking of ripe, "Suddenly" offers Miss Taylor at her womanly peak: so lush, so sexy...so WRONG for mental patient on the edge. But Miss Catherine is clearly having her three squares a day, lobotomy be damned.

The Taylor face, in crisp black-and-white, is gorgeous. Though depressed, Miss Catherine still manages to apply that liquid liner expertly.

"Suddenly Last Summer" It's so off the tract, but a fascinating train wreck none the less.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Marilyn's BEST...hands down.

[10/10 · 12 February 2006]

Marilyn Monroe gave "finer" performances in "Bus Stop," "The Prince and The Showgirl" and "Some Like It Hot" but "GPB" is the most out-and-out- delightful entertainment of her career. The film that established and then defined her stardom and appeal.

It is also one of the very few major MM vehicles in which she plays a character who is the film's catalyst--and a character without any comic or melancholic autobiographical references. This endearing gold-digger bears no resemblance to the off-screen actress, who disdained real jewelry and fought for "respect" not money. Although Monroe was still creatively hobbled by a Russian "acting coach" who demanded over-enunciation, this affect works for social climber Lorelei Lee. (This odd way of speaking came and went, depending on the how secure MM felt with her script and director. Later, it would vanish, after the Russian was shipped off. "GPB" is a relaxed performance, with the vocal oddity just enough present to give Miss Lee a kind of surreal fascination--is she from Mars?) The film is mercifully brief, with one outrageous adventure tumbling upon the next.(It begins in spectacular fashion, with both women in song and dance, and before you know it, it is over and the viewer is left slack-jawed with with admiration for the inspired fun!) Monroe is dazzlingly costumed by Travilla, luminously photographed in the rich Technicolor of 20th Century Fox,and given the best leading man of her career--the admirable Jane Russell. In no other movie is Monroe so tenderly looked after, so well-understood, or treated with such respect as she is by her best bosomy bud here. That Russell has also never been better on screen--despite some unflattering costuming and her own gracious handing over the film to MM--is the icing on this scrumptious cinema cake.

"GPB" looks even better now than it did 1953--certainly a far more entertaining musical than a lot of the pretentious, over-reaching MGM entries of the 40's and 50's.

Two musical numbers stand out. Russell's "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love" which is both a celebration of her character's lusty womanliness and an ode to homo-eroticism--all those guys in their flesh-colored briefs, gyrating. (Gives some pause to where Howard Hawks' head was!) And of course, Monroe's immortal "Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend"--the apogee of her special lure, her physical perfection, her confidence--her life, probably! She couldn't dance, but Jack Cole knew what to do to make it seem as if she did. She could, however, sing--very well indeed. (Her second film, 1948's "Ladies of The Chorus" had already proved that.) But by '53, she had stylized her native gift, producing a unique and unmistakable sound. Lionel Newman, who worked with MM on all her Fox musicals has reported she was never late, never a problem, and never, ever needed to be dubbed, "not one single note, ever." I make a point of this, because IMDb. trivia on "GPB" indicated Marni Nixon did MM's high notes. (In her famous "Happy Birthday, Mr. President, MM shakes out of her drugged nervousness to hit one brief high note, quite similar to her trilling in the opening of "Diamonds.")

Even if you don't much care for Monroe, it is almost impossible not to be wildly amused by this most carefree, colorful and satisfying musical romp.

Something's Got to Give (1962)

It;s Cukor and the script!

[5 February 2005]

The only way to fairly judge the 37-minute "re-creation of "SGTG" in "The Final Days" is to have seen the previous 1990 documentary on the making of this film, which contained alternate takes, AND to have seen (as I have) the bootlegged hours and hours of Marilyn on set, doing it over and over. Not because she couldn't remember her lines, but because Cukor demanded it. And what you'll find is a very patient and usually cheerful actress obeying her director. Each time he asks for a new take, she does it just a little different. Higher, lower, softer, stronger. When she flubs, she doesn't fall apart. She seems miffed with herself, but no great drama is revealed.

THis patched together thing in "The Final Days" is to me, the final indignity. Almost without fail, her weakest takes are used. Remember, again: Even when MM was letter perfect, Cukor DEMANDED another take.

I think most of the IMDb reviewers probably know the backstory to this debacle--the script she approved, which was then changed, an antagonistic director(right before she was fired he went to Hedda Hopper, demanded anonymity and scourged her. Declared her insane and her career over. Nice guy! All we can really say about what remains of "SGTG" is that she was very lovely, strikingly beautiful. It is clear, however that as the film progressed she grew thinner and indeed looked a bit ill. She is radiant in the costume tests, and at a perfect weight. Later, in the beige suit, she is obviously padded (she had a normal-sized bosom, except when she was plump--which was most of the time.) The script appears to be a drag, but Marilyn was at least playing an adult woman, with children, in sleek clothes and using a far more natural voice. Had she lived to complete the film, it might have found success, based on the nude swim--a carefully choreographed stunt, she was never naked in the water at all, and her more mature appearance and attitude. But Cukor was a lousy director at this point, and HE was the problem on "Let's Make Love" as well--those endless scenes! He'd lost his touch.

I'm glad so much attention has been paid to this last gallant effort on Marilyn's part. But you'll only recognize how hard she tried, if they release every second of her on set.

Maybe fate was kind, and middle-age would have been an unbearable horror for her. But in what remains of "Something's Got To Give" you can see the elegant performer she might have become, if she'd had more faith in herself.

Valley of the Dolls (1967)

Trash--with a twist!

[9 December 2002]

There's nothing I can add to the many hilarious and trenchant comments of other IMDB users--"Valley" will live forever as one of the greatest bad movies ever. But here's something nobody else has picked up on. The scene when Patty/Neely discovers hubby Ted cavorting in the pool with another woman? Well, before Patty/Neely sees them, she hears splashing and giddy, girlish laugh. That splash and laugh are Marilyn Monroe--audio from her famous nude swim scene in "Something's Git To Give," the movie she never finished.

Somebody at 20th Century Fox--MM's home studio--had a perverse sense of humor!

River of No Return (1954)

Some Like Her Wet!

[27 November 2002]

Although it is often referred to as a "bomb"--and MM herself described it as such--"River of No Return" made money when it was released in 1954. Easy to see why. The idiocy that was Cinemascope was new, and "River" also offered the always dependably laconic Bob Mitchum, horses, wild Indians, a moral dilemma and most vitally, Marilyn Monroe at her sexiest. This is not to say MOnroe is good. Still under the influence of a Ruissian acting coach who emphasized en-un-ci-at-ion, Monroe is realistically natural in one moment, stiff in another--sometimes she starts off good with a good reading, only to end up bad, or vice versa. But her mannerisms are amusing and compelling, if not exactly good acting. Throw in four songs--one brooding, one bawdy, one tender, one mournful--and the MM figure in its prime (often soaking wet to great effect)

This movie gets a lot of play, now, on cable, and I've seen it often recently. Hands down Monroe never looked better, she is so ravishing here that every over-emphatic D or T is forgiven. (She would trot out this slender beauty, and striking bone-structure in the last year of her life.)

Actually, "River of No Return" looks better as the years pass. I don't know why--Monroe's lips are as riotously quivery as ever. But her backside remains superb. That must be it.

Let's Make Love (1960)

All About Charm...

[26 November 2002]

This is one of my favorite Marilyn films. No, let me amend that--this is one of my favorite Marilyn performances. She is sweet, natural, sympathetic, adorable. She has no character to play and no script and no director (Cukor was sliding fast at this point) But she and Montand are lovely together; two great charmers surrounded by an overblown 60's confection of "guest stars" and constant costume changes (although some of Marilyn's outfits are so flimsy one wonders why they bothered to dress her at all?!) "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" is classic MM, but I have a perverse fondness for "Specialization" with Monroe hopping around (she really couldn't dance) in this INCREDIBLE gown, belly and backside bulging, a Reubens come to life. It's a very minor film, especially sandwiched between "Some Like It Hot" and "The Misfits" but there is pleasure to be found if you're into Miss M.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

Ava at her peak

[26 November 2002]

High 40's, high-camp talky surrealism and fantasy. Hypnotic and silly at the same time. Ava Gardner, as the heartless wanton playgirl made "good" by a supernatural love, is gasp-makingly beautiful. Jack Cardiff's cinematography captures this most gorgeous of all stars at the lush height of her looks. (But hey, even thirty years later, blousy and ravaged, Gardner was still a stunner--those bones!)

Especially recommended for Gardner fans and devotee's (sp?) of rich, artifical movie color. If only nature had so compelling a palette.