HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE

US, 1953, 95 minutes, Colour.
Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, Cameron Mitchell, William Powell, Fred Clark.
Directed by Jean Negulesco.

How to Marry a Millionaire was the second film made in Cinemascope. It came after The Robe. It is a very enjoyable, sophisticated comedy of the fifties.

It has very good parts for Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe, with Betty Grable more bland in support. The men take a second place to the ladies, except perhaps for William Powell. There was an orchestrated sequence opening and closing the film - Street Scene directed by Alfred Newman, a device for the Cinemascope screen and stereophonic sound - it is dropped from almost all television copies of the film. There are very many humorous sequences, some satire on the American dream and the gold-diggers at work for fortune. The light touch and
many humorous sequences make this quite enjoyable viewing.

1. How enjoyable and appealing a comedy? An American comedy, American dreams, romance, wealth?

2. The film was the second made in Cinemascope. Is this evident? The use of the screen, the introduction of scenic effects etc.? The photography of the leading actresses, especially Marilyn Monroe? Beautiful scenery, the tour of New York? The outdoor sequences, Cinemascope appropriate for the interiors?

3. The impact of the team work of the stars? Each of the actresses as popular in the forties and fifties? Their attraction, comedy style? The men as a foil for the women?

4. The street scene musical sequence at the beginning, as a prelude to the film? Conclusion?

5. The significance and tone of the title? Humour; the American dream, plans and strategies? The irony of the way this was presented, worked out by the girls, various devices, the effects on them? The irony of their marriages? The light touch with the serious undertones?

6. How well presented were the themes of money, dreams of affluence, the attitude of the gold diggers getting their men?

7. The characterization of the leading ladies? Their backgrounds as models, their beauty, appearances, fashions? The fashionable apartment, parties? The irony of their having to sell the furniture etc to keep up these appearances? Their style in encountering the men, leading them on?

8. The contrast with the presentation of the men: the oil millionaire, the Forest Ranger, the ordinary man worried about the police, the disguised millionaire? The men catching and being caught? The humour of the wealthy men with their shaky marriages? J.D. as a widower. Brewster as a cautious married man?

9. The humorous American portrayal of the battle of the sexes? The interrelationship of men and women, their attacking each other, reconciliation?

10. The story of Schatze? The brains behind the situation, her relationship to Pola and Loco? The leading on of J.D. and his loving her, her response to him? The continued encounters with Tommy and her disdain of him? Her gradual falling in love and the final sequences of going out with him? Her decision to go through with the marriage? Her failure of nerve, the happy reconciliation?

11. Pola and the humour of her vanity about her glasses? Her getting on the wrong plane? Her place in the detection of the fraud? The encounter with Freddie, his explanation of himself and his worries? The farcical sequences with him hiding in the apartment? Their getting married?

12. Loco as the dumb but beautiful partner? The encounter with Brewster and her misunderstanding the nature of the lodge? The bonds with Eben and her misunderstanding his wealth? The return to the city and their being the millionth passengers over the bridge? her marrying Eben? Themes of true love and giving up money for love?

14. The irony and humour of the ending with the girls fainting? The film with its heart in the right place about true love versus money?

15. The sophisticated style of the American comedy of manners? Farcical situations, polished dialogue? Parody and satire in the situations and characters?