Film review: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

How have we not seen this before?  I recall seeing a bunch of Marilyn movies (Bus Stop, Some Like it Hot et al.) in a festival on BBC back in the 80s, but must have missed this one.  It manages both to trade on the "dumb blonde" stereotype and subvert it, and it's a more extreme contrast of Marilyn's rather stilted delivery alongside perfect comic timing than SLiH.  It was also a bit of a shock seeing Jane Russell all glammed up, because I only know her from her machine-gun-patter reporter in His Girl Friday.  That one, like this, was also Howard Hawks, and apparently he discovered her when she was just a dancer (she does a fair bit of hoofing in this, although I have to say she's a big lass, not a willowy little prancer) and gave her her first contract.  What's particularly appealing about this is that, while Russell's Dorothy (Marilyn says "Dawthy") Shaw is the brains of the outfit, they are equal partners and fast friends (at no point is one even slightly mad at the other, and there's none of the infuriating "misunderstandings" plot points that drive me bananas, where everything would be solved if they would just talk to each other), and Dorothy, while having completely different values from Marilyn's Lorelei Lee, will not stand for anyone criticizing her friend, and knows that there's a cunning, hard-headed, but also loyal and decent person lurking underneath the vapid exterior.  (At the end of the movie, when the father of the millionaire whom Lorelei has ensnared, and who (the father) has been trying to drive a wedge between them, accuses her of just being after his son's money, she gives a speech that knocks him over:

Esmond Sr.: Have you got the nerve to tell me you don't want to marry my son for his money?
Lorelei: It's true.
Esmond Sr.: Then what do you want to marry him for?
Lorelei: I want to marry him for YOUR money.

Also:

 

Lorelei: Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?  

 

Also: 

 

Esmond Sr.: Say, they told me you were stupid! You don't sound stupid to me!
Lorelei: I can be smart when it's important. But most men don't like it.

 

In fact, the whole thing is just one great one-liner after another - see? 

The actual plot is fairly flimsy: our girls go on a voyage to France, Lorelei leaving her beau Gus Esmond behind. Also onboard are the US Olympic team (of primary interest to Dorothy, who sings a song about it) and several millionaires, and in particular, Sir Francis Beekman (who insists on being called "Piggy," which Lorelei obliges him with in a laugh-out-loud moment as they're dancing). Piggy is the great Charles Coburn, adding greatly to the enjoyment of the production.  Dorothy meets Piggy first and, on finding out he owns a diamond mine, cautions him not to mention it to Lorelei, but of course she hears the word "Diamond" and all is lost.  Turns out Piggy's wife, Lady Beekman is also on board, and she shows Lorelei her diamond tiara, with which Lorelei is instantly entranced (especially after it's explained to her that you don't wear it round your neck).  However, her and Piggy flirting shamelessly (and harmlessly) is being captured by a detective hired by Esmond Sr.  (Piggy showing Lorelei how an anaconda throttles a goat looks particularly incriminating in a photo taken through a cabin window.)  The detective (Ernie Malone - played by the rather anonymous Elliot Reid) sweet talks Dorothy, initially to get dirt on Lorelei, but eventually (of course) because he's fallen for her.  However Dorothy gets wise to him when she spots him taking the photo.  She and Lorelei then have to contrive to retrieve the film, at first by Dorothy distracting him while Lorelei searches his cabin, which leads to the most inspired comedy bit of the film when Lorelei gets locked in and then stuck getting out the window and has to seek help from a millionaire she tried to fix Dorothy up with, but who turned out to be a little boy.  Piggy comes along while she's still stuck and he hides behind a rug that conceals that she's poking out a porthole and he ends up kissing the boy's hand unknowingly.  Marilyn should've worked with kids more - they're really good together.

 

Anyway, they eventually get the film and think everything's okay, not knowing that he also bugged their cabin.  This means that when they get to Paris and go on a shopping spree, thinking that it will be covered by Gus's letter of credit, but finding that not only do they have to return all their shopping, they're kicked out of their hotel.  Cut to a good while later, and they're a smash hit doing their act, when Gus comes over expecting Lorelei to apologize.  However, she expects him to, and then it's a race to the finish (a double wedding) with a memorable scene of Dorothy impersonating Lorelei in a French court (Russell looks rather alarming blonde, but does a good vocal Marilyn impression) and Malone not ratting her out because he loves her.

 

Verdict: some inspired "bits," some great dialogue, wonderful performances from the three leads (I count Piggy as one), less so by the younger men (although the decidedly mature-looking Olympic team members do fine work being beefy). I only mark it down because the musical scenes do rather drag (however amusingly choreographed, and, in the case of Marilyn's "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" routine, iconic and oft-imitated) and destroy the momentum of the story.  Makes you appreciate the perfection of Some Like It Hot all-the-more.  A glossy bauble of deceptive sophistication.