Howard Hawks directed this fabulous 1953 musical, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Marilyn plays Lorelei Lee, a gold (or diamond) digging nightclub singer, and Jane is her best friend Dorothy Shaw, who is altogether more down to earth, and unlike her friend, is not interested in whether a man has money or not.
Lorelei is engaged to Gus Esmond, but his father strongly disapproves of the match, so when he forbids Gus to travel to France with Lorelei (where they planned to get married), and Lorelei goes anyway with Dorothy, Gus’s father hires a private detective Ernie Malone (played by Elliott Reid) to spy on Lorelei while the girls are on the transatlantic liner which will take them to their destination. Esmond Snr is hoping that Malone will uncover evidence of Lorelei’s unfaithfulness to his son, but Malone is distracted by Dorothy, whom he starts to have feelings for. Meanwhile, Lorelei catches the eye of an elderly ‘gentleman’ (in fact, he is anything but a gentleman) on board the liner, and their friendship results in all sorts of trouble…
What a fabulous film this is – full of very clever jokes and cheeky innuendo, with some fantastic song and dance numbers (fewer songs than I was expecting however, but that didn’t mar my enjoyment). Marilyn was great as Lorelei and her performance of Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend is iconic, but I thought that Jane Russell was by far the better actress here. Or maybe I just preferred her character – Dorothy was straight talking and wise-cracking, and she and Lorelei made a great partnership. Their friendship was entirely believable – they recognise and acknowledge each other’s flaws, but love each other anyway (when Malone makes an unkind but accurate comment about Lorelei, Dorothy snaps “Nobody talks about Lorelei but me.”).
With a lavish opening sequence which sets the scene for the story to follow, and several genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, this is a film which is sure to make you smile and feel great after you’ve watched it. It might be over 50 years old, but it’s lost none of it’s charm. Definitely recommended.
Year of release: 1953
Director: Howard Hawks
Writers: Charles Lederer, Joseph Fields, Anita Loos
Main cast: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid
Between the Pages 
Leave a Reply