Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - film review

Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw are showgirls who think of nothing but catching the man of their dreams.  Lorelei believes she has already landed her man, a wealthy heir named Gus Esmond who can’t help showering her with expensive presents.  Dorothy has more romantic notions about marriage and is determined to marry for love, nor for money.  Lorelei and Gus agree to get married in Paris, so the former sets off on a liner bound for France with her friend Dorothy whilst the latter waits for a discrete length of time before joining her.  During the crossing, Lorelei meets the owner of a diamond mine and wastes no time subjecting him to her seductive charms, even though he is at least thirty years her senior.  Unfortunately for Lorelei, Gus has hired a private detective to keep an eye on her...

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is the film in which Marilyn Monroe gave what was arguably her funniest and most seductive performance, the one in which she exploited her dumb blonde sex kitten persona to greatest effect.  This is the film that made her a Hollywood icon and sowed the seeds of the Marilyn myth.  Here she is partnered with the equally eye-catching Jane Russell in one of Hollywood’s great double acts.  Best remembered for Monroe’s show-stopping rendition of Diamond’s Are A Girl’s Best Friend in a Parisian nightclub, the film resonates with charm and good humour, whilst also making an effective satire on the politics of marriage.

The film is loosely based on a 1949 musical of the same title, which in turn was inspired by Antita Loos’s 1925 novel.  Jane Russell starred in a far less successful follow on film, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955).   Howard Hawks would seem to be a strange choice to direct a musical comedy, but he had already directed several classic screwball comedies, including the hilarious Bringing Up Baby (1938), I Was a Male War Bride (1949) and Monkey Business (1952) (in which Monroe had a supporting role).   Gentlemen Prefer Blondes shows that, in the last lap of his career, Hawks still hadn’t lost his knack for making audiences laugh.

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