How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

How to Marry a Millionaire is an American romantic film drama first released in 1953, directed by Jean Negulesco.  The film is based on a play by Zoe Akins and stars Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, David Wayne and Rory Calhoun.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


The enterprising Schatze Page is determined to make her fortune the only way she knows – by hooking a millionaire husband for herself or her two friends Loco Dempsey and Pola Debevoise.  To that end, the three girls rent a swanky New York apartment from a man who is in hiding from the tax authorities, but they end up having to sell all of the furniture to pay the rent when their dream husband fails to materialise.  Just when all seems lost, Loco lands a wealthy businessman who invites them to a cocktail party.  It is just the opportunity they have been waiting for – and, sure enough, the three girls each get their man.  However, their plan to get rich quick soon runs into difficulties...

How to Marry a Millionaire is one of those loud, glossy Hollywood productions of the 1950s that  has was intended to make a big splash but delivers far less than is promised.  True, its trio of leading ladies – Bacall, Grable and Monroe – has a magnetic draw that few can resist, but none of them really gets to shine in this over-egged, lightweight comedy.  Instead, each actress seems to fall into a nicely caricatured groove:  Bacall is aloof and waspish, Grable is man-hungry and shallow and Monroe is, yet again, the dumb blonde getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop.   

The film, directed with great gusto (but not much imagination) by Jean Negulesco, is based on Zoe Akins’s play "The Greeks Had a Word for It".  The plot is entirely predictable and offers few surprises and even fewer decent laughs.  Despite its obvious failings, the film manages to be entertaining and doesn’t drag.   This is reportedly the first film to have been shot using CinemaScope widescreen -  it is hard to imagine a more ludicrously pointless application of new film technology to such a banal subject which clearly doesn’t need it.

© James Travers 2008

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