Featured Flick: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

VisionTV presents Marilyn Monroe Week, five nights and five movies starring Hollywood’s most glamorous leading lady. Starting at midnight, August 5, watch Monroe in her most famous films: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Misfits, River of No Return, Some Like it Hot and Niagara. Click on each title for details on the movie and a retrospective look at what it meant to her career and her reputation. And, as always, we’d love to hear your comments below.

First Up: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)- Monday, August 5 – midnight, Vision TV

Director: Howard Hawks

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell

Plot: Lounge singers Lorelei Lee (Monroe) and Dorothy Shaw (Russell) are the entertainment on a cruise to Paris. Lorelei loves diamonds and is looking for a wealthy husband to provide them while Dorothy is simply looking for love. They meet many eligible men on board and romance, misunderstandings and a missing tiara all come into play in this memorable musical comedy.

Memorable line:

Lorelei Lee: “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?”

50 years later: While it seems a quaint musical comedy that comments on the social mores of the wealthy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was very popular with audiences in its day. In it, Monroe sang the song that she’s best remembered for – a captivating rendition of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” This movie cemented Monroe’s standing as Hollywood’s reigning sex symbol, despite the fact she received second-billing to Russell in the opening credits.