Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend! Marilyn Monroe is at her most beatifically ditsy alongside Jane Russell in Howard Hawks’ dazzling 1953 Technicolor screwball musical seen here in a new digital restoration.
Don’t you know a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You may not marry a girl just because she’s pretty, but my goodness, doesn’t it help?
Screened as part of NZIFF 2012
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953
Marilyn Monroe is at her most beatifically ditsy alongside Jane Russell in Howard Hawks’ dazzling 1953 Technicolor comedy seen here in a new DCP restoration. Based on Anita Loos’ 20s bestseller, the film pairs them perfectly as two best girlfriends prospecting for squillionaire husbands on a cruise ship heading for Paris. Who’d have guessed that the richest candidates turn out to be approaching senility or barely in long trousers? Monroe’s Lorelei Lee is the original for many material girls to come: her sublime ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ is a defining moment in Hollywood glamour. Meanwhile Russell’s Dorothy is easily distracted from the project: the entire US Olympic team is on board. — BG
“The opening shot – Russell and Monroe in sequins standing against a screaming red drape – is enough to knock you out of your seat, and the audacity barely lets up from there… A landmark encounter in the battle of the sexes.” — Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader