David Wayne, Cameron Mitchell, Rory Calhoun
20th Century Fox
1953
Now on video and DVD
Three models come up with a plan on How To Marry A Millionaire...but when did love ever follow a plan.
Three models move into a posh New York apartment they can’t afford in order to meet and, if they have it their way, marry millionaires. Schatze (Bacall) is the brain of the operation; she sells the apartments furnishings to finance their plan. Pola (Monroe) is the bumbling beauty that refuses to wear her much needed glasses. Loco (Grable) is the crazy and clever one. She always manages to bring home food and men from the deli. Together, they’re on a husband hunt. They make a pact to use their brains and not their hearts in finding a rich spouse. Too bad their hearts have other ideas.
Although How To Marry A Millionaire was the second movie to be filmed in Cinemascope, it was the first to fully advertise the new widescreen phenomenon. The film opened with a full orchestra and included a glamorous fashion show and wide sweeping shots of New York to highlight this marvel. If the new film medium wasn’t enough to draw in an audience, the three leading ladies sure would be. Dynamic and vibrant, each woman shone in her own right. Monroe’s endearing insecurity and clumsiness made her loveable, Grable’s naïvete made for humorous misunderstandings, and Bacall’s steely determination to marry for money and not love, made her the hardest to fall in the end. It was that strength that ultimately gave the movie it’s hilarious and satisfying ending.
As for the men, they didn’t stand a chance at stealing the spotlight from the three female stars, but they did make good matches. Rory Calhoun was charming as the penniless forest ranger who falls for Loco, David Wayne was delightful as the formerly blind, completely mysterious Freddie who makes Palo see the light and Cameron Mitchell was excellent as the man who wouldn’t take Schatze’s, “I never want to see you again,” seriously. HTMAM is fun, fluffy and totally female. I give it three and half hearts for it’s great humor and light romance.
CAST
Marilyn Monroe as Pola Debevoise
Betty Grable as Loco Dempsey
Lauren Bacall as Schatze Page
David Wayne as Freddie Denmark
Rory Calhoun as Eben
Cameron Mitchell as Tom Brookman
Alexander D’arcy as J. Stewart Merrill
Fred Clark as Waldo Webster
William Powell as J.D. Hanley
Best lines:
“They use more brains picking a horse in the 3rd at Belmont than they do picking a husband.” Schatze to Pola and Loco.
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