HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953)

A natural for epics, religious or otherwise, CinemaScope first tried on light romantic comedy with a typically 20th/Fox Three-Girls-On-The-Hunt story. (No studio was more loyal to the formula, and CinemaScope’s 2.66:1 frame-ratio turned out to be very useful for triptych compositions. Note poster!) Scripter Nunnally Johnson pilfered a handful of plays for the premise (using themselves as bait, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe & Betty Grable share a swanky Manhattan apartment to trap millionaires, but don't necessarily get what they think they want) and director Jean Negulesco, steering clear of close-ups, avoids depth-of-field shots & keeps them all in lateral motion to deal with the technical vagaries of the sharp, but primitive, early CinemaScope lenses. Not without charm or amusement (Bacall wears clothes like a dream, check out that longish tweed wool skirt; while William Powell’s wise old suitor is his impeccable self), the main reason to watch is Ms. Monroe. Without much in the way of fresh material, Monroe has unusual confidence & bloom. Sure, the part is nicely within her range, none of her acclaimed/dreadful Method Acting on display. Perhaps it’s because, for once, she’s not playing the ‘dumb’ blonde, or even the ‘not-so-dumb’ blonde. That’s Grable’s role. (And frankly, she’s a bit out of her league next to her dazzling pals.) Instead, Marilyn’s terribly vain. Blind as a bat, she refuses to wear glasses. It's nearly her only joke, but it's enough.  As if a Fairy Godmother had taken the dumb-bunny curse off Marilyn, allowing her to be nearly as good a comedian as her reevaluated rep now claims.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: A six-minute concert suite (with Alfred Newman conducting his own Gershwin-esque ‘Street Scene’) shows off the new Stereophonic soundtrack process. But it’s really there to bump up a suspiciously short running time.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Negulesco’s next two assignments THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN/’54 and WOMAN’S WORLD/’54 made for a three-in-a-row trio of Three-Girls-On-The-Hunt pics.