Review of Marilyn Monroe: Vol. 2 (Seven Discs)

Introduction

This second volume of the `Monroe Collection` has an impressive range of Monroe movies on offer: How To Marry A Millionaire (1953), There`s No Business Like Showbusiness (1954), Let`s Make Love (1960), Monkey Business (1952), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and a couple of lesser known movies, Let`s Make It Legal (1951) and As Young As You Feel (1951).

However, using a logic that makes sense only to themselves, the people responsible for marketing this set have offered up only the latter two discs as a sample of the set - two films that contain so little `Monroe per square inch` as to almost become featured items on BBC`s Watchdog.

It`s nice when reviewing a box-set to get the packaging and all the peripherals - all important in sets such as these. It`s also nice to get all the discs. In this instance, all I have are samples of movies that, it could be argued, have been included only to bulk out the pack.
So this is less a review of the set (I`ve no idea what it`s like as a whole), and more specifically a review of two of the discs you`ll get as part of the pack.

AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL is actually a great little movie. It`s over-riding theme is as relevant today as it was on it`s release, where the small man stands up to the unfeeling actions of the larger corporation - and wins!

The film features one of Marilyn Monroe`s first appearances, and it`s a role so marginal that if you leave to make a swift cuppa without hitting pause, you might miss her. Playing a `kind on the eye` secretary, she has very few spoken lines and has little impact on the narrative. But she looks great and these few brief moments of early-screentime may make the more obsessive Monroe fans extremely happy, albeit for a very limited period.

Grandpa John Hodges, a curiously self-satisfied and contended mab (Monty Wolley, The Man Who Came to Dinner) is told one day that, as he`s reached the the mandatory retirement age at Acme Printing Services, he`s no longer needed at work. He discovers, through his granddaughter`s fiancé Joe (David Wayne, M) who works in HR, that the retirement policy is dictated by Acme`s parent company, Consolidated Motors.

Granpa John isn`t happy about having reached retiorement. He considers himself a craftsman, and it becomes apparent that he also pretty much needs the money - so he comes up with a crazy plan. Since no one at Acme has actually seen Consolidated Motors president Harold P. Cleveland, Grandpa John sends a message to say that President Cleveland is set to visit Acme. Then, with briefcase at the helm, and an entirely unconvincing dyed beard, he shows up at Acme and announces himself as President Cleveland.

Following a delightful evening out with the Acme president Louis McKinley (Albert Dekker, Kiss Me Deadly) he gets him to agree to abolish the ageist policy, as well as somehow saving his marriage along the way.

Following this success, and just prior to taking a discreet exit, Grandpa John is invited to speak at a local businessmen`s lunch. He is unable to resist and gives a speech so emotionally rousing that it makes the National Press the next day, eventually catching the notice of the real Mr. Cleveland.

It`s probably worth noting that `As Young as you Feel` was written by Paddy Chayefsky, who later went on to script one of the finest American satires ever, `Network`.

LET`S MAKE IT LEGAL
Let`s Make it Legal is a `situation comedy` that just never quite gets going and struggles to get even the mildest of smiles. As a list of ingredients it probably looks pretty impressive, but the screenplay dialogue is turgid, the situations unbelievable and the acting pretty lacklustre.

McDonald Carey stars as Hugh Halsworth, a `hotel publicist` with a gambling problem, who`s keen to make amends with Miriam (Claudette Colbert) who has filed for divorce. Just to complicate that possibility, multimillionaire bachelor Victor Macfarland (Zachary Scott), arrives back in town and, once he hears the news of their separation, soon has romance on his mind.

Miriam`s daughter, Barbara (Barbara Bates), seems to provide anything but laughs as a lazy freeloader who is married to a very young Robert Wagner in one of his earliest roles—as Colbert`s son-in-law.

Marilyn Monroe appears very infrequently as a young gold-digger trying to woo Victor away from Miriam. Despite this very brief appearance, she fairly lights up the screen in this interminably dull light comedy and it`s easy to see why casting directors quickly raised her profile in future movies.

Video

Both movies have a less than impressive 1:33:1 transfer (which was the original aspect ratio for `Let`s make it legal`) that is both a bit grainy and artifact-ridden, with minimal restoration. But it`s acceptable.

Audio

English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (Monroe remains incredibly popular in Italy).

The sound is original mono and it`s entirely typical of the period. As gentle, lilting period sit-coms, a complete 5.1 re-working would have been pretty pointless, unless the clatter of a distant teacup out of a rear speaker is the stuff that gets you going.

Features

None.

Conclusion

The two movies provided by the PR company are hardly going to inspire much of an air of excitement about this Monroe box set. They are without doubt the most marginal in the set, containing between them some 15 minutes of Monroe screen time. Of course, she`s visually electrifying in both these early outings and there may be something satisfying here for the Monroe completist, but for th erest of us there is little here to celebrate.

As Young as you Feel works as a schmaltzy sentimental moralistic tale, but fails to ever raise the heartbeat or much more than a hint of a smile. Apparently, when it was released some 50 years ago, As Young as you Feel was intended as a feel-good picture for OAP`s. So it was hardly a hit amongst youngsters even then, and it certainly won`t be now. But it`s not without a certain period charm and could make a reasonable `wet Sunday afternoon` movie.

`Let`s Make it Legal` is an even less attractive addition and is, sadly, like one of those situation-comedies that just tries too hard but never quite gets going.

The set may well be worth getting for some of the other excellent movies on offer, but purely on the strength of the two on offer hear, I wouldn`t recommend it.