M A R I L Y N   M O N R O E :   B E Y O N D   T H E   L E G E N D   (1986)

A comprehensive, award-winning look at one of Hollywood's most talented and beautiful legends, MARILYN MONROE (1926–1962). This survey, which does not dwell on her private life, concentrates on the development of her star persona, with excerpts from most of her films. Here is the "real" Marilyn, drawn from some of her greatest moments on film:

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953), HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (1953), SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955), BUS STOP (1956), THE MISFITS (1961) – and more.

Here too are the earliest films, the home-movies, rare archival footage, and the recollections from those who knew her best, including:

DON MURRAY, SUSAN STRASBERG, SHELLEY WINTERS, CELESTE HOLM, SHEREE NORTH (one-time protégée of wacko HOWARD HUGHES, and seen recently at Splodge! in EXCUSE MY DUST [1951] ), JOSHUA LOGAN, and ROBERT MITCHUM.

Prod Co:  Wombat Productions/Devillier-Donegan Enterprises
Dir:  Gene Feldman
Prod, scr:  Gene Feldman, Suzette Winter
Narr:  RICHARD WIDMARK
60 mins  NFVLS

"This fine film looks at the brighter side of the Monroe story: her charm and talent, and her fighting spirit." – Wall Street Journal

"An appreciation of a radiant film actress and the complicated young woman who worked so hard to put across that sense of wonder and delight that beguiled the world." – Times Picayune

"Treats Marilyn's career with dignity, tact: not once in this commendable one-hour documentary do you hear the words "Kennedy", "barbiturate" or "suicide." Instead of rehashing of her political liaisons, drug use and other affairs of the heart and mind, film fans get a look at her brilliant career and what made her one of the best-ever..." – Miami News

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  F I V E   T I M E S   M A R I L Y N   (1973)

A brief, excised segment from two MARILYN MONROE ‘nudies’ from the early ’forties (when she was about 19) is accompanied by the song I'M THROUGH WITH LOVE, which she sings in SOME LIKE IT HOT [1959], and which is repeated five times. Note: there is some dispute as to whether the woman in the extract is Marilyn; Conner insists that she IS the real Monroe. The voyeurism is relentless.

Filmmaker:  Bruce Conner
Song:  I'M THROUGH WITH LOVE by J. A. Livingston, Matt Malneck, Gus Kahn; sung by MARILYN MONROE
13 mins  NFVLS.

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  G E N T L E M E N   P R E F E R   B L O N D E S   (1953)

Lorelei Lee, the original "Material Girl", and her gal-pal Dorothy are just "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" – lounge singers on a transatlantic cruise, working their way to Paris, and enjoying the company of any eligible men they might meet along the way (even though "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"). A musical comedy about two showgirls' exploitation of uniformly sexless males for different, if complementary, reasons. Lorelei's money-obsessed outlook is paralleled by Dorothy's sex obsession.

See  http://us.imdb.com/Trailers?0045810

Director:  HOWARD HAWKS
Cast: MARILYN MONROE, JANE RUSSELL, Charles Coburn, Tommy Noonan
91 mins  NFVLS

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