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HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE is available individually on DVD for $24.98 or as part of Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection for $99.98. |
This DVD review
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DVD
reviews are Copyright © 2001 THE CINEMA LASER and may not be copied
or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. |
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In
the history of the cinema, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE is a notable
entry because it was the first film to be produced in 20th Century Fox's
wide screen process- CinemaScope. Certainly, the laurels for the first
film released in CinemaScope go to THE ROBE (still sadly absent
from DVD), but this is the film that Fox used to demonstrate that any
subject matter could benefit from their wondrous wide screen process.
Actually, the anamorphic process that Fox dubbed CinemaScope had been
sitting on the shelf for years- it was only dusted off to lure audience
back into movie theaters and away from that dreaded interloper- television.
HOW
TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE is one of my favorite Marilyn Monroe films
because it erased all doubt about her talents. This film is proof positive
that Marilyn was a gifted comedian with impeccable timing- and not just
another pretty face walking around on a luscious body. Marilyn is downright
hilarious as the beautiful girl, who is too vain to wear glasses in public,
but "blind as a bat" without them. Watching her character discretely
grope her way through life and continuously bump into things, while retaining
her dignity is a treat. While HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE may be
a mere comic trifle, the film succeeds marvelously thanks to Marilyn and
the film's other two leading ladies.
In
HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, Lauren Bacall portrays Schatze
Page, the ringleader, who comes up with a scheme for her and her two cohorts
to find and marry millionaires. Renting a furnished luxury apartment,
which the threesome can ill afford on their modeling salaries, Schatze
figures that it takes a better mousetrap to catch a better class of mouse.
While Pola Debevoise (Marilyn) takes to the idea like bees take to honey,
Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable) finds it impossible to escape her working
class roots and working class men. Eventually, all three manage to hook
up with millionaires, but the results aren't exactly what our three would-be
gold diggers were expecting. The cast of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
also features David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, Cameron Mitchell, Alexander D'Arcy,
Fred Clark and William Powell.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
available on DVD in a 2.55:1 wide screen presentation that has been enhanced
for playback on 16:9 displays. The new transfer of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
comes from recently restored film elements that were prepared specifically
for this release. Further cleaning and restorative work was applied to
the high definition master, which was down converted for this DVD release.
The overall appearance of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE is very pleasing;
with this edition looking far better than everything that has preceded
it on video. HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE appears cleaner, sharper
and better defined than it has in the past, with less grain and better
detail being the greatest benefits of the restorative work. There is some
distortion in the image, with things appearing wider in the center and
narrower at the ends, but this is due to imperfections in the early CinemaScope
lenses. Colors are much stronger than they have appeared in past incarnations,
but shots that contain optical fades and transitions appear a bit off.
Most of the time the flesh tones seem reasonably natural, but there are
a few places where they come across as a bit pale. The strongest hues
are completely stable and never show any signs of smearing. Blacks appear
solid and the image has pretty even contrast, as well as good depth. The
restored film elements still display minor imperfections, but nothing
that ever becomes distracting. Clean dual layer authoring conceals all
traces of digital compression artifacts.
The
Dolby Digital 4.0 channel is a direct port of the film's original four
channel stereo soundtrack. Directionality is maintained in the forward
soundstage, with the surround channel remaining quiet throughout the film.
Only the orchestral prelude and the film's credits contain any traces
of musical surround activity. There are some sonic limitations in the
nearly fifty-year-old musical recording, however the music sounds very
good when amplified, without any signs of distortion or breakup. Part
of the wonder of the big wide screen was having the actors' voices issuing
out from their relative position on screen- HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
is no exception to this rule, as its directional dialogue can surely attest.
Those individuals whose front left and front right are speakers far away
from their displays may find the effect of directional dialogue a bit
disconcerting, however the voices are well recorded and still manage to
sound fairly natural, despite the age of the recordings. An English surround
soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVD, as is a French language track.
Subtitles are provided in English, French and Spanish.
The
basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a few extras. Like the other films in
the Marilyn Monroe: The Diamond Collection, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE
includes a comparison that shows what the film looked like prior to and
after the restoration. This feature does utilize a split screen for purposes
of the comparison. Also included on the DVD is newsreel footage of the
film's premiere, as well as three theatrical trailers for this film, as
well as trailers for other Monroe DVD titles.
HOW
TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE is a genuine delight of a movie that has an
interesting place in cinema history. Kudos to Fox for giving this film
the proper care required to make sure that this would be a good looking
and good sounding DVD release. Again, this DVD is a must have for film
buffs and Marilyn Monroe fans.
