Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

PodBill Just what I expected

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

SnoopyStyle Billionaire Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand) is the result of a family fortune cultivated over generations. His PR guy Alexander Coffman (Tony Randall) tells him about an unflattering portrayal of him in a Broadway start-up and he decides to go see for himself. He is taken with leading lady Amanda Dell (Marilyn Monroe) as she performs a sexy number. When he's mistaken for an actor auditioning for the role of Clement, he decides to take the part as Alexandre Dumas while trying to woo the beauty.This is the second to last movie for Monroe and the first American movie for veteran French actor Yves Montand. Her husband Arthur Miller expanded her role to basically a co-lead of the movie. She still has that magnetic stardom but the movie lacks the ability to make something iconic. It's a little sloppy. Montand is playing a stiff billionaire and his heavy French accent doesn't help. Just as the movie seems to be stalling, Milton Berle comes in to inject a bit of humor like the story. It works best when Montand is actually funny. The problem is that his character is not suppose to be that good and he's restricted by this character flaw. Essentially, he is acting with both hands tied behind his back. He manages to throw in a few funny lines but this movie needs more. All the cameos are a fun idea but the execution is less humorous than expected. In general, this is less than expected.

schell-7 Marilyn lights up every scene in which she's not engulfed by the large frame of Montand. She's no less captivating in "Let's Make Love" then she is in "Gentlemen Marry Blondes" when she descends an artificial staircase buttressed by two other leggy actresses who can't for a moment take our gaze away from Marilyn.Nevertheless, the film feels awkward and slow, with a jolting, herky-jerky movement from from one scene to the next. Part of the unease is due to the feminist responses--some, like Gloria Steinem's, in book-length form--that attempt to portray Marilyn as a victim, created and manipulated by the machinery and machinations of a patriarchal Hollywood system. No matter than the autonomous energy and power that Marilyn radiates in every scene give the lie to the notion that she was used and abused as a puppet responding to the strings of her male masters. There was only one Marilyn--whether seen as the essence of glamour and sexiness--or the big screen's brightest female comedienne.It's Marilyn who has power over us, demanding and commanding our gaze, more than any of her "handlers" had control of her. But her talent is based on far more than looks and choreography. The sound of her voice is at one moment "breathy" and the next (especially during her singing) full of ringing overtones, like the 1000 bells that Frank Capra attributed to the speaking voice of Jean Arthur. So enough of the feminist criticisms of this film for enacting the "entrapment" of Marilyn that she was alleged to experience off-screen. Her free spirit resists containment, despite the many attempts of academic minds to wrap their book covers around it.The failures of the film are not the fault of Montand, who can't help it if his large physical size accompanied by undeniable talent, charm and grace, are simply not "right" for the part he's been asked to play. Of the male co-stars originally proposed for the role--Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson--Stewart is the one for whom the only objection might be his age. An extraordinary (if underrated) actor--with unlimited range--by 1960 Stewart was no longer George Bailey (from "It's a Wonderful Life") or even Scottie (from "Vertigo"). But the major problem with the film is it's sheer scale. The producers seemed so enamored of the period's technology--super-Cinemascope plus high-fidelity, multi-track film--that neglected more important elements like story, character development and a film score.On my television screen, the blown-up images threaten to crop out Tony Randall's image in every scene. Like the story, Hollywood's cutting-edge technology creates images that are to simply overblown, or inflated, to create any "suspension of disbelief" experienced by the viewer. Even the length of the project--2 hours--is twice, maybe 4 times, the time needed to tell and "sell" this one-idea story, which could have easily been done in a 30-minute sit-com.Nevertheless, all of the reported off-screen problems-- with writers, directors, stars, labor strikes, make-up artists and costume designers--would have meant nothing to anybody--if the picture and been an instant commercial success. Advice: don't read anything more about this movie. Instead, just watch the film. Or just watch Marilyn.(Addendum: Today the words "make love" have acquired a much more specific meaning--practically a euphemism for "the act itself"--than was the case in 1960. Up until 1968 "making love" referred to nothing more than cuddling and kissing. So lighten up and enjoy the vital, unique talent of the screen's inimitable siren, Marilyn.)

sashank_kini-1 There is a singular Marilyn moment which defines her timeless relevance and popularity in American history. Before experiencing Marilyn on screen, I often encountered her photos/ references about her in magazines, encyclopedia, compilation and archives. I also read a Life in Pictures biography about her. How I visualized her gait, her voice and her gestures were quite contrary to her actual performance in cinemas. I expected this woman to possess extraordinary acting capabilities along with natural stage charm and sex-appeal and a deeper, mellower voice that showed class and refinement. Never did I think Marilyn to be so bubbly, fluffy, and erratic with a chirpy, girlish timbre- the typical coquette whom men would swoon over to in an instant. She wasn't like Greta Garbo; the magic couldn't be discovered immediately in Monroe (Garbo could make everyone around her, the actors, the cameras and the audience, fall in love with her in an instant). The disappointment in me after enduring Prince and the Showgirl and Bus Stop cast a negative perception about Monroe. I found her syrupy and panicky, as though she is constantly thinking of ways to keep her audiences (her male fans) happy while not giving up the unpredictable method acting. I preferred 7 year itch – Marilyn didn't experiment but only let her naive face, clueless eyes, admirable figure and the witty dialogs do the work. Sometimes, I felt the method acting ruined her performances, though she has a few shiny moments on her last released film 'The Misfits'. After four films, the true reason for her massive success still eluded me, but in Let's Make Love (a lackluster film overall) I realized why she was adored.It was the scene where her character Amanda Dell, a small-time actress and a stage performer, began jogging on the footpath and encouraged Jean-Marc Clement (played somewhat sullenly by Yves Montand) to join her. An embarrassed Clement looks around as men seem to ogle Amanda; she isn't dressed inappropriately, but she smiles and her face is beaming. Marilyn seemed to draw everyone's attention not by acting stupendously or exposing her body here- she was carefree and spirited, probably aware that men were eying her but not minding. She knew she was a siren, but she also made it clear that she wasn't a bimbo. She has this coy charm about her, a sense of self-awareness that makes her so amicable with men and women. It is similar to what Meryl Streep said in a speech '… to be appealing to boys and being accepted by girls… a tricky situation (which she mastered). Marilyn doesn't explicitly try to draw attention; she does it cleverly, discreetly.Unfortunately, she was stuck with a patchy script that was deficient in several aspects. A Paul Thomas Anderson start (Magnolia style) which montages the fate of six/seven Jean Marc Clement is middlingly amusing but unnecessary because there isn't any reference to it later. I did get what it was supposed to mean but there need not be narrations of so many Clements. Then the camera lingers on a group of elite gentlemen smoking cigars as a debonair Jean Marc of Modern Times tells them a joke. These men may have heard it several times, but they flatteringly laugh at his inane joke – he is a billionaire, keep in mind. Some scenes later, when he pretends to be a nascent actor and impersonator, Jean Marc reiterates the same joke to a bunch of actors and is given a damp response. The billionaire, with a keen esthetic interest and a notorious womanizing reputation, is informed that he is going to be satirized in an off-Broadway Revue. He does not react at first but then shows displeasure in such an idea- therefore he checks out a rehearsal of the performance. This seems far-fetched as the theater itself seems so unremarkable and lowly with bawdy, unfunny and tired acts that no one but a local goon would take objection of being satirized. We instead get this wealthy man treading such common places.There Jean is struck by the glamorous Amanda Dell, who is tailed by hungry boys in an unimpressive number that lacks naughtiness. Marilyn's voice sounds affected, and she fails to bring the oomph. There are a couple of well acted scenes after this between Montand and Monroe where the former seems shy and out-of-place in the theater while the latter can adapt to any surrounding. The third person in the love triangle is Frankie Vaughan, who shares a better chemistry with Marilyn. Montand takes his initial defeats too seriously and seems so dull at times that it is impossible to feel sorry for him or consider Marilyn the right lady for him. She seems like a good friend and adviser, not a lover in any way, till the end of the story. Here is where more than Montand, the script fails in providing more crucial scenes between Montand and Monroe. 'Let's Make Love' isn't something the movie sets out to make- it is rather 'let me buy your love', which is crude. Also, in a desperate bid to raise laughs, Milton Berle, Bing Crosby and Gene Kelly were roped in and I was thinking, "If Gene were younger he would've made a charming Jean Clement". Berle is funny but has to feign laughter at Jean Clements's drab performance on stage, for which he should've demanded for additional fees.The musicals are ghastly, the production is weak and the plot is sketchy; only the performances try to save 'Let's Make Love's' face. I would say the best actor in the movie would be Wilfred Hyde White, who mouths the line "You made a terrible/risky decision by mortgaging your house for this (to save his theater)" to the theater owner. I would add that George Cukor made a terrible decision of getting big actors such as Monroe and choosing such a script for them".My Rating: 3.4 out of 10

PThirty6 Marilyn Monroe' considerable on screen charisma is lost in Let's Make Love, a supposed romantic comedy that looks exactly like what it is: a contractual obligation. Monroe plays an actress named Amanda who is playing a role in a horrific off-Broadway show satirizing French billionaire Jean-Marc Clement played by an oddly subdued Yves Montand. Montand's character is alerted to the upcoming spoof and decides to pay a visit to the theater's. One look and he is smitten with Monroe, this despite the fact that everything conceivably possible has been done to ameliorate Monroe's beauty and luminosity. She's overweight, she's pasty, her hair's bleached to straw and she's filmed using the worst lighting imaginable.After reading the mostly kind reviews here on IMDb, and being a considerable Monroe fan I decided to give this film another go despite being unable to watch it at least five times prior (hey! I said I was a fan!). Even her relatively strong singing (truly, she was well-trained - see Ladies of the Chorus) falls flat here. The film is a boring, tedious mess that can't be saved by either Monroe or the cameos of Milton Berle, Bing Crosby or Gene Kelly. All I could feel while watching this movie was a deep sense of sympathy for Monroe, who is abused by both Cukor and Miller (who apparently wrote some of her lines).