Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Not a great film, especially after having read the book, but how does Marilyn Monroe manage to wiggle her hips in that outfit she's wearing in the opening number? Jane Russell looks stiff by comparison in those first seconds. That's all I remember from the opening number. In fact, while there must have been other musical numbers, the only ones I remember are "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" and "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". The point of the latter seems to be to get Monroe to lift her arms above her head, and the former *should* be to show off Jane Russell, but all I remember are the guys in flesh-colored bathing suits... and Russell falling into the pool at the end of the number.

It's annoying that all the musical numbers are REALLY LOUD in comparison to the spoken dialogue, especialy Monroe's breathy little squeaks that are so, so wrong for the character -- Lorelei is not insipid, it's... how best to put it? I think Lauren Graham with a blonde wig and a script by Amy Sherman could nail it.

With a few exceptions, the new dialogue is mostly forgettable, and they flub the use of some of the best quotes from the book, most particularly the one about Lady Beekman's hat.

== spoilers ==

It's not worth going into all the changes, because the musical is not intended to be a faithful adaptation of the book, but I'll take a passing shot at the detective, who was particularly weak.

Then there's Lorelei's statement: "I can be smart when it's important, but most men don't like it." This is sort-of funny, but it should be unnecessary. We should *see* Lorelei being smart, not *told*. Up to this point, we've seen far too little of Lorelei really being smart. In fact, all I can think of is her conversation with the maître d'. That's a problem.

So, what did work for me? Henry Spofford making an appearance as a small boy was dippy but actually funny in both scenes he was in. They played it just right. Monroe's delivery of the line "It'll take an hour and 45 minutes." Just about all of Russell's performance, but most particularly when Dorothy is pretending to be Lorelei in court. It's a hilarious spoof of Monroe's delivery.