The Blu-ray Collection | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / How to Marry a Millionaire / River of No Return / There's No Business Like Show Business / The Seven Year Itch / Some Like It Hot / The Misfits20th Century Fox | 1953-1961 | 7 Movies | 743 min | Not rated | Jul 31, 2012
Marilyn Monroe forever stands alone as Hollywood's quintessential icon of sex appeal and timeless allure. Immortalized in this collection are seven of her best and most popular films. See individual titles for synopses.
20th Century Fox | 1953 | 91 min | Not rated | Region free
| Jul 31, 2012
Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell sizzle, sing and dance as a couple of gold diggers out to land rich husbands. This Technicolor film fable follows the exploits of two gorgeous women aboard a luxury ocean liner. One (Monroe) loves...
20th Century Fox | 1953 | 95 min | Not rated | Region free
| Jul 31, 2012
Three New York models, Shatze, Pola and Loco set-up in an exclusive appartment with a plan: tired of cheap men and a lack of money they intend to use all their talents to trap and marry three millionaires. The trouble is that's...
20th Century Fox | 1954 | 91 min | Not rated | Region free
| Jul 31, 2012
After his wife dies, Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum) and his young son begin a new life in the breathtaking, rugged Northwest wilderness, where Calder is robbed and beaten by ruthless gambler Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun). When...
20th Century Fox | 1955 | 105 min | Unrated | Region free
| Jul 31, 2012
It's every man's fantasy - a summer romance with the sexiest woman he can imagine. Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) is a happily married man whose wife and son are off on vacation when his tempting new neighbor (Monroe) sneaks in one...
She was the innocent girl next door and a va-va-voom sex symbol. A "dumb" blond anxious to be taken seriously.
The archetypal exploited starlet and a shrewd showbiz negotiator. An on-top-of-the-world performer with a personal life in
shambles. A flame snuffed out too soon and a 20th century pop culture icon forever immortalized on the screen. Marilyn
Monroe was and is a glorious contradiction, and the enigma of her life, career, and death has inspired an ongoing stream of
biographies and photobooks, critical commentary and general interest. As this year is the 50th anniversary of Monroe's
probable suicide, the tributes have been coming in at an even faster pace, from Vanity Fair covers to NBC's
Smash to the recent My Week with Marilyn.
20th Century Fox is getting in on the action with the Forever Marilyn collection, a seven-disc set that includes a
selection of films made between 1952 and 1962, the decade that took Monroe from a pretty up-and-coming face to the most
recognized and highly paid actress on the planet. The films are also available individually—Some Like It Hot and
The Misfits came out last year, the rest arrive simultaneously this week—and since the set itself comes with no
exclusive special features or bonus discs, it's really up to fans if they want to go all in or pick and choose which titles they
want. (Note that you do save a ton of cash by buying the set.) Below, you'll find pertinent details about the seven-disc set and links
to brief reviews of the films included and their high definition presentations.
Films Included
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes:
The saucy Howard Hawks musical that introduced the phrase "diamonds are a girl's best friend" into the cultural lexicon, starring Marilyn
Monroe
and Jane Russell as a pair of showgirls crossing the Atlantic on a posh cruise ship.
How to Marry a Millionaire:
Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable play gold-diggers trying to woo wealthy men and ultimately learning that love is more valuable than
money.
River of No Return: One
Marilyn's
least favorite of her own films—she unfairly called it "a grade-Z cowboy movie in which the
acting finished second to the scenery and the Cinemascope process"—River of No Return is actually a decent wild
west adventure/romance, co-starring Robert Mitchum.
There's No Business Like
Show Business: Irving Berlin's musical bore and box office flop only features Marilyn in what amounts to an extended cameo—albeit
worth watching for her sexed-up rendition of "Heat Wave." The least-necessary film in
the collection. If only we had gotten Niagara or Bus Stop instead.
The Seven Year Itch: Monroe
is
the prototypical "manic pixie dream girl" in this stage adaptation from Billy Wilder, a sex-farce
about infidelity, guilt, and paranoia. One of Marilyn's most memorable performances.
Some Like It Hot: And then
there's Some Like It Hot, widely considered to be one of—if not the—best American comedies in cinema history. Innuendo-laced
and
controversially released without MPAA certification, the film was
also one of the last nails in the Hays Code's coffin.
The Misfits: Marilyn's last completed
film
is a sad—and gorgeously shot—cowboy drama about western drifters on the outskirts of society, penned by her husband Arthur Miller. Co-star Clark
Gable died only twelve days after production wrapped,
and Marilyn would follow a year and a half later, giving the film an uneasy sense of gravity and finality.
Packaging and Final Thoughts
The collection comes in a slightly flimsy cardboard slipcase that's surprisingly—for a seven-disc release—only a few
millimeters thicker than a standard Blu-ray jewel case. Inside, you'll find two fold-out "books," with the discs—four in the first,
three in the second—inserted into scalloped slits. When my set arrived, three of the discs had slipped out, so that should tell
you something about the construction. Those with hangups about this sort of thing might want to consider the individual
releases, simply for the more solid, standard packaging, but as long as the set's just sitting on your shelf, I don't think this is
a big deal. The photography on the "books" is nice, but there are no exclusives here otherwise—no booklets or postcards or
promotional baubles. It would've been great, for instance, if Fox had gone above and beyond—in the style of Criterion—
commissioning someone to write an essay about the films and including notes on the restorations and transfers. Alas. Still, it's
a boon to simply have more Marilyn movies in high definition. Whether you buy 'em all at once or pick 'em out individually at
your leisure is up to you, but rest assured, aside from one dud—the dull musical There's No Business Like Show
Business—all of these films are worthy additions to any collection.
Amazon's Blu-ray Deal of the Week affects Twentieth Century Fox's Forever Marilyn Blu-ray collection. Timed to mark the fiftieth anniversary of screen icon Marilyn Monroe's tragic passing, this box set contains seven of her most beloved features, five of which ...
Amazon's Blu-ray Deal of the Week affects the Forever Marilyn Blu-ray collection. Timed to mark the fiftieth anniversary of screen icon Marilyn Monroe's tragic passing, this box set contains seven of her most beloved features, five of which make their respective ...
In July, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will bring the Forever Marilyn Collection to Blu-ray. Timed to mark the fiftieth anniversary of screen icon Marilyn Monroe's tragic passing, this box set contains seven of her most beloved features, five of which ...
