Our favourite Marilyn Monroe moments on film

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

“I don’t know what you’d do, honey, unless you use novocaine in your lipstick.”

Dorothy to Lorelei

Dorothy’s line is not just a joke, but awe expressed as wit. Lorelei flips men’s low expectations of the ‘dumb blonde’ into an advantage.  She disarms them, understands the rules of the game, and knows how to win. 

She is only endangered when those rules are broken, as when Piggy lies.  Lorelei finally gets the happy ending Monroe could not, because screwball comedy rewards what life punishes.  On screen, Lorelei turns the dumb blonde role into strategy.  Off screen, Monroe’s skill at performing that role was too often mistaken for proof that it was no performance at all.

— Simon Copper, Volunteer. 

Some Like It Hot

"Set against the backdrop of the impossibly idyllic Coronado coast, a majority of Some Like It Hot is like watching a postcard, by way of a crime farce. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are on form as the film's unwitting (dress-wearing) duo caught in the middle of a mob plot they want no part in. Hijinks and hotel hilarity ensue, as the boys (dressed as women) join the all-female band headed by none other than Sugar Kane, played by Marilyn, in an attempt to evade the mob. Some Like It Hot is one of Marilyn's most iconic performances for a reason - from her comic timing, to her musical moments, right down to the costumes. And the costuming is absolutely one of the most defining features of this film - not least because, with six nominations, the only Oscar the film won was for Costume Design. Top to bottom, the film is like laughing with your friends over a cocktail in the sunshine. And, without spoiling anything, it boasts one of my favourite last lines in any comedy."

— Aaron Cawood, LHT's Social Media and Content Officer.

The Misfits

"The Misfits (1961) sits on the darker side of Marilyn's legacy. Her final finished film is an impressionistic look at lonely cowboys in the Reno desert. It’s an uneven cinematic experience yet remains a compelling meta-text exploring Marilyn’s uncomfortable relationships with the men who desired her. She is deeply haunting as Roslyn, a recent divorcée drifting through life.

Marilyn’s husband Arthur Miller intended this screenplay as a love letter, but she was disappointed by what she felt was a patronising portrayal of her experiences. She is joined onscreen by other Hollywood titans who were slowly fading towards premature deaths, Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable.

Marilyn's time with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio pays dividends here, despite Miller's weak screenplay. Her subtle, devastating performance is a world away from her comedic brilliance as Lorelei Lee and Sugar Kane, and shows an equally sophisticated understanding of screen acting. She would’ve made a perfect Tennessee Williams heroine. 

I also think The Misfits makes a strong case for Marilyn as a predecessor to the morally ambiguous, sexually fraught women of 1960-70s Hollywood cinema. She sets the template for the likes of Jane Fonda and Sissy Spacek, who used their magnetic beauty as a canvas for emotionally complex stories."

— Amy Kitchingman, Programmer of Green Carnation Film Club & host of our Gentlemen Prefer Blondes screening.

The Asphalt Jungle

"Probably the best film Marilyn Monroe was ever in. John Huston’s film basically invented the heist subgenre and has rarely been topped. Marilyn Monroe was featured prominently in the posters despite a very small role; it’s the Sterling Hayden show. However, when Marilyn calls somebody "you big banana head”, you understand why. Huston knew she was going to be a star. Marilyn and Huston would unite on her last completed film, The Misfits, which is also one of her best."

— Ian Schultz, Volunteer.

All About Eve

"Marilyn Monroe’s performance in All About Eve is one of her smaller roles – in fact, it felt like a shock to see her in such a minor role – I thought surely *the* Marilyn Monroe couldn’t be anything but the lead? Surely we couldn’t be expected to believe any man, like her date Addison DeWitt, would treat her with so little respect and just a measly fraction of the admiration she deserves? However, I suppose because Monroe is so utterly captivating that only adds to the humour of DeWitt (totally lacking in wit despite his name) being the one to have the audacity to call Caswell ‘idiotic’. Similar to how in the film Caswell is looking to elevate her career in show business, her performance did just that in real life as the producer, Darryl F. Zanuck, was impressed enough to offer her a contract with 20th Century-Fox, which continued until her death. Despite Monroe’s brief parts in the film, and performing alongside the entrancing Bette Davis, it’s impossible not to be dazzled by Monroe in this excellent film."

— Martha Boyd, HPPH's Digital Marketing Coordinator.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) is one of cinema’s great reminders that comedy, unlike base metal, does not tarnish with age. Social norms might change, and certain pop-cultural references may lose meaning, but the basic rules of humour, of expectation and subversion, remain as “forever” as diamond. It is in this pillar of the film’s monstrously lavish architecture that Marilyn Monroe’s shining brilliance as a performer is arguably best exemplified. Other roles might have showcased her scope for emotional nuance to a fuller extent, as in The Misfits (1961) or Some Like It Hot (1959), but it is here, swinging in Lorelei Lee’s well-strutted Salvatore Ferragamo pumps, that she subsumes the attentions of the screen with fiercest confidence.

The remarkable thing about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is that the societal constructs it satirises remain as oppressively snug today as they were in 1953. Monroe embodies her highly archetypal “gold-digging” role with such unabashed glee and sympathy that she transmutes a would-be staid stereotype into one of the Golden Age’s foremost divas. Every materialistic desire, every self-serving act, and every one-track machination that Lorelei embarks on in Blondes does nothing to dispel an audience’s admiration for the sheer audacity which courses through her veins (and Jane Russell’s, for that matter) in a world fashioned for men’s comforts. Throw in some hugely memorable songs, some dynamite chemistry and tightly-wound choreography, and you have a chick-flick fit for Harry Winston’s windowfront.

So, you can approach Gentlemen Prefer Blondes however you like, but if it’s true what they say, that “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, you’d better come bearing the right gifts."

— Charlie Ashton, Volunteer.

The Misfits

"One of my all-time favourite films is the utterly joyful Some Like It Hot. Unfortunately, I never watched another Marilyn Monroe film until today because I thought nothing could match it. And Marilyn is associated in my memory with half a century of malicious gossip. But I finally decided to watch Monroe's last completed film, despite hearing that it is not filled with joy.

The Misfits is, in many ways, an uneven mess, the second half being the more engrossing. Clark Gable died before the film's release, Monroe died the following year, and IMDB suggests director John Huston and several actors exhibited behaviours and health issues that made it miraculous that the film was released at all. In my view, these creatives were more misfits than their characters who struggled to cope with changing times. After writer Arthur Miller broke up with Monroe (his wife) during the filming, Miller's attitude towards her changed from adoration to something less positive, and Marilyn wasn’t happy with her amended character. I was surprised that Monroe’s character Roslyn's recollection of her absent parents mirrored (with no detail mentioned) Marilyn's even more fractured upbringing. I was also struck by the number of references to the inevitability of death in the script.

It was a dark tale, intertwined in my mind with the lives of troubled actors. Watching it was like exorcising a ghost, which is now at peace. I’m pleased I watched it. I look forward to watching more Marilyn Monroe films very soon."

— Bill Hargreaves, Volunteer.

Don’t Bother to Knock 

"Marilyn Monroe stars in this very underseen noirish thriller from later Hammer Film director Roy Ward Baker. Marilyn gives one of her best screen performances as this very troubled woman. No doubt she tapped into her own trauma to portray the character. Richard Widmark stars as a pilot who pursues Marilyn’s character after he is dumped by his girlfriend, but gets more than he bargained for. Very claustrophobic film set exclusively in this hotel. Interesting in Andrew Dominik’s misunderstood masterpiece, the Lynchian horror film Blonde, he uses Don’t Bother to Knock to illustrate her acting ability more than her more famous films. Don’t Bother to Knock is really worth your time and very short at 76 minutes."

— Ian Schultz, Volunteer.

We hope you enjoyed reading about some of our favourite Marilyn Monroe films! See the classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with us, presented by Film Quarry and Green Carnation Film Club, accompanied by a burlesque performance by Birmingham’s bombshell, Mimi Mariama, this Sun 31 May at 14:30. We've also got a dementia-friendly Memory Matinee screening on Mon 08 Jun and a Bring Your Own Baby screening on Wed 10 Jun. You can find out more & book tickets here.