Let's Make Love

This has got to be one of the dullest films MARILYN MONROE ever did--and equally dull is her leading man, the French accented YVES MONTAND who must have left his heart and his talents in France for the duration of filming. He's simply bland with a capital B and very unfunny. And when MILTON BERLE, GENE KELLY and BING CROSBY attempt to give him pointers on how to be an entertainer, they're impatience with him is understandable. Whatever magic Montand had in his homeland is obscured here by a witless script and poor direction from George Cukor, who even manages to make Marilyn look less than believable as a wistful showgirl. The faults extend to the songs to. The only reasonably good one is "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" done in a rather coy and simpering style by Monroe but nevertheless, it's the only high point in the whole show. Everything else is better left unmentioned. Summing up: A waste of two stars who, incidentally, have no chemistry together, at least on screen. Off is another matter.

This is one of my favorite Marilyn films. No, let me amend that--this is one of my favorite Marilyn performances. She is sweet, natural, sympathetic, adorable. She has no character to play and no script and no director (Cukor was sliding fast at this point) But she and Montand are lovely together; two great charmers surrounded by an overblown 60's confection of "guest stars" and constant costume changes (although some of Marilyn's outfits are so flimsy one wonders why they bothered to dress her at all?!) "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" is classic MM, but I have a perverse fondness for "Specialization" with Monroe hopping around (she really couldn't dance) in this INCREDIBLE gown, belly and backside bulging, a Reubens come to life. It's a very minor film, especially sandwiched between "Some Like It Hot" and "The Misfits" but there is pleasure to be found if you're into Miss M.

Let's Make Love, the next to last film of Marilyn Monroe is a harmless piece of fluff, rather lazily directed by George Cukor. Marilyn was her usual temperamental self during the filming and I think Cukor decided to just let it slide. Think mega-rich, a 1960s Donald Trump who speaks French and you have the character Yves Montand plays. Publicity agent Tony Randall calls it to Montand's attention that an off Broadway theater review is going to be satirizing him among other celebrities in the review. Montand decides to check things out for himself. And the star of the review is none other than Marilyn Monroe who Montand starts raising his blood pressure over. Who wouldn't. 20th Century Fox used this same plot device in 1937 in On the Avenue. That time it was rich débutante Madeleine Carroll and her choleric father George Barbier are being satirized in a show being directed by Dick Powell who stars in it as well. It was much better done there. Of course they also had an original Irving Berlin score to help. And Barbier was always playing those kind of roles. It fit him naturally. Montand is cool and unflappable. I can believe he wants Marilyn, but I can't believe that this is how he would meet her. Unless one is an egomaniac like Donald Trump, I don't think most people would care about what some off Broadway show that few will ever see, says in some satirical sketch. A lot of talented people were involved in the making of this and it seems a colossal waste of time. Marilyn and Montand and British pop star Frankie Vaughan had some nice numbers to sing. And we can't forget the three unbilled cameos of Milton Berle, Bing Crosby, and Gene Kelly who Montand enlists in his quest to win Marilyn. Their scenes with Montand are the best thing about the film. One other thing though. I can believe Berle and Kelly would come if summoned by Montand. But Crosby, you're talking about a guy who was as rich the character Montand played.

This movie is based on a breathtaking conceit: That Yves Montand, the greatest singer-actor of the twentieth century and rivalled only in both departments by Frank Sinatra - had to be 'taught' to sing. As if that weren't enough they manage to top this by having Montand, a lifelong politically active supporter or the Left - his father's Communits activities forced him to flee his native Italy, where Yves was actually born, for France and his elder brother was a high-ranking official in the Communist party, and with his wife, Simone Signoret, Montand signed dozens of left-wing petitions - play a billionaire. In a film studded with bad jokes the biggest joke of all is Frankie Vaughan, a pathetic non-singer,non-actor, non-dancer who was, unnacountably, very popular in England, where they love the second-rate and to add insult to injury Vaughan gets to mangle the best new song in the score by a mile, the standout ballad Incurably Romantic, in which Sammy Cahn turned in a lyric reminiscent of Jimmy Van Heusen's previous collaborator Johnny Burke. It's clear from all the comments I've read here - though, to be fair, I haven't read all of them - that most of the posters are completely unaware of Montand and his track record in his adoptive France where he could sell out any venue in which he chose to appear with his unbeatable parlay of singing, dancing and charm. It was in fact his left-wing sympathies which left him visa-less and prevented him from appearing in the US until impresario Norman Granz finally obtained a visa for him in 1959 when, despite performing his one-man show totally in French, he blew the critics away and did SRO business for months instead of the two weeks he was contracted for and it was on the strength of this, and not, as one poster has assumed, his performance in the film version of The Crucible - which he had also played on the Paris stage with Signoret - in 1957. With the benefit of singing in English Sinatra left many more memorable records than Montand but against this Montand far outclassed Sinatra in dramatic performances on film, mostly post-Let's Make Love. For some reason none of the several films Montand made in England were wholly satisfactory including this one but, in its favor, we DO get to hear Montand perform, albeit incompletely, the gorgeous ballad Incurably Romantic and we DO get a glimpse of how gracefully he could dance, again, in an all-too-brief sequence when he imagines himself replacing the inept Vaughan in a number with Monroe, a clear case of a Bentley replacing a Skoda. Inevitably the film is still being marketed as a Monroe vehicle with everybody else just along for the ride but for Montand devotees it is a must in spite of its shortcomings.

LET'S MAKE LOVE is the worst movie that MARILYN MONROE made. In this film, millionaire Jean-Marc Clement (YVES MONTAND) goes to the off Broadway theater that has been doing a parody of him in its featured play, sees Amanda Dell (MONROE) and lets the producers think that he is an actor who's trying out for the part of Clement. He spends the remainder of this dreadful flick trying to woo Amanda under the guise that he is an actor and not the real Clement because the real McCoy has the reputation for being an obnoxious womanizer...... MARILYN MONROE never looked worse in a movie. Maybe her personal life was in its usual shambles. The song & dance numbers are embarrassing to watch. MONROE looks desperate trying to appear sexy in her numbers. She is pale, overweight, and ordinary. YVES MONTAND, maybe because he's in an American film here, has no charm whatsoever. In fact, he has counter-charm ! Probably the homeliest man that MONROE ever played opposite. Did RONDO HATTAN have previous commitments ? The storyline itself is insipid & stupid ! Even the supporting cast, and there is some big names in this one, have nothing to work with. The only appeal here is for big MONROE fans, and believe me, those fans will only get small glimpses of her usual magic !!!

Poor romantic comedy that was subsequently talked down by director George Cukor and its two main stars, Yves-Montand and Marilyn Monroe. The latter only doing the film due to contractual commitments to 20th Century Fox. There were also problems with the affair that Montand & Monroe were having since both parties will still married to Simone Signoret and Arthur Miller respectively. Perhaps because they were trying not to show their feelings on screen explains why the coupling comes off as bland and listless? Monroe at least captivates and looks very well here, but Montand is dull as dish water and it's hard to believe that Monroe in character or in real life could go for such dullness. The plot is unadventurous and it's tough enough to swallow without Cukor forcing in lame humour, lead weight dialogue and sub-par music numbers. A spark of hope that we might get a good movie arrives early with Marilyn's entrance, resplendent in figure hugging costume and warbling "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", but it's a false dawn and only serves to remind us why we loved her in the first place, and, that she deserved better than this. Montand's role had been touted to a number of high profile American actors, notably Cary Grant, James Stewart, Rock Hudson and Gregory Peck, the latter of which did get the gig but quickly got out of it upon viewing the script. Peck is also credited with a humorous and most fitting quote about the finished movie. He wryly observed that the end result "About as funny as pushing Grandma down the stairs in a wheelchair." Now where's Tomy Udo when you need him most eh? He could have pushed this movie down the stairs with Grandma too. The film is also guilty of other things. It's at least 30 minutes too long and Tony Randall is badly underused as Coffman, PR aid to Clement (Montand). While cameos by Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby & Milton Berle, as pleasant as they are, just smacks of film makers trying to dress up a dogs dinner. There's some enjoyment to be had in Wilfred Hyde-White's sarcastic support turn, while some value can be got from the De Luxe Color/CinemaScope production. But really they are thin excuses from which to use in recommending this to anyone but the hardiest of Monroe completists. 3/10

I read the comments in Imdb, and was prepared to dislike this film. And, parts of it were not very good. However, ... Marilyn Monroe had such magic. It wasn't that she was the best actress around, or the best singer, because she wasn't. But, ... Wow, she just electrifies the screen. So much more than a pretty face. Okay, enough slobbering over Marilyn. The rest of the film is quite forgettable. Yves Montand was adequate. Tony Randall did just fine. The cameos by Milton Berle, Bing Crosby, and Gene Kelly were OK. But Marilyn...

I understand well, what this film is supposed to be BUT, This film is horrible. Marilyn Monroe looks terrible, her body is pink, but her face is caked with white makeup, it looks like she is wearing a mask. Also, her face is all puffy. She seems to be sleepwalking through the whole movie. The production values are missing, ex. the writing is the worst, also poor lighting, framing, the musical numbers are lifeless, the directing and acting is poor, I guess George Cukor was getting too old and tired, and couldn't get the actors to give their best. I think the main problem is that the material was just too poor to make anything worthwhile out of it. To really see Marilyn at her best and check out that dress she wears, WOW! watch SOME LIKE IT HOT!

I have a hard time understanding why a slim minority heaped praises on this film. The film goes absolutely no where, and as far as French males go Yves Montand is one of the least attractive Europeans I've ever seen (and that's putting it too mildly). Surely Monroe's character has better taste than this? No one's funny in this movie. Comic legend Milton Berle can't hope to save this film with his small part, ditto with dancing legend Gene Kelly's cameo, nor any of the other cast. Monroe herself, as appealing as she is, can't salvage a blase script like this turkey. There're so many things wrong with this film. Drab costumes, uninspired numbers, miscued performances, wandering story and just overall poor direction that it's a wonder it was ever released at all. Though I suppose the studio had to recoup its losses somehow. I'd heard a lot about this film since I was a boy, but had never had a chance to see it, probably because it was deemed to racy at the time for younger audiences. Well, now I've seen it, and not only do I wish I hadn't, I wish it had never been preserved. Then again we need poor films in this world to remind us good films are good in the first place. Too bad Marilyn had to be in this one. Do yourself a favor and pass on this film.

Not regarded as one of MM's best films by her legion of fans. "Lets make Love" isn't as bad as one might think. Gregory Peck and Carey Grant were originally asked to be her co-star, but after reading the script I guess they soon declined. Neither were game to play 2nd fiddle to a screen sensation. Plot line reads as follows: Rich man (Yves Montand) wants poor girl.(M.M.) Rich man pretends to be poor. Rich man gets poor girl then looses her after he tries to tell her the truth. Rich man eventually woos and gets the girl. With Marilyns clout at 20th Century Fox studios one wonders why she chose to take the role as Amanda Dell. She's not altogether bad as the character. The script simply had little to offer her. But I have to say after repeated viewings, the film has grown on me. I am a huge fan of MM and to be fair Monroes first appearance singing "My heart belongs to Daddy" is a clever and exciting opening performance. What an entrance, she is on fire in this 3 minute masterpiece. I love the kiss and wink and staging of this classic piece. That scene is the best musical number in the picture. This sequence might have been filmed and added at the last minute after 20th Century Fox exec's saw a rough cut of the film. Marilyn does look very comfortable and relaxed on the screen. But, at times she appears distracted.(Probably George Cukors uneven direction) There is something a little charming about the whole production. The musical score will grow on you and "Incurably Romantic" is very well done. This film was nominated for an Oscar for best musical score. I also loved the fantasy sequence with Yves and MM in the board room on the table where she is knitting with gold yarn. She even makes that chore look sexy! Marilyn and Yves are finally given a chance to show some real spark in the final scene of the movie when the whole charade comes to a close. Trapped in an elevator (and looking her best in the film) with a starry eyed Yves, Marilyn finally succumbs to his musical rendition of the title of this movie. They kiss passionately and we finally see AND hear what all the gossip was about. Her very heavy breathing during the kiss is caught on film, just turn up the volume... there is nothing "Method acting" about that! Aside from her sensitivity, intellect, and training with the Strasbergs this is what Monroe the movie star sex goddess was about.A fine line between acting and reality was beautifully blurred in "Lets make love"s final 2 minute scene. Released in 1960 The audience when asked "Lets make love" apparently said no thanks. The film was a box office failure.