Let's Make Love [DVD]

Product Information

Marilyn's psychiatric care was part of Hollywood gossip at the time, so those columnists who were generally friendly with Marilyn took Montand to task for taking advantage of her.

Vitacco-Robles, Gary (2014). Icon: The Life, Times and Films of Marilyn Monroe Volume 2 1956 TO 1962 & Beyond. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593937751. Released in 1960 after Marilyn's super turn in the fantastic 'Some Like It Hot', LML has often been cited as Monroe's worst movie.French billionaire playboy Yves Montand (as Jean-Marc Clement) sees voluptuous blonde Marilyn Monroe (as Amanda Dell) rehearsing a "Let's Make Love" song off-Broadway and wants to offer a very affirmative response. Mistaken for an actor, Mr. Montand decides to go along with the ruse and try out for the play. He wants to get close to Ms. Monroe, who isn't impressed with money and correctly realizes "Alexander Dumas" is a noted author. Monroe's co-star and lover Frankie Vaughn (as Tony Danton) falls off the wagon with worry. Public relations man Tony Randall (as Coffman) plays his usual supporting role... Montand is cool and unflappable. I can believe he wants Marilyn, but I can't believe that this is how he would meet her. I hope you can kiss better than you can sing." When I heard this line from the film regarding Yves Montand, I had to laugh, as in real life Montand sold a bazillion records over his long career. A billionaire without a wife or children learns of a play about to debut on Broadway- about his own tumultuous love life. He decides to go to the theater to meet the cast unaware his next love conquest awaits him. In 1960, George Cukor brought together this surprising duo on screen: America's sweetheart Marilyn Monroe and the French-Italian charmer Yves Montand. How did Yves Montand land the role? Intending to stop production, Clement appears at a casting call for the play, where he is immediately smitten by the character played by Marilyn, a singer-dancer named Amanda Dell. Not realizing Clement's true identity, the director hires the billionaire to play himself in the show.

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. She also began to alienate herself from many of her New York friends and acquaintances. On a more positive note, her drug intake decreased as she stopped sedating herself during the day -- at least on some days. Feature Film, Released between 1960-01-01 and 1960-12-31 (Sorted by US Box Office Descending)". IMDb.Marilyn had seen Montand in his one-man show on Broadway and was taken by his Gallic charm. The Millers were eager to befriend the Montands, and the four were often seen together when Let's Make Love first went into production in mid-February of 1960.

COMMENT: Cukor's ability to extract engaging performances from temperamental females is much in evidence in this delightful comedy: — as is his facility in surrounding himself with the very best artisans in every department. Whether the two stars began their love affair at this time, or whether it had developed earlier, is unknown. Montand has always claimed that Marilyn was the aggressor; if so, he did little to discourage her.

‘Let’s Make Love’

I'm tempted to write that the accent is firmly focused on style, but director George Cukor is too farsighted a director to over-emphasize the movie's luxurious settings, creative camera-work and imaginative choreography at the expense of his cast; or to under-emphasize the demurely seductive playing of Miss Monroe, the Gallic, volatile quality of Yves Montand, or even the delightfully dry acidity of Wilfrid Hyde-White, at the expense of Norman Krasna's witty script. Taylor, Miller, and Marilyn formed their own production company for the purposes of producing the film. All parties were eager to begin because Miller's dramatic and thoughtful script promised to showcase Marilyn's acting talents to their fullest extent. The movie starts telling the story of Jean Marc's ancestors, and how his family started to become richer with the time, until his present days as a billionaire. Jean Marc has power,money and also is a 'Casanova', with a new woman to go out everyday. One day, he discovers that he is going to be satirized in an off-Broadway theater, and he goes to see how the play is going to be, until he sees Amanda singing and dancing in a provocative way and the director,who thinks that Jean Marc is an actor trying to take the role of himself,cast him as a member of the show. Decided to go out with Amanda and make her fall for him, he pretends to be someone else,using the identity of Alexander Dumas and acting as a poor actor who wants new lessons from Amanda to improve his acting career. With the time, Jean Marc starts to fall for Amanda, since she is the only woman who was kind to him without expecting money or gifts in return. The problem now is his fake identity.

However, Let's Make Love is a reasonably inoffensive way to waste an afternoon. The plot is slight and therefore doesn't require too much brain power to follow and Monroe is, as usual, cinema gold. Despite the fact that she is slightly overweight here and nothing much has been done with her in terms of make-up, hair or wardrobe she is eminently watchable. She gives a convincing, assured performance in her role turning the simple character of Amanda into a sweet, likable woman. I liked the musical numbers, and watching Yves' face do all its rubbery wrinkling numbers. He may have been a great actor because he could put on so many different expressions, but his best movie was the one where he's trying to run for office in a crooked Banana Republic (sorta like our present government), a Cost-Grava film. The movie plods along for far too long until it gets to its predictable conclusion, though there are enough Cole Porter tunes sung and enough wiggles from Marilyn to keep the movie from imploding. Marilyn is charming and sexy. Yves in his first English speaking role is debonair and very French. Wilfred Hyde-White offers a likable performance in a supporting role. If you can live with the plot making absolutely no sense, then you should be able to handle this uneven attempt at being a screwball comedy.Monroe sat with co-star Montand as he enjoyed a smoke. Only a sliver of Dallinger's output — he shot more than 58,000 photos during a career that lasted until the early 1970s — made it to print, and a vast majority never has been seen.